So surely was the sentiment of many this past week when the last of four prominent statues/monuments were dismantled and hauled away from various locations throughout the city of New Orleans. Of course, they were Confederate monuments.
Yes, I agree, when I first saw three of these highly visible statues as I was getting acclimated to my new Koyaanisqatsi Home back in the day, I was a bit confused as to how in the hell they had survived into the 21st century. But then as I lived and worked in the Crescent City over those threadbare months in my life, I became familiar with the dichotomy of this old, multi-cultural town. New Orleans is virtually an island of contradictory ethnicities and allegiances that learned over the many millennia of its, at times, tenuous existence, that the best Golden Rule of longevity may not be "Do unto others as you'd do unto yourself" but rather "Live, and Let Live."
Nineteenth century marble and bronze monuments to a dead cause were seen, in my humble opinion, as relics of a bygone era, no longer representative in our time of the ideals of a pro-slavery, rebellious elite, but instead seen for what they simply are, beautiful, stoic and yes, somewhat creepy, works of classical sculpture. Art, that is. And, as the old French motto claims "L'art pour l'art."
But now we apparently live in the Age of Political Correctness. Don't get me wrong, being more politically aware is, I believe, a laudable goal for dealing with the many controversial issues that we're facing including the issue at hand here, namely racism and institutional deprivation of a certain population (slavery and its present day kin, ingrained prejudice against blacks). But taking it to the extreme, especially in regards to historical revisionism, is, again in my opinion, just plain wrong.
Listen, slavery happened in North America and it was directly tied to the color of a person's skin. And yes, the Confederate States of America was founded pretty much entirely to attempt to keep the system going for as long as the white slave owners could. Yes it's tragic. But we can't put blinders on and wipe its memory away. To do so actually dishonors the strides made over the more recent decades toward equal rights since it diminishes the evil that oppressed rights in the first place.
If we're all about erasing reminders of a painful past, then we have to start looking at other monuments in New Orleans as well. Here is a very prominent statue of Jean Baptiste le Moyne de Bienville, founder of New Orleans.
He oppressed black slaves with strict laws and sought to wipe out the local Natchez Indians.
This statue depicts Bernardo de Galvez, colonial governor of Louisiana under Spanish rule. He was noted for his attacks on the Apache when out west.
And, of course, there's Andrew Jackson. And we know how well he treated Native Americans during the infamous Trail of Tears as well as the Seminole Wars. Soon, political correctness will have his face removed from the twenty dollar bill, but this statue, smack dab in the middle of the iconic square named for him; will it be destroyed?
How far do we go? How about the cathedral in the background? Catholicism is responsible for millions of hangings, tortures and burnings of innocent people. Hey, what about the entire city itself? It was founded on soil bloodied by Native Americans slaughtered by the French. Its purpose was to protect and foster trade up and down the Mississippi by white men, for white men. So, I guess we should burn it down. Gosh forbid our children and their children have to endure the mental scars of humanity's viscous and unfair past.
Just cleanse it all away.
Yes, I agree, when I first saw three of these highly visible statues as I was getting acclimated to my new Koyaanisqatsi Home back in the day, I was a bit confused as to how in the hell they had survived into the 21st century. But then as I lived and worked in the Crescent City over those threadbare months in my life, I became familiar with the dichotomy of this old, multi-cultural town. New Orleans is virtually an island of contradictory ethnicities and allegiances that learned over the many millennia of its, at times, tenuous existence, that the best Golden Rule of longevity may not be "Do unto others as you'd do unto yourself" but rather "Live, and Let Live."
Nineteenth century marble and bronze monuments to a dead cause were seen, in my humble opinion, as relics of a bygone era, no longer representative in our time of the ideals of a pro-slavery, rebellious elite, but instead seen for what they simply are, beautiful, stoic and yes, somewhat creepy, works of classical sculpture. Art, that is. And, as the old French motto claims "L'art pour l'art."
But now we apparently live in the Age of Political Correctness. Don't get me wrong, being more politically aware is, I believe, a laudable goal for dealing with the many controversial issues that we're facing including the issue at hand here, namely racism and institutional deprivation of a certain population (slavery and its present day kin, ingrained prejudice against blacks). But taking it to the extreme, especially in regards to historical revisionism, is, again in my opinion, just plain wrong.
Listen, slavery happened in North America and it was directly tied to the color of a person's skin. And yes, the Confederate States of America was founded pretty much entirely to attempt to keep the system going for as long as the white slave owners could. Yes it's tragic. But we can't put blinders on and wipe its memory away. To do so actually dishonors the strides made over the more recent decades toward equal rights since it diminishes the evil that oppressed rights in the first place.
If we're all about erasing reminders of a painful past, then we have to start looking at other monuments in New Orleans as well. Here is a very prominent statue of Jean Baptiste le Moyne de Bienville, founder of New Orleans.
He oppressed black slaves with strict laws and sought to wipe out the local Natchez Indians.
This statue depicts Bernardo de Galvez, colonial governor of Louisiana under Spanish rule. He was noted for his attacks on the Apache when out west.
And, of course, there's Andrew Jackson. And we know how well he treated Native Americans during the infamous Trail of Tears as well as the Seminole Wars. Soon, political correctness will have his face removed from the twenty dollar bill, but this statue, smack dab in the middle of the iconic square named for him; will it be destroyed?
How far do we go? How about the cathedral in the background? Catholicism is responsible for millions of hangings, tortures and burnings of innocent people. Hey, what about the entire city itself? It was founded on soil bloodied by Native Americans slaughtered by the French. Its purpose was to protect and foster trade up and down the Mississippi by white men, for white men. So, I guess we should burn it down. Gosh forbid our children and their children have to endure the mental scars of humanity's viscous and unfair past.
Just cleanse it all away.