Today in Seattle tensions are mounting as a group of people demand the removal of a Confederate monument in Lake View Cemetery. This happens from time to time. You might remember Destroying the Seattle Confederate Memorial from two years ago in which I mention the diverse parties involved in its dedication.
Earlier today I was informed that Lake View Cemetery might be somehow obscuring this monument in response to calls to remove it, so I called to ask for the facts before I commented. Lake View has respectfully removed vulgarities from this monument over the years just as they would from any monument there. Evidently they’ve been very busy so it will likely take them some time to answer. I should add that they are consistently responsive and helpful, and that this famed burial ground houses people from all walks.
This afternoon I noticed that a story written by a major Seattle news source reported that the inscription on this memorial says “Erected by Robert E. Lee.” It was almost funny because Lee died 56 years before this monument was placed. But this omission of the rest of the inscription, intentional or not, was potentially inflammatory. We don’t need more fuel on the fire of civil unrest. The actual inscription reads “Erected by Robert E. Lee Chapter Number 885 United Daughters of the Confederacy 1926” prefaced by “In Memory of the United Confederate Veterans.”
Because of this omission I contacted this news source and asked if they would correct this on a factual basis. I pointed out that the modern UDC is very clear about standing against racism– in other words, know these women before you criticize them. What followed left me gobsmacked. This is not verbatim but it does convey the sentiment.
I was told that anything supporting the Confederacy supports white supremacy, racism, and slavery. I said, “So anyone who supported the Confederacy is white supremacist, racist, and pro-slavery?” His answer: yes.
“What about the larger issue of secession?” I asked. (No answer.) I was told that the South fought to keep slavery alive. I believe I said something about expecting more factual reporting and objectivity, but anyway, asked if they would correct their article, politics aside. I haven’t even looked to see if they did after this experience.
That belief, that anyone who supported the Confederacy is white supremacist, racist, and pro-slavery, underscores the ignorance and assumptions that are dividing our country in two. We are losing the republic by not having our facts straight and not respecting other citizens’ freedoms. Angry, self-righteous, narrow-mindedness that denies others freedom of speech and expression will be the death of our union if we don’t get a grip.
In my Generation Xer lifetime I’ve witnessed a remarkable shift from critical thinking, fact-checking, and intelligent civil discourse to politics and activism based more on emotions like anger. Facts seem to have become increasingly unimportant. It’s now hip to wield a broad brush and make scathing generalizations about anyone who disagrees with you, attacking people rather than policy or politics.
In the age of social media we go online calling others Nazis, fascists, racists, bigots, and haters not because they actually are those things, but because these are the labels we slap on those who disagree with us. The frightening aspect to this, one that threatens civilization, is that we are losing track of– or don’t care– what these terms actually mean. Merriam and Webster seem to be anachronistic relics of a less enlightened era.
Nazism advocates totalitarianism. What is totalitarianism? The state rules. The state makes the rules. The state gets total control. Nazism is also equated with fascism. What is facism? It’s similar. The state rules, usually with a dictator at its head. There is no freedom to disagree and there is strict social and economic control. Some fascist states have ruled without employing terror but both ideologies might employ it. Racism tends to be more prevalent in totalitarianism. Scholars can debate the finer points all day but here’s the bottom line: Nazism, totalitarianism, and fascism are all about control and the state controlling individuals.
Here’s an example of irony: Antifrees. At least that’s what I call them. This Antifa group, claiming to be anti-fascist, labels those who disagrees with them fascists and then resorts to violence to protest “fascists.” Do you see what’s wrong with this picture? Antifa and similar organizations are the actual fascists by denying others’ individuals rights and using violence to try to force others into compliance. They are judge, jury, and executioner, showing no respect for the right to have a differing opinion in a free country.
Whatever they call themselves, this and similar terroristic, thuggish, accusatory ideologies have been tried before. They’ve resulted in hundreds of millions of deaths. Call it totalitarianism, fascism, Nazism, Communism, or what have you, these systems of thought have the same basic idea that causes the same problems: one group has control of a nation and it crushes dissenters. This is accomplished by polarizing and punishing those who advocate for individual rights. These are unquestionably undemocratic philosophies as well.
Note that if you label someone “extreme right,” and they’re just a Reagan Republican who believes in less government, you’re way off. Isms want more government and fewer rights. Isms exist at either side of the traditional political spectrum. A better version of the spectrum would be to put all the liberties-sucking, control-driven, dictatorial ideas on one end and little to no government or governmental control on the other. Extreme isms always bring death. So can anarchy. Stay away from those edges.
