Last weekend white supremacists ( including alt-right; neo-Nazis, etc...) held a
rally to protest the removal of a statue of General Robert E. Lee, one of the most revered and respected military commanders of his time - something acknowledged even by Union soldiers. By most historical counts, Lee was a noble man, but he also supported the Confederacy, thus leaving a heavy stain on what would likely have been a distinguished career had he chosen to side with the Union rather than bind his loyalty to his beloved home state of Virginia (Arlington National Cemetery in VA is actually situated on land formerly owned by Lee). I briefly read his bio on
Wikipedia, and its unclear to what degree he supported slavery. He certainly had his own slaves, but he also made several statements which put into question the morality of slavery.
Unfortunately,
clashes between white supremacists and anti-fascist, anti-racist (or whatever label you want to assign) counter-protesters resulted in violent clashes, and a
tragic death when a white supremacist plowed his vehicle down an ally hitting at least a dozen bystanders.
My own views on this protest have evolved. Without knowing the back story, I thought defenders of the Lee statue, racist or not, had the right to protest their cause. But in the aftermath and post-analysis, it's clear that many of those on the alt-right, and particularly the pro-Nazi folks were of despicable character. This does not exonerate violence from the counter-protesters, but clearly when one brings firearms to the protest, and deliberately breaks negotiated agreements with the police on where to protest, one is basically asking for a fight.
I'm sure no one would accept a statue of Hitler in Germany. Does General Lee evoke similar
reactions among African-Americans? If perceived symbols of hatred inflict pain (and painful memories) to some groups, should they be
removed altogether? Are there good reasons for why they should
remain? That's the debate which is unfolding, and based on the turn-about of both
MD and
VA governors (both probably for politically expedient reasons), the answer seems to be yes. This isn't a recent phenomena. Confederate
statues have been targeted for removal in
recent years, but are accelerating after Charlottesville. Just today, Duke University
removed a statue of Lee after it was defaced. The tension surrounding first amendment rights, hate, and racism as embodied in Confederate monuments is an excellent case for studying the evolution and contestation of public norms as Americans continue to further debate this issue.
Two final thoughts. The
Washington Post had an interesting
article based on research in social psychology on why people are racist. Unsurprisingly, their answer is social rather than biological. Here's an excerpt:
People learn to be whatever their society and culture teaches them. We often assume that it takes parents actively teaching their kids, for them to be racist. The truth is that unless parents actively teach kids not to be racists, they will be,” said Jennifer Richeson, a Yale University social psychologist. “This is not the product of some deep-seated, evil heart that is cultivated. It comes from the environment, the air all around us.”
“An us-them mentality is unfortunately a really basic part of our biology,” said Eric Knowles, a psychology professor at New York University who studies prejudice and politics. “There’s a lot of evidence that people have an ingrained even evolved tendency toward people who are in our so-called 'in group.'”
But how we define those groups, and the tendency to draw divisions along racial lines, is social, not biological, he added. “We can draw those lines in a number of ways that society tells us,” he said.
“But when people come into contact with an organized ideology that valorizes or glorifies an intergroup struggle like a race struggle — that scaffolds from people’s everyday prejudices into something altogether more violent,” he said.
White supremacist groups promote a “siege mentality” among their followers, Knowles said — rhetoric that aims to lend legitimacy to people’s racial and ethnic fears. He pointed to the slogans shouted by participants in the Charlottesville rally: “You will not replace us” and “White Lives Matter.”
Additionally, today's WaPo featured a
profile on the "road to hate": how a few white supremacists who participated in the Charlottesville protests ended up embracing their movement. Again, life experiences, shaped by socio-economic as well as identity issues (i.e. finding a sense of belonging) mattered. I'm taking mental notes for future studies on how actors come to adopt particular worldviews/beliefs.
Second, my wife and I took a trip to
Harpers Ferry the day after the Charlottesville protest. This city is a real gem and must see - only an hour from Washington DC. Our visit was timely. Harpers Ferry is best known for abolitionist John Brown's 1859 raid on a federal armory in hopes of leading an uprising to end slavery. It was put down by the U.S. military, led by then Colonel Robert E. Lee. There was also a small museum telling the story of the little known Niagara Movement in the early 1900s led by WEB Dubois. Ironically, the movement was undermined by other black intellectuals such as Booker T. Washington who preferred a more quite approach of conciliation and accommodation (with privileged whites) to raise the status of blacks. Like today, there was much debate regarding the best strategies and tactics for promoting racial equality and justice. Finally, there was a museum dedicated to the historically black
Storer College which existed from 1865-1955 in Harpers Ferry. Clearly the school holds great
significance for its alumni despite its now defunct status. Among the many things which struck me as fascinating about Storer was its religious curriculum and its support from Freewill Baptists in New England. Christians (and evangelicals in particular) get lumped these days with the alt-right or as Trump supporters. The media recently hammered the point how Trump's evangelical advisory board had
yet to disband. It was a nice personal reminder, however, that the Gospel message is not one of hate and discrimination, but of love and acceptance - and for those reasons New England Baptists believed in and supported Storer College. The lesson here for social scientists is that movements, factions, groups etc... are much more complex than we assume.
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Update:
Calls to remove all Confederate statues may in some cases been a knee-jerk reaction to disassociate from white supremacists. VA governor Terry McAuliffe
stated moving the monuments are unlikely given the costs of their removal. Instead, adding more "context" might be an alternative way to address them.
A theater in Memphis, TN decided to pull its screening of "Gone With the Wind" over the film’s "sanitized portrayal" of the Civil War-era South and African-Americans, to which one writer in the
WaPo questioned:
But just because it’s not educational television doesn’t mean that “Gone With the Wind” should be shunned entirely, just as the Confederate statues that are coming down around the country should be preserved and curated, not destroyed. Both types of period pieces are valuable historical artifacts, not of the events and people they portray, but of previous generations of Americans’ efforts to figure out how they feel about the Civil War.
On both the film and the monuments, WaPo film critic
Ann Hornaday responds:
The perfunctory removal of the monuments might have been wise from a political and public-safety standpoint, but it was at odds with the transparency and moral reckoning that are necessary for accountability and healing. And it did not comport with the recommendations of a review commission, convened by then-Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, whose 2016 report suggested that the Confederate monuments be re-sited or richly re-contextualized but never simply removed and forgotten...“It is not the responsibility of each generation to judge past generations,” the commission concluded. “It is, however, every generation’s responsibility to clear the way for truth to be heard.”
I was more reticent about removing
all Confederate monuments, although I've been telling others my opinion is that they should be removed. But was my own opinion also shaped by public sentiment? On reflection, if we were to destroy/remove all monuments, would we also not be whitewashing history? Yet the purpose of monuments/statues in public spaces is to commemorate and glorify, not necessarily educate and learn. Putting Confederate monuments in museums might be one answer. Or perhaps putting signage with more context? Striking a healthy balance is tricky with the shifting times.
