DEMOCRATS ERASING HISTORY IN
AMERICAN SOUTH, Author
argues left won't stop with Confederate statues, 5/13/17, WND
Under cover of darkness and with
construction crews wearing masks, they
drove Old Dixie down in New Orleans. A statue of Confederate States of
America President Jefferson Davis was removed from its podium early Thursday morning,
one of four Confederate memorials Democratic Mayor Mitch Landrieu has vowed to
banish from the city in the name of “diversity, inclusion and
tolerance” in
the crime-ridden Louisiana city.
Though the removal of the statue was
greeted with a cheer, The Lost Cause was not without its supporters, many of
whom waved Confederate battle flags and called for the mayor to be imprisoned.
David Barton, a historian and author
of “The
Jefferson Lies,” said the crusade against
Confederate monuments is simply an attempt by the left to erase history. He
said even monuments that some might think are offensive can be used for a good
purpose.
“Confederate Memorials would not
need to be taken down if we still truly taught American history,” he told WND.
“I can stand below the statue of Jefferson Davis, and although there were many
good things that he did do, particularly before he joined the Confederacy, I
can make his statue a positive helpful lesson by telling what we can learn from
his life, including the bad that he did.
“I could explain the devastation,
humiliation and tyranny that results from him having a philosophy that sees
people not as individuals but only as part of groups, and that tries to
interpret the Constitution apart from the values of the Declaration of
Independence. Of course, progressives, liberals and the courts are doing that
now! I wonder where that will lead? History clearly tells us – if only we still
knew that history.”
Barton also believes the Democrats
cheering the statues being taken down would be shocked if they knew the history
of their own party.
“The city plans to pull down four
statues, those of Jefferson Davis, PGT Beauregard, the Crescent City White
League and Robert E. Lee,” he noted. “I hope they tell the folks in New Orleans
that all of these monuments honor Democrats, and that the Confederacy was led
solely by Southern leaders of the Democrat Party. In a Democrat city like New
Orleans, I can’t understand why Democrat leaders want old venerated Democrat
heroes taken down!”
Scott Greer, author of “No
Campus For White Men,” says the
answer is obvious. While he agrees with Barton the destruction of the statues
is an attempt by the left to erase history, he argues what is happening has
nothing to do with political parties but is something more primal.
“It’s an attempt to wipe out any
pride Southerners should have in their heritage,” said Greer. “It’s the same
kind of process we see on college campuses, where anything white people did in
the past tends to be demonized. The left is driven by a desire to interpret all
of history through the eyes of 21st century progressive dogma. In their eyes,
everything about the American past is bad and shameful and must be driven into
the dirt.”
Barton agrees the intolerant atmosphere
on leftist dominated college campuses has spread to the larger society. He
believes the left’s militancy will eventually backfire.
“We have created a snowflake
environment that demands safe spaces for things that challenge the politically
correct bias of the month,” he said.
“Soon we’ll have to take down Susan
B. Anthony statues because even though she fought for women’s suffrage, she was
openly pro-life; and, in today’s women’s movement, no one can be a true woman
unless she supports Planned Parenthood and abortion. And of course Harriet
Tubman statues will be taken down, for even though she was a leading conductor
on the Underground Railroad bringing slaves to freedom, she was also a huge
advocate for the right to keep and bear arms. For modern civil rights
advocates, guns are anathema, and no true civil rights advocate can be for
guns!
“We no longer look at heroes as
people or as complex individuals; rather we now judge them solely by one issue,
whatever that issue happens to be at the time. We are creating a culture where
we believe we have a right not to be offended or even have our misconceptions
challenged; and we’re willing to use coercion to keep ‘me’ from being offended,
even if that offends ‘you.’ What offends us now is so routinely redefined that
probably no statue now will survive more than a generation before it becomes
offensive to someone who will demand its removal.”
Barton is no fan of the Confederacy
or of certain American leaders such as Andrew Jackson, whom he faulted for being
“pro-slavery” and “forcibly taking American lands.” But Barton believes statues
should remain to teach students about the American past. He also believes
American Founding Fathers such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson can be
defended because their work ultimately led to the abolition of slavery.
“Washington and Jefferson both owned
slaves, but their state laws made it difficult if not impossible for them to
free all their slaves,” said Barton. “Yet there were few Virginia voices more
anti-slavery than those two. Both worked to advance abolition laws in their
state and both signed federal anti-slavery laws. There is a reason that black
civil rights leaders for generations praised both Washington and Jefferson.”
But Greer believes conservatives are underestimating the ferocity of what they are facing.
“Too many conservatives think they
will be able to draw this distinction between figures such as Robert E. Lee, or
Andrew Jackson or George Washington,” he said. “But to the left, there is no
distinction between any of these figures, any of these dead white men they so
hate. Conservatives cannot support taking down Confederate monuments and think
somehow the statues and monuments to the slave-owning Founding Fathers will
still remain up. Nor will it stop there. The anti-Confederate push will
eventually swell to consume all of American history. Look what’s happening on
college campuses.”
Indeed, Malcolm Suber, an organizer
of one of the groups agitating to take down the statues, the Take ‘Em Down NOLA
Coalition, is a professor of political science at a historically black college
and was casually
identified by the New York Times as “an avowed Marxist-Leninist.”
Suber has previously been a part of
activist efforts that successfully renamed a school that originally honored
George Washington. He also told the Times he wanted to see the statue of
Washington by the New Orleans Public Library be taken down.
Greer pointed out reports the statue
dedicated to Joan of Arc had been recently
defaced by unknown protesters, though
it would be hard to blame Joan of Arc for slavery. He also noted Lee Circle,
now being targeted for removal, had been vandalized soon after President Donald
Trump’s election by
spray-painted slogans including “die whites die” and “black power.”
Furthermore, said Greer, monuments
and statues to Thomas Jefferson are also habitually attacked, even
at his own alma mater. After
Confederate monuments are removed nationwide, suggested Greer, it seems likely
Jefferson is next.
“It’s not about politics or ‘limited
government’ or Republicans versus Democrats,” said Greer. “Just listen to the
words of those agitating for this. They always want more and they aren’t going
to stop with the Confederate flag. They aren’t going to stop with George
Washington or Thomas Jefferson either. They want to take away our entire
history. And unless conservatives stop apologizing and actually start pushing
back, they’re probably going to win. The whole country will look like one
far-left college campus.”
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