How about the ‘phobes? It is hip right now to call someone a ______phobe if they disagree with you. If you speak out against elements of Islam that contradict our Constitution or disregard women’s, human, or animal rights, you an Islamophobe. What is a phobia? It’s an extreme, irrational fear. Irrational implies that there’s little to no logical basis for that fear. It’s just a knee jerk reaction that’s likely unfounded and unfair. It doesn’t matter if you track human rights violations like female genital mutilation or domestic violence; you speak out on one issue, you’re a ‘phobe on all counts.
Xenophobe is another term thrown around like popcorn in the bed of a ’64 pickup on a bumpy back road. You might be against immigration for financial reasons and want to take care of homeless veterans or the elderly or foster children in your own country first. But– shazam– you’re a xenophobe because you’re clearly against foreigners. Xenophobes shouldn’t be concerned with our astronomical national debt and the financial train wreck we are leaving our children.
How dare you take care of your own people first. Worse yet, you’ve shown the desire to put your nation first. You’re a patriotic nationalist! Nationalists surely must be racists. Using popular warped logic, that makes you a fascist! If you are a fascist, then you are a Nazi! This is the new math of politics. It doesn’t care about facts. It just accuses. You are an ist of every ilk no matter what you actually, factually believe.
Then there’s the very popular label of “hater.” “Hate” has nearly lost its meaning. If you agree with the possibility that a local criminal is a sociopath, you’re a hater. If you advocate for punishment instead of reformation, you’re a hater. If you’re a churchgoer and peacefully disagree while showing respect to those different from you, but take a public stand on a moral issue, you’re a hater. “Choose love,” they say, using “love” as a reason to ostracize others.
It’s getting to the point that unless you agree that anything goes, you’re a hater. Superman’s Bizarro World where up is down and backwards is forwards is consuming our culture. True hate and intolerance are unacceptable to me. Calling someone a hater or intolerant because I disagree with them is just an excuse not to have a rational, constitutionally-based defense to my beliefs ready.
It is alarming to see a nation devolve into high school bullying. What happened to the ability to sit down and have a civil conversation with someone different than ourselves? Instead I see a profession that claims to be objective engaged in 24/7 obsession with manic oppression. The media seems to have gone mad, tilting at windmills, laser-focused on perceived slights when much larger injustices and issues plague our world.
After various media personalities become incensed, emotional, and loud, social media erupts with “so and so demolished or destroyed so and so.” I listen, and most of the time I just see a feelings-charged freak out with no real facts or logic behind it. Most of these tirades can’t even address the original “offense” point by point. It’s just lashing out. So-called entertainers do this night after night and people laud their rationale as if it’s the best way to fight against figures and philosophies they frown upon.
The current national climate is also like domestic violence: “You are what I say you are!” Remember that? For those who’ve been in abusive relationships, a huge portion of our population, you know what it’s like to be called filthy words you never deserved that bear no resemblance to reality. If anything, the abuser was projecting onto you words that described themselves. If you yell, “Fascist! Nazi! Bigot!” at me and try to shut me down because I have an opinion that is different from yours, think about that. Who’s trying to control who?
Most importantly, you don’t have to agree with what your neighbor/spouse/friend/congressman/coworker/pastor/teacher/pet sitter is saying. They have a right to freedom of speech and expression backed by the mighty U.S. Constitution. Yes, this is a constitutional right. You don’t have to be happy about it. You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to listen or agree or applaud. That is your right. But you have no right to try and limit someone else’s rights. Your rights end where their nose begins. Their rights are just as important and guaranteed as yours.
Returning to the Confederacy issue that sparked this post, there is a swelling movement to tear down all Confederate monuments. Using the sanctimonious statement I encountered earlier today, all Confederate monuments are a celebration of white supremacy, racism, and slavery. On that note, tearing them down sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Why would anyone want to celebrate that? Hold on. Could there are have been other reasons for these monuments? Could these be freedom of speech? Have we bothered to read the history or understand why or are we just making assumptions to feel superior about ourselves?
Of course slavery is one of the horrors of human history. Speaking of that, there are more slaves now than there ever were before. How many of these masked protesters would go into battle to save even one trafficked girl? Per my Christian beliefs, racism is denying that we are all made in His image and have equal value. Devaluing or persecuting someone based on the color of their skin– as if they even control that!– is astoundingly ignorant. I’ve often said that supremacists of all shades need to go have DNA tests and, hello, Jesus wasn’t a white guy. I’m sure that most Americans agree that slavery, racism, and race-based supremacy are detrimental.
