It’s a sad day in New Orleans…Cultural Marxism has won…
The mayor of New Orleans wanted treasured cultural monuments removed and he got what he wished for at the expense of the citizens of the city:
“We will no longer allow the Confederacy to literally be put on a pedestal in the heart of our city.” – New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu
The City of New Orleans removed the first of four Confederate monuments this morning in an effort to appease those who believe the monuments represent racism or pretty much anything else they object to. By erasing our past, do we change anything?
Some on Twitter are saying:
“New Orleans starts taking down Confederate statues, like ISIS did in the Middle East removing the history of our lives.”
It’s not that we can compare religious persecution to a cleansing of history but it does have some similarities.
Emotions are running high because this involves a time in our history that brother fought brother and died…
Should we forget the struggle and refuse to honor those who fought and died? Isn’t it true that we should always remember history and learn from it?
We should also honor the soldiers who fought and died…No matter what!
A LETTER FROM A PATRIOT WHO MAKES THE CASE FOR KEEPING THE MONUMENTS:
Any Longhorn will proudly declare that The University of Texas is more than an academic institution. The University is a beacon – a promise that Texas will continue to produce citizens who care about its future. However, the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue from the Main Mall demonstrates that the university values its current students more than it does its future ones.
I believe that society does well to relegate the memory of the Confederacy to museums. Its legacy haunts the United States in ways that many will never understand. Recent events demonstrate that our nation may never fully heal from the wounds that the Civil War inflicted. However, removing a statue does not equate to progress…particularly when other symbols of Confederacy continue to stand on the South Mall.
In fact, the crowd of students and professors that gathered to witness the statute’s removal serves as clear evidence that the University worries more about public appearances than it does encouraging future generations to remember the achievements of the past. Much like the university, the Main Mall serves as more than a beautiful area of the campus. The university commissioned the mall as a memorial to the reconciliation of the North and South. Less than 50 years after the end of the Civil War, sons of Union and Confederate soldiers fought together on the fields of France during World War I. Their parents had taught them to hate each other, yet they persevered together to defeat a common enemy.
The South Mall’s designers arranged the statues in such a way that the sun set on the faces of the Confederacy, a sign that the era of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Albert Sidney Johnston would no longer govern Texas. However, the sun rises on the faces of men who stood as symbols of Texas’ hope for a progressive future: President Woodrow Wilson, Gov. Jim Hogg, and Senator John Reagan – a former Confederate sympathizer who encouraged Texas to rejoin the Union.
The statues look center toward a statute of George Washington, the preeminent founder who warned of the dangers of national division. The Littlefield Fountain bears a Latin inscription that translates to read: “Short is the life given, but the memory of a life nobly surrendered is everything.”
Ultimately, the South Mall reminds viewers not to honor the errors of the past, but rather that Texas can triumph in spite of its past. Yet rather than explain the Main Mall’s history and purpose to the public, the University allowed errant voices to rule the day. As a result, future generations will likely forget the Main Mall’s importance altogether. The moral of the story will be no more.
Longhorns, do not continue wasting time by fretting over appearances. Fight for worthwhile causes, and remember your history. It will make you better, and thereby prompt you to change the world.
McMichael lives in Waco. He graduated with his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas in 2014.
