Sick To My Stomach - Memphis City Council is Illegally Removing Historic Statue

Considering I don't really share the views so many of you have regarding identity politics, it shouldn't be all that surprising. Besides, who says I'm asking for me?

That's a very simplistic view, and frankly part of the problem.

There aren't many people who are proud of the darker aspects of our history. I can kind of actually understand why some people are proud of the fact the Confederacy stood up to the Federal government, I just think they gloss over the reasons why this was done too much. But I can understand being proud of that resistive spirit, if only because Natives have that, too. I find it ... amusing that people like Custer who boasted they could ride through the whole Sioux nation with just 80 men got their asses handed to them.

Cool story. And, yeah, I actually mean that and I'm not just repeating a meme. My Grandma Deer With Horns survived Wounded Knee because her older sister shielded her, and fell on her when she was shot dead, and presumably my grandmother was taken for dead until the soldiers finally had their blood lust satisfied. Her son went on to fight in WWII, and almost bought it in the Battle of the Bulge. Most of my family from that side served in every branch of the military. My uncle who died recently was in the Air Force when it first formed and went on to fight in Korea. The German part of my family emigrated from Russia. Presumably they were amongst those invited by the Russians back in the 18th century who ended up leaving as Russia became much less friendly toward them and it became too difficult to continue farming for a living there, but we only traced that part of the family back to the first generation that came to ND back in 1898. They don't have any war exploits, but they started a new life for themselves and their families out on the prairie, and it isn't exactly easy farming for a living in this state. I can take a general sense of pride in the accomplishments of my forebears and even in a broader sense in the different parts of my heritage, but it's not like that's the end all be all. I don't agree 100% on anything with any part of my family, so it's not like I'm defined by my heritage either - it's just there, in the background. So by that token, I don't see why anyone should feel any different. Even if someone's ancestor did something shameful, it's not like they are still to blame for it - they didn't do anything. I mean, I know the regressive left seems to think they should, even if their direct ancestors didn't do anything, just by virtue of their race, but that's just fucked up.

That's just sad. I mean, it helps drive the point home when I tell people that white folks talk Natives to scalp people as a means of keeping score (and they almost never believe me), but it's not like that's all there was to him (granted I don't know that much about him) - after all, in a way he helped pave the way for my country to form. Same goes for the founders of the US - they all had darker aspects to them, like owning slaves, but I'm not going to turn my back on the positives that went toward the founding principles of this country, even if the men who laid them out were hypocrites when it came to slavery. Or like Churchill, who was a racist, like horribly so, but he still saved the UK and helped to make it possible to defeat Hitler and helped pave the way for the renewed friendship between the US and the UK, and I can admire him for that, even if I wouldn't break bread with him if some time travel shenanigans made it possible to meet him. Hell, my personal hero, TR, wasn't exactly a perfect angel either, and I don't agree with his politics on everything either, but I still admire him for plenty of other things.

Ah, TR... I wish we could have another TR as president.

connections to the past can easily be found in history books and museums.

HONORING our past should be reserved for acts and lives that were honorABLE.

On the contrary, it's about re-establishing connections to parts of the past you wish were forgotten or misremembered.

The devil's in the details. Cornwallis didn't settle Halifax so much as conquer it, and none to gently with regards to the folks that were already there. It'd be like putting a statue of Sherman up in Atlanta from some points of view.

The country is coming to terms with the fact that some of the principles we started off with are kind of distasteful a few centuries later. No one wants the statue, or even necessarily the guy's place in history, destroyed. But how we're reminded of it has become important to a lot of people. I'm okay with it being preserved in a museum setting... there's context available that way, rather than a paragraph on a placard.

So Nova is the judge of what is honorable? Nice work if you can get it!

Too bad a placard can’t be put up at its historic l0cation.

I don't think @Nova thought her stance against slavery was unique when she made that call.

sorry Robert E. Ron but most people don't notice statues let alone read placards.

go back and read it again... I'm presuming there is a placard at the park location. A museum would allow for a whole lot more, and with the benefit of concurrent events around it. Leaving it up is a big "fuck you" to those whose ancestors were... let's just call it "unjustly treated".

Like I said, it may as well be a statue of Sherman in Atlanta.

More like a statue of Saddam Hussein in Iraqi Kurdistan or Hendrik Verwoerd in Johannesburg.

agree with Spaceturkey - everybody wins when we move statues into a museum setting. Those genuinely interested in history get better information and the relics are better cared for. Those who are genuinely offended on the streets don't have to look at the statues. Totally a no-brainer.

I don't see a downside to this one

Putting Sherman up in Atlanta would probably be welcomed by most people in Atlanta since it has a large population of blacks.

Put it up in the other places. Especially the places he burned down on the way to the sea.

Speaking of TR and Churchill.

not in every case, but treason in defense of owning human beings seems like a pretty easy call to make for most of us. Are you struggling with it?

Forrest gets a new marker in Memphis https://www.commercialappeal.com/st...beford-forrest-slave-trade-memphis/395351002/

Poor SHRERPL!

Historical accuracy? That's not gonna fly down South.

It's Heritage yo!

Oh noes! It's spreading! http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...enamed-honor-harriet-tubman-article-1.3868878

I long for the day, when all the edifices glorifying traitorous dogs of the "Confederacy" are removed from this great land.

If you'll exclude those that are in cemeteries and the grave markers themselves, I'll agree with you.

It ain't over yet, folks!

Also want to point out that when someone proposed a largely toothless bill condemning Nazis the Republicans in this state killed it. Seriously, guys, WTF? You're more than happy to point out that Islam is perfectly okay with someone lying about being a Muslim if it'll keep them from being killed (so them ebil Ismacists can keep on killing 'Muricans), but when it comes to saying you don't like Nazis you've got "issues" with the bill?

Well, Dallas is about to destroy a monument, not move it, in a cemetery. And they’ve lit a fire they don’t know about. Supposedly, IIIers are on their way from all over the nation to make a stand.

I disagree with that. This isn’t worth dying for or killing over.

Here's the link to the GoFundMe:
https://www.gofundme.com/memphis-budget-replenishment

So Tennessee cut of the welfare they got from the blue states because they were mad Memphis was about America and not traitorous racist white boys? Fucking racists need to go to Russia where they belong. Really Poodle, your ancestors suck.

Hang on, folks! There's more comedy gold from this!