Even the Bible Is Full of Flawed Characters - NY Cardinal Dolan, WSJ op-ed

[wnylib]

8. The Auschwitz camp does not honor

and glorify Nazis. It is a perpetual reminder of the depths of their depravity. And a memorial to the people who were murdered.

A statue is a symbol of honor, to revere the subject of the statue.

Not the same things at all.

I am all for removing statues of Confederate soldiers and officers, as well as Columbus and Andrew Jackson. They did much harm with few or no redeeming qualities worthy of note. Put them in history museums with plaques describing their deeds.

Others, like Washington and Jefferson, were enslavers while proclaiming liberty for themselves. Hypocrites. But they also laid the groundwork for a nation with ideals of liberty and the means of change in government. Let their worthwhile achievements be known, but their faults and flaws be openly admitted and known, too.

What about putting up more statues that honor people of all races and ethnicities for .their contributions to values that we claim to believe in and promote? Harriet Tubman, SojounerTruth, Frederick Douglass, Abigail Adams, unnamed abolitionists, Justice Robert Jackson (Nazi war crimes trials), the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) consultants at the Constitutional Convention, the Navajo code talkers of WWII. Also people whose works and inventions improved people's lives and promoted peace, health, and happiness. There are so many of all backgrounds in our history that we can acknowledge and honor for contributing to values we can admire and hope to live up to.