Because we generally agree that these things are bad, we want to erase symbols of them. But the cry to tear down Confederate memorials is ridiculously subjective. It dictates how others can or can’t memorialize their dead and their history. They say, “because it is Confederate, it needs to go!” Let’s try this logic on other quasi-random concepts:
-If the state of California were to successfully secede from the union, a movement largely driven by Progressives, then their names should be stricken from history and it should be illegal to memorialize this act in any way.
-The State of Washington should be renamed because George Washington owned slaves. So should D.C.
-Anyone who believed in preserving the union but owned slaves should not be considered a Unionist. Take down all likenesses.
-Any Southerner who fought out of loyalty to their family, state, or states’ rights is a supremacist bigot. None of them ever changed their views either.
-Because our English ancestors oppressed our Scottish ancestors– or our Arab ancestors sold our African ancestors into slavery– or insert any conflict between people groups on any continent– we should disavow that people group in its entirety. Don’t value anything admirable. They’re just evil.
-If I say you’re a racobigofascitotaliphobahateaholic, you are. Disregard the long-accepted and objective definitions of these terms and just go with it. It’s what the cool kids do.
-There’s a monument to William Henry Seward just next door to Lake View Cemetery in Volunteer Park. His family owned slaves. Should that statue be removed despite his own opposition to slavery and tremendous sacrifices on behalf on the Union? Some Alaskans didn’t want sculptures of what they deemed an imperialist white man in Juneau.
-If there’s a monument that offends me, I have the right to vandalize it, desecrate it, and tear it down, even over someone’s grave. Their remains and resting place are no longer sacred.
-It doesn’t matter if a monument is on private property. It should be subject to the same laws that public property is. (Totalitarianism, anyone? That distinction must remain.)
-Symbols of Christianity and Judaism are offensive to me as well as the Confederacy. I demand that those be taken down as well.
-Should we progress to book burning? Why not? (Does anyone see parallels to the “isms” here? See why some consider this Marxist revisionism?)
When does it stop? Where do we draw the line? This could go on and on. If it does, it becomes one group taking freedoms from others and dictating what is acceptable. They could even demand replacements that enshrine ideals and individuals that are just as offensive to huge groups of other Americans. Instead, we need to have dialogues, conversations, respectful exchanges. We need to study our history and stand in others’ shoes for a moment to try to understand where they’re coming from.
I don’t have the right to go break anything I think is bigoted. If I did, I’d be down in Fremont right now taking a sledgehammer to the abhorrent monstrosity that is the Vladimir Lenin statute. Oh, no big deal, millions were murdered in the Red Holocaust, but it’s just a neat piece of art that blends nicely into Seattle’s kitsch. If it offends someone who came to America to escape such oppression, they just don’t get the joke.
As I said in another forum today, some of us have been telling Seattle to take the Lenin out of its own eye for a while. The hypocrisy of having Lenin there while demanding that other monuments be taken down bothers some more than the actual statue, which could be construed as an homage to one of humanity’s greatest mass murderers. Some have wondered if Ted Bundy and Hitler would be okay there too.
(It could be argued that the structure celebrates what was good about Lenin. Or it’s just art that’s well done. Alright, then please stay on that track when addressing other monuments.)
Broad brushes. Grandiose generalizations. Feelings freak outs. These can be lazy and disrespectful ways to get your points across. Many of you know not to try these tactics on your children– “You always do this!” “You overreact every time!” “You make me crazy!” Your kids will out logic you and/or suffer because you aren’t acting like an adult. It’s okay to use this behavior with adults you disagree with though?
We need to return to our roots. People will die if we continue to allow these subjective labels, violence, and terrorism to continue. Try empathy– understanding the backstory. Try respect– you can speak respectfully even during strong disagreements (think Lincoln-Douglas). Try objectivity– being true to the classic definitions of words and concepts we throw at others. Try having friends who believe differently than you and celebrate what you have in common instead. Try patriotism– being proud of the diverse people who make up this country and the checks and balances our differences provide.
Ultimately there are forces in this world that are savoring every moment of Americans turning on other Americans. If we divide ourselves, we destroy ourselves, making us subject to some other nation or coalition that is an ism– something that won’t value our rights or property or freedoms. Have you considered that we’re playing right into some greater evil’s hands by so flippantly labeling and deriding our neighbors?
