Knee-jerk decisions on monuments, memorials may miss the lessons of history

While we in Tarrant County were watching the Commissioners Court decide to remove the Confederate marker in front of the courthouse, political leaders and others in Boston were dealing with their own challenges to monuments there.

Both occasions provide an opportunity to consider the future of historical statues and memorials that have become part of the protests and demands for reforms sweeping the country following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

While only two cases among hundreds of others across the land, there’s a lot to consider if we will just take the time to get it right.

In the local experience, there was an opportunity for the public to engage in the decision before the county’s elected body. Whether we agree with their near unanimous decision to relocate the marker to another venue, at least we had access to our elected leaders as they deliberated.

We could approach them, tell them what we wanted them to do, and remind them by our presence in the proceedings that it is we the voters who will have the final say.

Isn’t that the way it is supposed to work in our democracy? If it is, then why are we standing by and letting symbols of our nation’s history be destroyed by some other force of power not authorized by any voters?

That’s the lesson that can come from what took place in Tarrant County.

Meanwhile, in Boston, something very different was happening. Among other acts of vandalism and lawless behavior, what is perhaps the most venerated monument to the Civil War was mindlessly under attack.

The nearly life-size memorial is a tribute to the first all-volunteer black regiment of the Union Army. The executive director of Friends of the Public Garden, Liz Vizza, explains its importance in American history.

“A thousand men signed up just after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation,” she said. “Just think about that. These are men who, if they were captured in the south, would be enslaved or murdered. But his cause was so important to them, they signed up to go fight for their freedom.”

The defaced monument was surrounded with plywood to protect it while undergoing restoration. Then, even the plywood was covered in obscene graffiti.

Now, the mayor of Boston is apparently considering removing another vandalized statue, this one from 1876, featuring Abraham Lincoln and a freed slave.

Frederick Douglass, the prolific Black civil-rights leader of the time, hailed the creation of the statue as “a monument of enduring granite and bronze … which the men of this generation may read, and those of after-coming generations may read of the exalted character and great works of Abraham Lincoln.”

Confirming Douglass’ foresight, last week retired Army Lt. Col. Allen West, who also happens to be Black, declared that the toppling of Confederate statues and defacing historic symbols were missing the point.

“History is not there for you to like or dislike,” he said. “It is there for you to learn from.”

Another Black leader, Health and Human Services Secretary Ben Carson, told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that calls to rename places and remove historically offensive statutes “get to the point of being ridiculous.

“We need to move away from being offended by everything.”

Vandals must be stopped from destroying these memorials, and we need to curb the fervor of politicians afraid of the current power of the insurrectionists. Then we can deal with the lessons of history through full engagement with the broader community.

If we don’t, we are going to look back on this time and wish more of us had echoed the sentiments of reason.