Man I wish I had perspective. Like I wish I had the intelligence and capacity to really get what it means to be an American. Donald Trump, you’re our President, so you seem to know what being an American means. White Supremacists, KKK members, you’re all law abiding citizens who got a permit, such classy folks. You MUST know.
Apparently I’m a Jew, so I clearly don’t get how being an American works like you do Mr. President. Oh how I wish I had your understanding and your depth. Oh you’re so wise.
Donald Trump, when you said “….So this week, it is Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop..” I thought, man what a smart guy, he really gets the issues.
But, I did wonder in my small Jewish mind, where does redefining American ethics and values stop- where the hell does it stop?
I mean, since the inception of this country on July 4th, 1776, we have been asking ourselves what it means to be an American. We questioned it during the Revolutionary War in the 1700’s, during the Civil War in the late 1800’s, and then again during the civil rights movement in the mid 1950’s and 60’s. And here we are 241 years and countless deaths later after the Declaration of Independence was signed, we still get to ask this question, because apparently 620,000 deaths during the Civil War, the very war that attempted to answer that question, “What does America stand for?” hasn’t been CLEAR ENOUGH.
The entire war began when 11 states including; Virginia, South Carolina,Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee chose to secede from the Union when President Lincoln instituted the end of slavery. This was THE war that asked the question, “What does it mean to be American?”
IS it American to enslave others? Is it American to believe one group of people should be dominant or superior over an another? General Robert E Lee chose to fight for his countryman, being a Virginian, the side that fought for preserving slavery and eventually lost that fight. Because in the end what the civil war taught us was that it is NOT AMERICAN to enslave others. It is NOT AMERICAN to believe in racism or discrimination. In other words, history has taught us that Robert E Lee was a treasonous ANTI American.
So where does it end Mr. President? I think, and this is just a hunch, that it might end when being “American” finally gets the makeover it deserves.
Clearly the White Nationalists believe they are fighting for justice. And clearly Donald Trump believes there are those handful fighting for justice as well. But are they justified in screaming words that are full of hate because they want to preserve a monument that stood for anti freedom- is that being American?
But I get it, history is important, let’s preserve all of it, the good the bad and the ugly. Let’s not rewrite it or pretend our hateful “friends” didn’t exist. Let’s celebrate them in monuments!
Here’s a little history lesson on the “American” that established the Robert E Lee Monument for those so called “Good Americans” who “got a permit” to scream expletives in the park at other law abiding contributing Americans who make up this great country.
The Civil War ended in 1865 and 59 years later, in May of 1924, Robert E Lee’s statue was inaugurated. For the dedication gala, the monument was draped in a large Confederate flag that was pulled away by the three-year-old great-granddaughter of General Lee, Mary Walker Lee, to great applaud.
The man responsible for the dedication of Robert E Lee’s statue close to 6 decades AFTER the Civil War- (talk about preserving history after the fact) was a philanthropist known as Paul Goodloe McIntire. He donated (amongst a ton of other donations) 92 acres of Mcintire park which was for whites only and one smaller park known as Washington Park “For use as a playground for the colored citizens of Charlottesville,” according to the 1926 deed. As my friend, a filmmaker and activist Daniel Ferguson put it, “The intent of creating the confederate monuments was to offend primarily black people, because these were the people who were seeking equality in the 20’s.” No wonder why Paul Goodloe Mcintire was so intent on donating the Robert E Lee Monument. What a swell guy.
Ya he sounds like a real American. He also sounds like a sore loser. The Confederacy hoped to divide the country, Paul Goodloe Mcintire hoped to divide the people and Robert E Lee showed us neither of those divisions get you anywhere but 95,000 combat deaths.
Yet it was our President who then went on to defend the bigots in Charlottesville by stating “….Where does it end??” in regards to taking down the poor Robert E Lee statue which apparently stands for being American, (I had no idea being an American meant you had to be a bigot, but obviously I am getting a history lesson this week.) The President went on to say “Is it George Washington this week….George Washington was a slave owner…. so will George Washington now lose his status, are we going to take down statues to George Washington?”
Everyone knows George Washington was an owner of slaves. I can remember the first time visiting Mount Vernon as a child, seeing the Slave tunnel and the Slave chambers, I was horrified and very upset. My stomach turned. I felt betrayed. Washington was the founder of the country that revolutionized men to becoming free, and yet he enslaved many?