Don’t be a useful idiot. Be a passionate individual who expresses yourself and intelligently speaks out for what you believe in. Exercise your American freedoms and use them to achieve justice for others. Having both strong Democrat and Republican role models growing up, I greatly admire people who blaze with enthusiasm for their core values and can advocate for them without alienating their neighbors. They are the people who draw varying opinions into conversations, not insult them and spit them out. They are the brave souls who actually achieve reform and change the world rather than dividing it.
I understand why some want the Confederate memorial in Lake View Cemetery removed. But I disagree with actually removing it. It would be removed on the basis that it’s about racism, white supremacy, and slavery. It is more than that. It is a part of our collective history, a history that should never be forgotten. Americans should be allowed to commemorate their ancestors and graves especially should be off limits. We should not cave in to terrorism and criminal behavior either. If this is taken down, it will just cause even bigger fires. And is this the best thing Seattle has to do considering the state of its mayoral office and widespread human suffering?
We are Americans. To survive we must stay united. We are allowing ourselves to be divided by petty preconceptions and money-making mayhem manufacturers. Allowing one side to issue orders to another about what is right and acceptable without any constructive dialogue or fact-checking is just unleashing the wrecking ball that will take us out. Leave the dead where they lie and focus on saving the living. Let’s leave future generations an intact democratic republic instead of a black hole.
Update, 8/17/17: Here is verbiage from one of the online petitions demanding that the monument in Lake View come down. Note that these petitions claim that this monument was raised in the name of white supremacy– they are completely ignorant of the monument’s history. They obviously haven’t bothered to talk to the UDC or read their explicitly anti-racist creed. It’s their own version of reality, demanding that a structure on private property be subject to the same rules as public property.
How dare they blindly accuse this group of women as being white supremacist and racist. How dare they trample on others’ freedom of speech. They claim the monument serves no historical purpose– wow. One petition says that because you can see it from the road, it should be considered to be in the right-of-way and the land it’s on should be treated like a public place (!).
This is radical, dangerous thinking that ignores facts, didn’t even attempt to have a dialogue, and wants the government to force a private property owner to do their misinformed bidding. These sentiments are divisive and tear at the very bedrock of our Constitution. They have no right to prevent someone else from memorializing their people on private land. I’m sure some supporters mean well and are trying to do the right thing, but some just plain want to label and control other people’s business in some misguided quest to sanitize our nation of anything that disagrees with them. This has happened before, it got out of control, and hundreds of millions died.
This isn’t bigotry. This is history. Deal with it and stop falsely accusing others.
Erected in 1926 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, it was built to memorialize and commemorate the hate that ripped our country in two. It seeks to remind everyone that – despite losing a war – that White Supremacy is still alive and revered as a positive trait for (white) Americans to have. The fact that it still stands is a testament to how desperately White people clench to their race-based power.
With respect to the mayor, he should mind his own business on political speech or historic symbolism when they’re erected on private property. It’s not the role of the government to chill free speech rights, even if we find it abhorrent. He knows he has no power to compel them to remove the memorial, so all this statement does is serve as a heavy-handed dose of virtue signaling that injects him into a national conversation that he should have no part in.
And perhaps, given the allegations against the Mayor, I’m not sure he should hold himself up there as a moral authority in any fight to stand up against oppressors.
While Depeche Mode’s politics likely differ from my own, they knocked it out of the park with this song. This is the kind of fearless statement that can and should ignite constructive dialogues.
SEATTLE – A Confederate monument in Capitol Hill’s Lake View Cemetery is in the spotlight as a local group calls for its removal.
For more than a century, Lake View Cemetery has been the final resting place for many of Seattle’s pioneers.
Only a short walk from one of the cemetery’s most visited grave sites – that of Bruce Lee – a 14-foot granite monument memorializes Washington state’s Confederate veterans and their families.
“Just because it’s a military memorial doesn’t justify it,” Charlette LaFevere says. “It’s offensive.”
LeFevere is part of a small group calling on Seattle city leaders to have the 89-year-old United Confederate Veterans Memorial taken down.
“To me this is the most racist monument in the Northwest,” says LaFevere.
Just this weekend I read Marjorie Ann Reeves’ book about the Robert E. Lee Chapter #885 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the local chapter of this heritage group that was established in 1890. The Seattle chapter was founded in 1905 and has a proud history of supporting our country and community. They have worked jointly with other civic and patriotic organizations for 110 years.
