Which statues of historical figures should we remove?
By Keith Gaby
March 4 at 4:39 PM
... a simple test could guide us in these decisions. If a historical figure is being honored principally for an act of human oppression — for instance, taking up arms against the United States in order to perpetuate slavery — that honor should be removed. But if a school, bridge or town is named to recognize a person’s positive contribution to society, it should stay — even if that person has other negative associations. We should ask ourselves what we are celebrating, and act accordingly.
Arlington, where I live, provides two major examples. Running through the county is Jefferson Davis Highway. No one can claim Davis is being honored for anything other than his leadership of the pro-slavery rebellion. It’s not as though his service in President Franklin Pierce’s Cabinet earned him the tribute. It’s clear to me his name should be removed from the highway.
Running parallel to Jefferson Davis Highway is the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Washington was a slave owner, an aspect of his life that makes most Americans uncomfortable. But the parkway was not named to honor his role in that oppressive institution. The name appears throughout the country because Washington led us to independence and helped establish the good-government principles that have served us so well ...
Does this test mean that all Southerners of the Civil War era should be removed from places of honor? Many certainly should be, but worthy individuals could replace those who stood for slavery. Amos Akerman, a white quartermaster in the Confederate Army, was — after the war, as U.S. attorney general — an advocate for the rights of freed slaves and a crusader against the Ku Klux Klan. Robert Smalls, a black Southerner born into slavery, became a hero for the Union and a congressman. We could proudly replace Davis’s name on Route 1 with the name of either of these sons of Dixie ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/which-statues-should-we-remove-use-this-test/2016/03/04/984829d4-da7d-11e5-81ae-7491b9b9e7df_story.html
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