Vol. 47, No. 11
$3.50
America’s Monthly Newspaper For Civil War Enthusiasts
48 Pages, November 2021
Robert E. Lee Monument; Vandalism and Removal Publishers Note: The United States is a civilized country where laws are written to protect and guarantee citizens their life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Every man, woman, and child has equal rights. It is against local laws, ordinances, and sometimes federal laws; when to make their point, protesters become violent, prevent free passage on streets and highways, beat on cars that try to pass, and destroy, loot, and burn businesses. Mob rule is the control of a political situation by those outside the conventional or lawful realm, typically involving violence and intimidation. Destruction of property is not the process that should initiate change. Tearing down, destroying, or vandalizing anything just because a group doesn’t like or agree with it should be met with swift arrests and convictions. Over the last few years, most of the people involved in the destruction of monuments were not charged or even held responsible, while others were arrested but had their charges dropped or reduced, even though camera footage clearly showed the damage as
they caused it. While we have seen many examples during these times, it sets a dangerous precedent when law enforcement officers are told to stand down and ignore those committing crimes. Suppose a community is offended by a Confederate monument. In that case, the community’s elected officials and designated representatives should allow the locality to sell it to a preservation group that would remove and relocate it: no riots and no destruction of monuments. The saddest aspect of memorial destruction and/or removal is not the near cowardly performance of officials more interested in reelection than the rule of law. It is, instead, that those who want change are missing out on using these symbols as talking points to generate precisely the change they seek. Because symbols have great value for how people see meaning, the symbolic statues could be utilized to bring longburied causes to the surface where they can be confronted. Instead, the symbols are being destroyed, just as the Buddhas of Bamiyan were “removed” by the Taliban in 2001.
On Sept. 8, 2021, The National Register’s designated bronze statue of Robert E. Lee, was removed from its pedestal, 133 years after it was unveiled May 29, 1890. The death of George Floyd was the catalyst for protests, many of which turned violent, and served as the fuel for widespread burning
Following the George Floyd protests, vandals defaced the monuments large stone pedestal and base. 12 – American Battlefield Trust 32 – Ask The Appraiser 40 – Book Reviews
34 – Central Virginia Battlefield Trust 36 – Emerging Civil War 45 – Events
and destruction of property across the country. We must consider that George Floyd’s criminal record includes eight jail terms between 1997 and 2005 on convictions related to theft, drug possession, and trespass. In a 2007 home invasion conviction, he was sentenced to five years in prison for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. While his death was tragic and has been ruled a homicide, we must remember that he was under the influence of fentanyl (50 to 100 times more potent than morphine) and methamphetamine when he died while resisting arrest. Both of which most likely attributed to his death, per the coroner’s report. Still, and rightfully so, charges were brought against the police officers accused of murdering or participating in the murder of Floyd. But does that make Floyd some martyr or hero? They have erected monuments in New York and New Jersey to honor a modern-day hardened criminal who acted out against society, time and time again. They tore down the historical monument of
28 – The Graphic War 24 – Inspection, ARMS! 29 – Preservation News
Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Va. because part of today’s society doesn’t like what it believes the he stood for, but then two weeks later erect a statue of a black man being freed from shackles. Is it because it makes some people feel better? What is more odious, showing a man who has been chained, or a man who led an army fighting for their beliefs? Is it possible that those who remove or destroy a symbol really believe what they do will effect a change in the hearts and minds of others? Maybe, but not likely in the case of the Taliban and probably not in the case of those who want to eradicate symbols that reflect, 1) Southerners standing for what they once believed in, 2) American military prowess, 3) white supremacy, 4) Jim Crow, or a host of other attributes. Please make your own choice, but remember others may see something else, and they have rights too, and who knows where the chicken will find a new roost.
H R.E. Lee
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22 – The Source 8 – The Unfinished Fight 10 – This And That