Given how clear the modern UDC is that its objectives are historical, educational, benevolent, memorial and patriotic— and especially that it is not a racist organization– I strongly suggest these complainants get to know the people who erected and care for the memorial before accusing them of racism. A recent post on a Seattle P-I blog suggested that the memorial is a not-so-veiled KKK monument that serves no historical purpose and has no place in Seattle.
WHEREAS, The United Daughters of the Confederacy® is a patriotic Organization which honors and upholds the United States of America and respects its Flag, AND
WHEREAS, The United Daughters of the Confederacy® does not subscribe to policies of individuals, groups or organizations that do not honor and respect the United States of America and its Flag,
THEREFORE, BE IT KNOWN, that The United Daughters of the Confederacy® does not associate with or include in its official UDC functions and events, any individual, group or organization known as unpatriotic, militant, racist or subversive to the United States of America and its Flag, AND
BE IT FURTHER KNOWN, that The United Daughters of the Confederacy® will not associate with any individual, group or organization identified as being militant, unpatriotic, racist or subversive to the United States of America and its Flag.
Does this group know the ladies of the local UDC chapter, who originally raised the memorial and now care for it– and have to repair it when vandals hit? I do. They are descendants of Confederate veterans who are passionate about history and love their country. Not all are Southerners. Not all are Americans, even. They are a diverse group who choose to honor their ancestors– not slavery. It is narrow-minded indeed to assume that everyone who fought for the South, descended from the South, or educates others about the South is a racist.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, like many Americans, I have both Union and Confederate ancestors. At the time of this writing, more than a month after the G.A.R. Cemetery cleanup, anti-Confederate fervor is at a high not known in decades after the Charleston church shooting. I hesitate to include these photos because I’m concerned that some historically-ignorant or bigoted person will take it upon themselves to deface this piece of history. It will cost some wonderful staunchly non-racist women at the United Daughters of the Confederacy dearly out of their own pockets if something bad happens. This has already been vandalized in the past, but probably not for anti-Confederate reasons.
There were a number of issues driving the Civil War, namely the role of the federal government, states’ rights, preserving the Union, and economic issues. Ultimately the South believed it should have the right to break away. Slavery was certainly a prominent component of all of these issues, but many people didn’t take up arms to end or defend slavery. They asked why the federal government had the right to force them to be part of a union they felt they should be able to choose to secede from.
Similar questions are being asked in light of Supreme Court rulings this week both by those who agree and disagree with those outcomes– does the federal government have the right to dictate to the states? Or does the Constitution allow the states to make most decisions for themselves? In that context, it’s easier to understand why Southerners took up arms. Of course some were adamant about maintaining the ungodly institution of slavery, but it’s ignorant and offensive to suggest that all Confederates and/or Southerners were racist. My Confederate was multiracial and like many, a grandson of a Revolutionary War veteran. Many Southerners probably saw their cause as very similar to that which created our country in the first place.
Destroying Confederate memorials is only gasoline on the fire. Broad generalizations will only deepen the rifts vandals claim to be fighting against. While I absolutely condemn slavery and repeatedly remind people that the ground is level at the foot of the cross– no man is above another– I also choose to honor my Confederate ancestors and to preserve their history. We can show respect for the people who fought for what their home turf thought was right without agreeing with any erroneous ideologies. The Union and Confederate troops are part of our history and to erase the Confederacy from our memory will come to no good end. We must teach our children the whole story.
As a Christian, I am squarely against racism and slavery. My heavenly boss mandates that; many of my ancestors were outspoken against that horror. But racism has become a convenient catch-all term for anything certain people groups don’t like. For example, I don’t like how certain cultures that come to our country promote violence against women. Some will be quick to cry “racist!” when my dislike has nothing to do with race. The ideologies of which I speak transcend race and permeate many cultures. Even if a group of men who all look exactly alike treat women as substandard beings, I would still call out that behavior, and that still doesn’t make me a racist.
So I would ask people to consider what they really mean before calling someone or something racist. They’re not racist just because you don’t like it/them. They’re not racist just because you say so. The biggest demonstration of intolerance I’ve seen in this case so far is the call to have a historical monument removed in a free country– and in a city that claims to be so tolerant and inclusive. A friend of mine asked why the defacing of the UDC monument is not being treated as a hate crime. That’s a valid question.
But I remind myself that, in our area, practicing bigotry and intolerance is often okay when you claim to be acting out against bigotry and intolerance. That’s what it feels like in Seattle in 2015, especially when a vocal minority cries out for this monument’s removal as the city continues to turn a blind eye to its gigantic statue of one of the 20th century’s most prolific mass murderers, Lenin. And to whoever felt enlightened enough to vandalize the UDC memorial, it is never okay to desecrate someone’s grave site, especially not a fellow American’s or a soldier’s. That is sacred ground.
