Should Statues of Tokyo Rose and Alger Hiss Be Put on Display at the U.S. Capitol?
Hell No!
So why honor TRAITORS from the 19th Century?
So why honor TRAITORS from the 19th Century?
36-40, F
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LeopoldBloom · M
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LeopoldBloom · M
@beckyromero I agree to a certain extent, but if they had been put up solely to honor those men, most of them would have been erected in the decade after the Civil War. It's telling how they were instead erected in eras where the Confederate sympathizers felt they had to make a statement in support of white supremacy. The statues were just the vehicle for that message.
beckyromero · 36-40, F
@LeopoldBloom
It would be interesting to read a contemporary account of the erecting of individual statues. Both in the Capitol and in the states.
What did the politicians of the day say? What did editorial boards write?
It would be interesting to read a contemporary account of the erecting of individual statues. Both in the Capitol and in the states.
What did the politicians of the day say? What did editorial boards write?
LeopoldBloom · M
@beckyromero I'd have to do some research to find that information. However, we may be able to go by the opinion of historians who have studied those original documents.
https://www.npr.org/2017/08/20/544266880/confederate-statues-were-built-to-further-a-white-supremacist-future
"Most of the people who were involved in erecting the monuments were not necessarily erecting a monument to the past," said Jane Dailey, an associate professor of history at the University of Chicago."But were rather, erecting them toward a white supremacist future."
James Grossman, the executive director of the American Historical Association, says that the increase in statues and monuments was clearly meant to send a message.
"These statues were meant to create legitimate garb for white supremacy," Grossman said. "Why would you put a statue of Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson in 1948 in Baltimore?"
"These statues were meant to create legitimate garb for white supremacy," Grossman said. "Why would you put a statue of Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson in 1948 in Baltimore?"
Dailey pointed to an 1861 speech by Alexander Stephens, who would go on to become vice president of the Confederacy.
"[Our new government's] foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man," Stevens said, in Savannah, Ga. "That slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition."
To build Confederate statues, says Dailey, in public spaces, near government buildings, and especially in front of court houses, was a "power play" meant to intimidate those looking to come to the "seat of justice or the seat of the law."
"I think it's important to understand that one of the meanings of these monuments when they're put up, is to try to settle the meaning of the war" Dailey said. "But also the shape of the future, by saying that elite Southern whites are in control and are going to build monuments to themselves effectively."
"And those monuments will endure and whatever is going around them will not."
"[Our new government's] foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man," Stevens said, in Savannah, Ga. "That slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition."
To build Confederate statues, says Dailey, in public spaces, near government buildings, and especially in front of court houses, was a "power play" meant to intimidate those looking to come to the "seat of justice or the seat of the law."
"I think it's important to understand that one of the meanings of these monuments when they're put up, is to try to settle the meaning of the war" Dailey said. "But also the shape of the future, by saying that elite Southern whites are in control and are going to build monuments to themselves effectively."
"And those monuments will endure and whatever is going around them will not."
https://www.npr.org/2017/08/20/544266880/confederate-statues-were-built-to-further-a-white-supremacist-future
beckyromero · 36-40, F
LeopoldBloom · M
@beckyromero To be fair, most MAGA cult members have never heard of Alger Hiss or Tokyo Rose.
