'The Lost Cause' of historical literacy
The statue of Robert E. Lee in New Orleans being lowered last May 19.
Adapted from Robert Whitcomb's "Digital Diary,'' in GoLocal24.com:
I go hot and cold on whether the time and expense of removing Confederate statues from certain public places is worth it. There’s a strong argument for doing it along the lines of the reasoning that has removed Nazi statuary from public places in Germany and Communist statuary from some places in central and eastern Europe. On the other hand, there’s an argument to be made that statues of defenders of slavery should be kept up as a reminder of, and points of discussion, about history.
That argument would be stronger if Americans knew more about their history. But in fact, as suggested above, history and civics knowledge has been plunging as schools cut back on teaching what should be essential subjects for citizens of this and any other republic.
I thought of that while reading a New Hampshire Public Radio piece about a controversy over a mural in a U.S. Post Office in the college (UNH) town of Durham, N.H. The building has a long and complicated mural of images depicting the town’s development on its wall.
The images are mostly bland. But one shows a Native American ‘’crouching,’’ in NHPR’s words, “behind a bush looking out at a colonial cabin. He’s carrying a bow and arrows, and in one hand is a flaming torch. The image is entitled ‘Cruel Adversity.’’’
“The painting is meant to represent the threat of Native American attacks on the town….,’’ NHPR reported.
Now some people want this image removed for its alleged derogatory attitude toward Native Americans; and they complain that the mural doesn’t show the savagery of European colonists. Hit this link for the full story:
https://nenc.news/post-office-mural-depicting-cruel-native-americans-sparks-debate-n-h-town/
Well, both sides were often savage (and Native American tribes were often very savage against each other), and students should be taught that; they should also know about past bigotry. Leaving the image up helps do that. The real problem in this case is the abysmal state of history teaching. If we improved that, the people looking at these murals, statues and so would have the context (including understanding the associated racism) to understand why they went up in the first place.
There may be exceptions in some places, but I’ve come around a bit to President Trump’s remark about taking down statues of Confederate luminaries: “Where does it end?’’ There are just too many of these public reminders of very bad causes, including the horrible “Lost Cause’’ of the Confederacy, which sought to maintain and even expand the horror of slavery. So, on further reflection, in most places, I’d leave up these reminders.
I’d even leave up the statue of the great mass murderer Vladimir Lenin at 178 Norfolk St., in New York City.
xxx
Meanwhile, here’s what might be the idiotic PC moment of the summer? Yale University has changed a campus stone carving of a Puritan and a Native American by cementing over the musket that the former was carrying but keeping the Native American’s bow visible. A committee had ruled thatthe sculpture was bad because it depicted colonial violence against Native Americans. The sculpture, now at an entrance to the Sterling Memorial Library, will be taken away to be shown at a less conspicuous place.
Yale was created by Puritans. This controversy reminds me of the lyrics of the start of (Yalie) Cole Porter’s famous song “Anything Goes’’:
“Times have changed
And we've often rewound the clock
Since the Puritans got a shock
When they landed on Plymouth Rock.
If today
Any shock they should try to stem
'Stead of landing on Plymouth Rock,
Plymouth Rock would land on them.’’