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Confederate Monuments

A guest editorial was published in our local paper a couple days ago entitled Leave Our Monuments Alone1. It’s about preserving the confederate monument in front of our local county courthouse. It really bothered me. South Carolina has removed less public symbols of the Confederacy than any other state with 98% remaining2,3. Originally, I was going to respond directly to the author, but I’m writing this post as a response. I can cite hundreds of reasons for removing confederate monuments mostly involving the reasoning used to construct them in the post civil war Jim Crow2 southern states, but I feel like my concise little letter captures the essence of it.   

Gary,  

I just wanted to write a brief response on your guest editorial. I understand and agree with the some of your points and I applaud your confidence to write openly about it. I’m not going to waste any time with the political references because a lot of folks seem to be politicizing everything these days. I would, however like to respectfully disagree with your conclusion that the idea that “tearing things down is not a way to make things better”. We, the United States of America, tore down the confederacy for just this reason. We, the State of South Carolina, removed the confederate flag from atop our capital building for just that reason and we in Greenwood County can certainly do the same with the confederate monument in front of our courthouse. I’m very sympathetic to historical monuments. My ancestors in South Carolina served in American Revolutionary War. It just doesn’t make sense to keep a memorial dedicated to the failed confederacy in front of the building which represents the system of justice which has been defined the greatness of our country. Perhaps you could raise some money to move it elsewhere. You’re apparently intelligent enough to graduate from Stanford and I would like to ask you to please put that to good use by trying to empathize with those who may take affront to a monument memorializing a scar on our systems of justice. I’ll leave you with this quote from a man who studied in your state, honored by our state, and a true local hero. “We, today, stand on the shoulders of our predecessors who have gone before us. We, as their successors must catch the torch of freedom and liberty passed on to use by our ancestors.” ~ Dr. Benjamin E. Mays

I believe that in order to uphold those values of freedom and liberty, we must, on occasion move, remove, or to be more specific, tear down the monuments which no longer align with those values in order to make things better. 

Sincerely,  David A. Windham

  1. Leave Our Monuments Alone – http://www.indexjournal.com/opinion/guest_column/guest-column-leave-our-monuments-alone/article_4eded3b5-7cd5-5106-ab53-26a6802ee0f4.html
  2. Jim Crow laws – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws
  3. List of Confederate Monuments in South Carolina – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Confederate_monuments_and_memorials_in_South_Carolina
  4. (image) Confederate Monument, Greenwood County Courthouse, Greenwood, South Carolina – CC BY-SA 2.0 – https://www.flickr.com/photos/changeofvenue/albums/72157600786378963