Those calling for the monument’s removal also need to be educated about who, exactly, lies at rest below this arch. I talked about some of them in Remembering the Blue and Gray. These men spent a few years of their youth fighting for the South and then relocated to the Northwest, becoming productive and accomplished local citizens. Local historian Matt McCauley pointed out that the original founders of Seattle were abolitionists and Union sympathizers. There was strong Northern sentiment here and the former Confederate soldiers who moved here knew that. McCauley said you could not live and do business in 1865 to 1920 Seattle and have been a slavery supporter; “you’d have been an outcast.”
While I can’t speak for the men buried at the UDC monument, I will say it’s possible to love the South and its way of life separate from endorsing the egregious horror that is slavery. Having strong feelings for the South, being from the South, and loving a Southern way of life are not synonymous with wanting or loving the unconscionable abuse and sale of fellow human beings. McCauley reminded me that many anti-slavery Southerners were conscripted or enlisted (in the Confederate cause) due to state loyalty. Some asked how they could take up arms against their own people, communities, and states. Do not assume that these men were slave owners or racists or bigots because they wore gray instead of blue. And lest we treat slave owning or racism or bigotry as unpardonable sins, God forgives upon request. People and organizations can evolve.
Returning to Marjorie Ann Reeves’ A Chapter in Pacific Northwest History, it was in 1926 that a 10-ton block of granite was shipped from Stone Mountain, Georgia to Seattle via the Panama Canal. The UDC had begun plans for a Confederate memorial at Stone Mountain a decade prior, one which was partially financed by the federal government. Edward G. Messett and James A. Wehn designed and sculpted the Seattle monument, with the bronze plaque of Robert E. Lee’s head a gift from Wehn. The cornerstone of the monument was laid on April 11th and it was unveiled on Memorial Day. In attendance, and even speaking, “were Washington State Governor Roland G. Hartley, Seattle Mayor Edwin J. Brown, Tacoma Mayor-Elect M.G. Tennent, and leaders of veterans groups from all over the state.”
Seattle Mayor Edwin J. Brown, may I point out, was a Socialist. This book contains a photo of a May 14th, 1926 letter from him to the local UDC chapter that says, “I thank you for your kind invitation to attend the exercises and speaking on the occasion of the unveiling of the Confederate Monument in Lakeview Cemetery… and shall be pleased to be present.” Governor Hartley was a Republican and Republicans had long been against slavery. The veterans would have been of various political and religious persuasions. Some had fought on the Union side. It was common, by this point, for Confederate and Union veterans to appear at public events together, like in parades.
Do you see where I’m going with this? This region was able to unite to commemorate the war’s dead and acknowledge their common past. They did not seek to erase it. They sought to heal from it, to learn from it, and to move on. Reeves mentioned that a Confederate flag was displayed at this ceremony– General George E. Pickett’s battle flag from Gettysburg, which was displayed with the U.S. flag. Right now a knee jerk reaction to the murders of my brothers and sisters in Christ in Charleston is to erase Southern symbols from our culture, including this flag. It’s easier and more visible to make superficial public gestures like that than make the daily effort to reach out to and love others different than ourselves. The former can be paraded on social media as well.
The UDC memorial in May 2015
Page 35 of Reeves’ book has a clipping from a local paper showing a picture of the UDC monument, and the unknown writer’s words need to be read by those attacking this memorial and calling for its destruction:
Blue and Gray Pay Honor to Heroic Dead
Confederate Monument Dedication Attended by Seattle Veterans; Unity Held Cemented
The great understanding of American ideals and principles, of American perseverance and ability that came of the Civil War, was brought home forcefully to the large number of people who attended and participated in the unveiling of a Confederate monument in Lake View Cemetery yesterday afternoon.
Significant of the present unity of the nation was the cosmopolitan character of principals in the ceremony. Veterans of the blue and veterans of the gray sat side by side on the speakers’ platform. Colored color sergeants standing beside the memorial throughout the dedicatory exercises revived keen memories of the purpose of the struggle between the North and the South.
NEVER AGAIN
Veterans of the Spanish-American War touched elbows with the olive drab of participants in the World War. Representatives of organizations dedicated to veteran relief work were present from all parts of the state.
M.G. Tennant, mayor-elect of Tacoma, struck the keynote of the occasion when he declared that the great understanding that has come out of the struggle justifies its terrible cost. “We know now that never again will there be a division in the United States,” he said.
