We Are All Great Grandchildren of the Confederacy and the Slavocracy and our Heritage belongs in Museums not Public Squares

With the monuments to Confederate "heroes" tumbling down this past week (after years of protests) and great grandchildren of key figures either applauding it or being okay with it (despite our president's condemnation of those long overdue removals), it strikes me that we are all great grandchildren of the Confederacy and the Slavocracy that it fought to preserve.  And most of us are quite clear that there is a massive difference between people who fought for our independence from England and people who fought to destroy the union rather than give up their way of life--which relied upon the institution of slavery.

Some of us, quite literally, like me (and other white and African-American people), are direct descendants of people who enslaved others.  And there are many others who are descendants of people who benefitted financially from slavery (as did many northern investors and business people).  And then there are the rest of us who simply as Americans live with this as our common heritage/baggage/legacy.

The events in Charlottesville hit very close to home for me as one branch of my family recently held a family reunion in Shepherdstown, WV near the family crossroads between that and Harpers Ferry, WV.  One of our direct ancestors there owned a farm there upon which enslaved people worked and lived.  I find that I cannot bring myself to say that anyone "owned" someone else, because although it was a legal reality,  it was always a violation of spiritual law and therefore an impossibility in my eyes.  Even though this ancestor lived in (West) Virginia, which didn't secede from the union, he chose to fight for the Confederacy.   When the war ended, he lost the farm (and his unpaid bound workers were emancipated, of course).

When President Trump questions the removal of these monuments to Confederate "heroes," he is clearly being intentionally divisive and playing on the fact that so many of us, especially his voter base, are descended from the Confederacy (which many abolitionists accurately identified as "the Slavocracy").  He is counting on us identifying with our ancestors and feeling personally attacked by these actions.

Well, I can't speak for anybody but myself, but I personally feel relieved by the actions of removing these monuments.  Yes, these are my ancestors (none of them "heroes," but rank and file); and yes, I am still interested in who they were and what they did; and yes I still want to know my cousins; but no, I do not find it appropriate to celebrate them in the public square.   Having Confederate statues in the public square is just a sanitized version of having statues of African-American people being lynched, whipped, terrorized, raped and murdered in the public square.  I can't imagine many who would want the latter, although it would certainly be a more honest representation of the horrific reality than Scarlett O'Hara with her hoop skirts and mint juleps.

Meanwhile, let us not let the president's words distract us from noticing and responding to the president's actions.   For example, President Trump has all but announced that he is planning to pardon Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the middle of a live legal proceeding to determine his punishment for proven systematic police brutality towards Latinos or perceived immigrants.  This unprecedented intervention, if it happens, would reinforce a message to all police departments that they can (continue to) engage in systematic violations of civil rights and possibly face no repercussions.  

Our country has a long history of allowing, condoning, papering over and even celebrating outrageous and indefensible acts against people of color such as the institution of slavery, genocide of Native Americans and the ongoing voter suppression, school to prison pipeline and police brutality.   This legacy hangs over all of us, poisoning our ability to come together to solve other issues which threaten our common humanity, like climate change, universal health care, homelessness and increased poverty.  

I don't think African-Americans have ever forgotten that this is our heritage.  What is happening today is that white people are waking up to this nightmare, that has been our collective reality, and feeling it.  It is time for white people to come together to begin to creatively engage in a call for real and meaningful public reparations.  Until that happens, the actions of our great grandparents will continue to haunt us in the public square.