Gov. Northam D-Va. in Blackface?

[whell]

Originally Posted by finnbow

You said "In contrast, its Dems leading the charge to revise / erase history by insisting that Confederate military statues must be torn down." This conservative meme belies the fact that these statues were not erected for educational or historical purposes. They were erected during the Jim Crow era with the express purpose of reasserting white supremacy and promoting the Lost Cause of the Confederacy (which itself is revisionist history).

Well, that's the Southern Poverty Law Center's conclusion. I don't think anyone - except maybe some of the inhabitants of this forum - would regard the SPLC as a reliable, unbiased source of historical fact. Could be that the SPLC wants to rewrite the history of the Jim Crowe era because it was the Southern Democrats who were running that show?

Sensibilities about history, and certain people's role in history, change over time. There's nothing new about this. There's nothing new about tearing down statues and likenesses of historical figures, whether its here in the US or elsewhere in the world. Statues are symbols. To some they commemorate and to some they glorify.

However, there's no question that in the wake of the destruction and tearing down of historically relevant statues and monuments, a certain amount of historical revisionism takes place.

Yet, the very reasons for the Civil War are still debated today. To many, both historical scholars and non-scholars, the war was only about slavery, and those folks are likely to view Southern politicians and military figures through the lens of race. Yet, records from that time indicate that while preservation of the institution of slavery was not always the primary reason cited by some of the states that seceded.

Robert E Lee - reasonable example of this. Many view him as a racist slave owner. Yet his history and writings reveal a bit more complexity. I think the rush to remove him from history is short-sighted.

Similarly, some might remove Byrd from history, or at least remove his name from Federal buildings. Is that the right course, or is it a wrong-headed attempt to erase lessons that could be learned from someone whose history might be a bit more complex to other folks.

Similarly, is the desire to throw Northam under the bus driven by the revelations his actions in the 1980's which are abhorent based on today's sensibilities, or because those actions came to light at a time that might be politically inconvenient? Do we need to throw anyone who has ever dressed up in blackface under the bus too (as images continue to surface of prominent celebs who have dressed up in blackface)?