This week, people decided that a monument was so important to their individual authenticity as a human, that they protested the removal it from government property. In response, of course, people defended what it represented to them and the negative connotation that the statue represented. This is the short intro, for someone who, may not be paying attention to recent news. It is much more complicated than that. But, is it? I'm weighing in on the controversy, the violence that surrounded it, and the resulting loss, and death of a human being in the process.
On one side, we have a monument, of a Confederate general, that made a poor strategic decision in the war, and lost his battle. What does the Civil War have to do with race? Does this General define who were are as southerners? Who we are as white people? Obviously, only people from south of the Mason-Dixon line would be truly connected to this General and what he represented. But does he represent who you are? If this monument/ statue is removed from a government display....does it change who you are as a southerner? Does it change your identity or race? Think about what exactly Southern Confederate military men really mean to you. You define yourself, you decide what to pass on to your community and children who we are as a race. Will General Petraus of the Afgan war form the IDENTITY of white people and my children specifically in 50 years? It's not even close! Why do we, as a race, and a racial identity, choose these men to be proud of, to put up on a pedestal. When will we start showing the great men from the white race....American men. Or just 'humans' who cured diseases, who invented things, who made the world a better place. People like Nikola Tesla, Rosa Parks, John F Kennedy, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, Betsy Ross, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, John Hancock, The Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Bill Nye, Thomas Paine, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and on.... There is so much more to be proud of; why aren't we choosing that to be proud of?
If it means so much to you..have you ever sat down with your children and talked to them about Robert E. Lee, or do you just leave it up to the school system to tell your children who the important people of their history, their race, the human race. As Americans we wash our hands of what really is important to us and let the government school systems and the media lead us by the nose and tell us WHAT divides us. Does it divide us? Does it really? When is the last time you thought about the legacy of the human race, your race, and sat your children down to teach them about their heritage. Is the fact that you are proud of your heritage make your neighbors heritage less significant? And who really was Robert E. Lee....
On one side, we have a monument, of a Confederate general, that made a poor strategic decision in the war, and lost his battle. What does the Civil War have to do with race? Does this General define who were are as southerners? Who we are as white people? Obviously, only people from south of the Mason-Dixon line would be truly connected to this General and what he represented. But does he represent who you are? If this monument/ statue is removed from a government display....does it change who you are as a southerner? Does it change your identity or race? Think about what exactly Southern Confederate military men really mean to you. You define yourself, you decide what to pass on to your community and children who we are as a race. Will General Petraus of the Afgan war form the IDENTITY of white people and my children specifically in 50 years? It's not even close! Why do we, as a race, and a racial identity, choose these men to be proud of, to put up on a pedestal. When will we start showing the great men from the white race....American men. Or just 'humans' who cured diseases, who invented things, who made the world a better place. People like Nikola Tesla, Rosa Parks, John F Kennedy, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, Betsy Ross, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, John Hancock, The Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Bill Nye, Thomas Paine, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and on.... There is so much more to be proud of; why aren't we choosing that to be proud of?
If it means so much to you..have you ever sat down with your children and talked to them about Robert E. Lee, or do you just leave it up to the school system to tell your children who the important people of their history, their race, the human race. As Americans we wash our hands of what really is important to us and let the government school systems and the media lead us by the nose and tell us WHAT divides us. Does it divide us? Does it really? When is the last time you thought about the legacy of the human race, your race, and sat your children down to teach them about their heritage. Is the fact that you are proud of your heritage make your neighbors heritage less significant? And who really was Robert E. Lee....
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