It’s Time To Move Forward
The Love for the Confederacy is a Product of the American Education System
Confederate statues and monuments have gotten a lot of press in recent weeks, and for good reason. The United States is currently facing a time where the black community is rightfully fed up with being systemically overlooked, oppressed, and murdered, and they’re making it loud and clear. Because of this, a lot of people have been turning their eyes to the statues and monuments that glorify the leaders and members of the Confederate military.
In the United States, there are currently 1503 individual memorials, statues, and monuments to the Confederacy, most of which are statues depicting Confederate soldiers (1). There are many in the south that view this as nothing more than an homage to the history of the southern states; however, many view these as the glorification of one of the darkest points in American history; the American Civil War.
The Civil War was fought because the southern states that formed the Confederacy wanted to be able to own slaves and use them as their labor force (2). While there are a lot of people who still fly the Confederate flag today who will tell you it was “only about states’ rights,” they might be forgetting (or blatantly ignoring) that the rights in question were those pertaining to the buying and selling of human beings for plantation labor and economic profit.
Given that we know what the Confederate army and its symbols stood for, why is there any pushback regarding the removal of these statues and monuments?
A major factor is the American education system.
For starters, the American education system, specifically in the area of American history, leaves a lot to be desired. A recent New York Times study found that the contents of American history textbooks can differ wildly from state to state based on the politics of the state (3). For example, a textbook in California that discusses the rise of the suburban lifestyle as the “American Dream” will also discuss the housing discrimination black people faced, resulting in them not being able to buy houses in the suburbs, while the same textbook in Texas will completely brush over it.
This creates serious gaps in our country’s collective knowledge, and it also erases the brutal history of several minority groups in our country. These gaps in our education, along with one’s upbringing and what one hears from those around them, create a situation where the Confederate flag and the soldiers who fought for it are idolized and revered as rebels, rather than condemned for their racist acts.
There are some who believe that Confederate statues need to stay, but not because they idolize or admire the army or its soldiers, but to create a dialogue about the war (4). This is definitely not the way to create a healthy dialogue.
Monuments are there to immortalize and commemorate people and events. While we should never forget the Civil War and the fact that half of the United States wanted to own people, we should go about remembering it in a different manner. Put the statues in a museum and give them historical context. Make sure when that we acknowledge the fact that these men died fighting in a war, we also acknowledge what they were fighting for and how it has affected our country since then.
There is no rulebook on how to heal the wounds that many people in this country feel because of our racist past and those who continue to live by and preach these ideals. However, we can start the process by educating the next generation and end the glorification of the men who fought for the right to own human beings.
