An Interesting Twist of Events
Perhaps the assault on historical monuments and markers is losing momentum. If this article is any indication, it might be. I certainly hope so. As I have stated in past posts, I believe destroying these national treasures is destroying our history.
A MURDER MAY SAVE A MONUMENT
Yes, You read right!
Hold the presses on the recent vote that we reported last week to remove the Confederate monument in Lakeland, Florida by the end of January.
The driving force behind the monument’s removal, Commissioner Michael Dunn, has resigned after being charged with second-degree murder. This is forcing a special election scheduled for January 15th to elect Dunn’s replacement.
There is also a lot of opposition around town to the Commission’s decision to install red-light cameras to raise the money to pay for the monument’s removal.
So Commissioner Scott Franklin has asked City Attorney Tim McCausland to add a line on the Jan. 15 ballot allowing the voters of Lakeland to decide the fate of the monument and on the purchase/installation of red light cameras.
Commissioner Troller wanted the monument put on a ballot last year but the Mayor and Commission refused to allow that for fear that a public vote may have ended in the monument’s favor. Now it would appear that the politicians prefer the monument’s final fate be blamed on the voters and not on themselves.
Commissioner Selvage has said that he has personally agonized over the decision to move the monument and how to pay for it. He said he has spent time in Munn Park looking at the statue. “I imagine him to be a 19-year-old young man, whose country was being invaded and he went to serve,” said the U.S. Marine veteran who served in Vietnam. “One hundred years later, I was 19, I did the same thing – I went to fight communists. I didn’t know what in the heck I was doing, I found myself in a far-off land, fighting, and now people say that was wrong, that was immoral. I looked at that soldier and thought, ‘That soldier was the same. He went to save his hide and, unlike me, he didn’t come back.'” Selvage added that the monument should remain in or be removed to, “where it will be treated with honor and respect.”
(Dr. Ed is a pastor, author, public speaker, radio personality, lobbyist, re-enactor, and the Director of Dixie Heritage.)
(Article courtesy of Dixie Heritage Newsletter, Nov. 23, 2018 ed.)
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Posted by jdrhawkins in
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Well that sounds like a classic case of someone who was “with fault” casting the first stone, as it were: an alleged murderer who wished to remove a historic monument to American war dead and make the citizens of Lakeland pay for HIS political correctness with traffic fines!
The murder of the Church members in Charleston by a deranged young man was despicable and heinous; I don’t think anyone disputes that. But I can’t help but feel the ensuing vandalism and pc removal of historic monuments from an earlier era, allegedly in response to that outrage, was a big red herring to distract a gullible public away from the real economic and social problems plaguing our country. Those economic and social problems remain unaddressed even though numerous historic sites have been vandalized or pillaged.
There are a number of American wars that were either preventable or unnecessary; a few were downright immoral; but regardless of the war or its causes, we still honor those men who fought and died in them. The same is true of the Civil War; earlier generations knew that basic truth without having to explain it.
Maybe we need to reintroduce civics classes into elementary and high school curricula again, because the lessons of the past have obviously been forgotten.
I completely agree. In my opinion, it is despicable to destroy these beautiful works of art. I recently spoke with some college students at UCCS, and they all agreed that it is wrong to destroy history, even if some agree with it. Thank you so much for your comment.