The monument marks consummation of a dream of Southern women in the Northwest of more than two decades ago, declared Mrs. May Avery Wilkins, president of the Washington Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The monument is sponsored by the Robert E. Lee Chapter No. 885 of that organization.
Tribute to the valor and devotions of the soldiers of the Confederacy was paid by Mrs. Bradley T. Fowles, president of the chapter, by Mrs. Blackman of the Mildred Lee Chapter of Spokane, and by Mrs. J.D. Smith, president of Dixie Chapter of Tacoma.
MONUMENT DEDICATED
“We are here to dedicate this monument to a cause that cemented America forever, ” said Mayor Edwin J. Brown. D.B. Trefethen spoke on behalf of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce; State Commander William Downey of the Spanish War Veterans on behalf of that organization, and B. Schwellenbach on behalf of the American Legion, of which he is state adjutant.
Again, note the diversity of the people present. Note that they were united, not divided. Note that no one saw it weird or bigoted or politically incorrect to dedicate such a memorial. While some would argue that this was almost 90 years ago, at a time when minorities were not yet recognized as equal, I find this event far more inclusive and open-minded than some of the divisive and partisan functions the Seattle area hosts today. We live in a free country, yet there a rapidly increasing number of people who claim that others’ freedoms should be shut down to accommodate their own views. That’s not what freedom is about. That is slavery.
Ultimately those who want to wipe the South’s history off of the map and sanitize America of views or symbols that don’t sit right with their own need to get to know our shared history. I would also note that these same people would scream “freedom of speech!” if someone of an opposing view asked them to rid themselves of symbols that might be deemed offensive. They need to understand that a major reason for preserving our common history is so our children know their past and make better choices.
In this case, they should know who put the UDC memorial up and why. They need to acknowledge that the people who maintain the memorial are not racist and are allowed to honor their heritage as well as the Northwesterners buried there. If they truly want to make a difference in the injustice and bigotry in our society, they should start by having their facts in order and by choosing to build others up rather than tearing American history, with all its twists, turns, and flaws, down.
We need to be intimately familiar with our past, and we can love and honor those who came before us without liking everything they did. We can forgive the past instead of trying to reignite the Civil War in the name of political correctness, and celebrate what we have in common rather than disturbing the dead. Most of us wouldn’t imagine marching into a cemetery and demanding to remodel someone else’s burial plot. If I felt the modern UDC’s motivation to maintain this memorial was racist, I wouldn’t waste a second of my time defending it.
The bottom line is, Seattle, take the Lenin out of your own eye. Don’t tear down. Do as those present at the dedication of this memorial did. Heal. Learn. Build. Unite. Lead.
Never again.
I visited the UDC memorial tonight, and aside from it looking very clean and a green discoloration near a small plaque of the Confederate flag, I don’t see evidence of the recent vandalism, so thank you to Lake View for cleaning this up so well already. Let’s hope people have the respect, dignity, and maturity to leave this alone in the future.
Those who do not look upon themselves as links connecting the past with the future do not perform their duty to the world. -Daniel Webster
Update, 7/14/15: KIRO Radio featured this topic this morning, TOM AND CURLEY, Should Seattle remove its memorial to the Confederacy? (click to listen) They mentioned how King County, Washington– where Seattle is– was originally named after “a Confederate guy.” King County decided to consider itself named in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. instead of William Rufus Devane King because the latter was a slaveholder. See A look at King County’s original (ex) namesake. Note that King was a Unionist– meaning he opposed secession.
Update, 6/22/20: The memorial at Lake View Cemetery has been viciously vandalized yet again. Supposedly the cemetery and UDC are discussing how to respond. They should not give in to angry vandals whose mindset is that the only historic figures we should honor are those of their own choosing. That feels alarmingly Soviet, as if history is repeating itself and a shared history and culture is being purged.
I also don’t believe in rewarding bully tactics and turning a blind eye to history. There’s no dialogue here, only desecration at a site where people of all beliefs and colors came together for the dedication of the memorial. All of our ancestors would be horrified if they knew that some activists consider graves fair game. We dishonor our ancestors’ memories when we stoop to that level.
Desecration of grave sites should be prosecuted and this should be considered a hate crime as well. If this memorial is taken down, then it sets a precedent that any of us should be able to demand that any grave marker or monument offensive to us is removed from private property as well. That is an uncivilized precedent that tramples upon our constitutional rights. You might not like the memorial, but do you want people to come for yours if it offends them?
