After the 2015 mass shooting of a Charleston church left nine dead, the flag of The Confederate States of America was banned from public spaces. Supporters of the flag’s removal claimed that it represented an element of racism, and that the flag was offensive to the descendants of African Americans from the 1800s. It was soon after that the presence of statues and monuments to Confederate leaders were called into question.
The first statue to be removed was a statue of Jefferson Davis from the University of Texas Austin campus, and ever since, the number of statues being removed has been increasing.
Should we take down the Washington Monument, or remove Washington’s face from our currency, just because he owned slaves?
— Op-ed Editor Mitchell Smith
While the events that transpired under the rule of the Confederate States were tragic, that’s not a reason to remove statues and ban flags.
Those against said statutes say they represent individuals who believed in slavery, and owned slaves themselves, and should be removed.
However, George Washington owned slaves and the Washington Monument is dedicated to him. Washington even has his face on the dollar bill. Should we take down the Washington Monument, or remove Washington’s face from our currency, just because he owned slaves?
Under the flag of the United States, far worse has happened than under the Confederacy. The United States committed mass genocide against Native Americans, interned hundreds of thousands of Japanese American citizens during World War Two, and has been responsible for numerous tragedies throughout history.
The statues to Confederate leaders being removed isn’t necessarily a problem. The idea of removing them because they represent an awful tragedy in history is. If all these statues are removed, what’s next?
Even one of the worst events in human history, the Holocaust, is taught and remembered to this day. Numerous concentration camps, where millions of people were murdered, raped, and separated from their families are preserved and visited. The events of the Holocaust were just as tragic, if not worse, as slavery in America. So according to the logic of those wanting Confederate statues removed, Holocaust sites should also be removed.
Events in history, such as the Holocaust and slavery in the United States, should forever be remembered. Not as a glorification, but as a reminder. A reminder to never allow these events to happen again. Even if all Confederate statues are removed, it won’t stop there. Supporters will soon move to another tragic part of history, and seek its removal as well, and the reminders to never allow something like it to happen again will be gone.