On Moments Parks and History - the full equation
So they're having themselves a March in Charlottesville Va today. It's only an hour up the road bit I'm not going to protest. I have better things to do than go tell ignorant people they are dumbasses.
I'm not a native Virginian but I have lived here most of the last 4 decades and I've lived in Richmond for 23 years. Monuments are a big thing here in Richmond. The place is littered with second place trophies. I actually attended the unveiling of the Athur Ashe monument on Monument Avenue in 1996. There was a long drawn out nasty fight about putting that Monument up. Guess who showed up to protest at that event, no not the Klan but Sons of Confederate Veterans and White Nationalists. A matter of degree with those groups really.
That event and where the Ashe monument stands are in the city of Richmond. I was a resident of the city at the time. I can guarantee you that those protestors weren't city residents just like the Clown er uh Klan organization marching today isn't from Charlottesville or even from Virginia - they are from Pelham NC just across the border. Yep "bused in protestors".
Funny side note about the Ashe monument unveiling - At one point I realized there was a straight line between where I was standing, the protestors, and the local TV station cameras. It was a wide distance as Monument Avenue is very wide but all I could think was I was going to be in the coverage sort of standing alongside the rebel flags. Luckily I wasn't.
What part of the current equation are we missing?
Monuments across the South (yes even the flag in South Carolina - remember that?) are coming down and parks and schools are being renamed. These actions are being done by elected city and government officials. Well who put them up to start with? Elected city and government officials. The difference is that these things and names were created as praise not "remembering history". Praise for people on the wrong side of history.
Monuments and names are not history. Sequoia National Park and Joshua Tree and the Grand Canyon and (locally) Natural Bridge ARE HISTORY. Actual living breathing history.
THAT's the full equation (or story) here.
Spare me the righteousness based on ignorance and not telling the whole story including the whole story of these man made things and place names.