The UDC, which like many historic groups was founded as a benevolent organization to help old soldiers and support communities when Medicare, Social Security, and other government support didn’t exist, has this statement posted on their website:
Statement from the President General
12-1-2018 – For Immediate Release:
The United Daughters of the Confederacy appreciates the feelings of citizens across the country currently being expressed concerning Confederate memorial statues and monuments that were erected by our members in decades past.
To some, these memorial statues and markers are viewed as divisive and thus unworthy of being allowed to remain in public places. To others, they simply represent a memorial to our forefathers who fought bravely during four years of war. These memorial statues and markers have been a part of the Southern landscape for decades.
We are grieved that certain hate groups have taken the Confederate flag and other symbols as their own. We are the descendants of Confederate soldiers, sailors, and patriots. Our members are the ones who have spent 125 years honoring their memory by various activities in the fields of education, history and charity, promoting patriotism and good citizenship. Our members are the ones who, like our statues, have stayed quietly in the background, never engaging in public controversy.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy totally denounces any individual or group that promotes racial divisiveness or white supremacy. And we call on these people to cease using Confederate symbols for their abhorrent and reprehensible purposes.
We are saddened that some people find anything connected with the Confederacy to be offensive. Our Confederate ancestors were and are Americans. We as an Organization do not sit in judgment of them nor do we impose the standards of the 19th century on Americans of the 21st century.
It is our sincere wish that our great nation and its citizens will continue to let its fellow Americans, the descendants of Confederate soldiers, honor the memory of their ancestors. Indeed, we urge all Americans to honor their ancestors’ contributions to our country as well. This diversity is what makes our nation stronger.
Join us in denouncing hate groups and affirming that Confederate memorial statues and monuments are part of our shared American history and should remain in place.
Ms. Nelma Crutcher, President General, 2018-2020
Update 7/4/20: The Marxist crusade to erase American history continues. This monument has now been torn down and defaced. This is a private grave site on PRIVATE property and charges need to be filed against all involved.
A similar article about the monument’s history showed up on the Seattle PI’s website a couple of days ago. Mine was written five years ago. Theirs claims no one was buried underneath the structure. There are five graves immediately adjacent to it, so the structure likely fell on those men’s remains.
The world needs to know that slavery is alive and well– and a growing problem. The above article by Emma Christopher at the University of Sydney highlights slavery issues in African countries.While the rise of radical Islam is the real reason for the increase in slavery and abductions, Christopher has some powerful facts and figures to illustrate just how widespread slavery there is.
Slavery has always existed in Africa and that predates the European slave trade that began in the mid-15th century. The Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Arabs, collectively, used Africa as a source for slaves over thousands of years. Africans enslaved other Africans as well.
With the advent of Islam around 610 A.D., the slave trade flourished between Muslims and kingdoms in western Africa. When the Europeans showed up, some Africans sold other Africans to them. Slavery was already big business and some African kingdoms profited from it.
Today Muslims are capturing Christians to make them slaves, including kidnapping Christian girls and forcing them to convert to Islam and become good little veiled wives and/or selling them as sex slaves– either way, they’re being raped. This long legacy of human rights violations continues.
Here in the United States sex slavery is a problem and now and then you’ll see a story in the news about wealthy people, often immigrants, being caught keeping slaves. What hits the news is just the tip of the iceberg. From 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year. Human trafficking is the largest growing criminal industry in the world.
The mass kidnapping of schoolgirls by terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria is neither a new nor rare occurrence, though this does not make it any less shocking. Boko Haram has been active in Nigeria for five years and is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Africa’s slavery crisis.
In Nigeria, there are “tens of thousands of people bought and sold every year”, according to Africa expert Benjamin Lawrance. The majority are children: in 2003, the International Labour Organisation estimated that as many as six million Nigerian children had been trafficked at some time in their lives.
In Africa as a whole, the scale of the problem is vast and far beyond the resources currently allocated to fight it, let alone sufficient to…
Squirming in my chair, I was listening to the questions being asked of Phil, an anti-human trafficking activist with Frontline for Justice. It was Phil’s presentation, not mine, but my education and life experiences had me champing at the bit to back him on some of his answers.
Who does this? Why do they do it? Who are the customers? Why don’t the victims leave? Phil, an engaging speaker who had recently been on a mission trip to Thailand, was fielding these queries as he discussed the modern horrors of human trafficking, particularly sex trafficking. The audience was captivated and wanted to know what they could do to help stop it. (more…)