George Washington was a complicated and imperfect man, and was living during a time when the country was just learning what democracy and freedom meant. In the end of his life, Washington did free his slaves. I guess you could assume he finally learned the lesson of what true freedom was to look like by the time he died. The difference between Robert E Lee and George Washington is; Robert E Lee fought to go backwards and because of that, lost. George Washington fought to move forward and because of that, won. And yet, that victory is still being questioned. Freedom and democracy is till being debated. I’m not too smart, but man, how much longer are we to debate what an American is meant to stand for?
The signing of the Declaration of Independence was the story that began the verge of what it means to truly be an American as was written by our founding fathers “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Sure seems pretty clear to me, but then again, I’m a Jew, so I probably don’t understand the nuance of these CLEARLY WRITTEN WORDS.
History is a complex story telling of how men rose to some great occasions even while losing their personal battles. George Washington rose to the calling of changing how men treat one another, yet lost the battle to change himself, and eventually left a will to change his household rules, leaving the legacy of what true freedom is meant to be interpreted. Which is why the sculpture of George Washington located at the East Lawn of the Capital embodies a sword in Washington’s extended hand, amongst other poignant symbols; commemorating his selfless renouncement of power to the people as an ode to his triumph in the American Revolution.
TO THE PEOPLE.
TO ALL THE PEOPLE.
Yep, even me. Crazy huh?
Rioters in Charlottesville, you are sore over the fact that history is not being preserved, that somehow history might be forgotten. I get you, I want history to be remembered too. I get you, the Confederacy was created in America. Let’s celebrate! Lots of people died fighting to kill the Union, let’s rally! Lot’s of people were enslaved and beaten and told they were animals and underserving of freedom, let’s march!
But maybe it’s time to rally, march and celebrate for the victors, not the losers. After the little history lesson I just provided I think we can all agree that leaving up statues that stood for the Confederacy that hoped to disband George Washington’s vision is pretty “Anti-American.”
The story of democracy and of equality in America, the very story Robert E Lee was hoping to disrupt; the very story White Supremacists and White Nationalists hope to haul backwards, is the very Anti- American garbage being spewed on the world stage ONCE AGAIN.
Lumping Robert E Lee together with George Washington lacks forethought, wisdom and an understanding of the issues at hand. President Trump, to be a leader means you are willing to learn from history, not defend it to it’s last breath. To be a great leader means you are willing to note the real heroes versus celebrating treasonous individuals who tried to disband America to keep people enslaved for financial gain. To compare George Washington who fought to free the United States of British rule; to a man who’s military strategy aided in destroying that vision is offensive to the core of america. But worse, you’ve set a tone in this country that has made everybody who is not a white male unsafe. Nice work, you’re so innovative.
The wisdom it takes to “Make America Great Again” means looking at history as a reference to move forward with the understanding of what “Freedom” means, and to learn the lessons many men before you died fighting to teach. While I am not proud of George Washington’s choices he made to own slaves, I am proud of the America he tried to achieve by letting his slaves go. I sure am a fan of his ability to do the right thing in the end, even if it was a cowardly move that happened after his death. I can still see the positive changes he set in motion as a result of those actions. I can still appreciate the valuable conversation he started of what liberty and equality was meant to stand for; a conversation you have managed to obliterate within several months in office. Thanks for that, by the way.
Murdering those who don’t agree with tolerance or apologizing for those who use the First Amendment as their weapon of choice to inflict Anti-American rhetoric is certainly NOT American. But then again, what do I know. I’m just a 5th generation American granddaughter of U.S. military grandparents who fought and won several World Wars for The United States of America trying to preserve the Flag and the civil liberties she stands for, the same civil liberties that gave the Charlottesville rioters a permit to manipulate the first Amendment.
In the end, it is up to us to dictate what sort of America we want to leave to our children, and it is up to us to define what it means to be an American. It is up to us, the ones who have history in our pocket to celebrate the figures who created equality in our society, versus honoring the figures that tried to eliminate the tenants of our nation’s first statement made as a free people.
And that’s when all this silliness will finally stop.
Feel free to join the conversation: "Talk Worthy To Me"