The protests and riots over ‘blue’-on-black violence which have swept
across this country, shaken many of its cities, and taken on a
revolutionary life of their own, are, I fear, the tipping point which
will wipe out our monuments once and for all. Even worse, the
destruction of these symbols shows that the memory of the men and
measures which they symbolise will be wiped out as well.
Although the public has consistently opposed the removal of
Confederate statues by 2-1 margins or more – where I live in Florida, it
was
58% to 27%
in the summer of 2017 – the mob has always overruled democracy.
(Indeed, although the county commissioners initially voted to keep our
106 year-old monument but supplement it with a mural to diversity, after
the rioting of ‘Black Trans Lives Matter’ and the ‘Tampa Maoist
Collective,’ the lobbying of ‘Woke Capital,’ and the opinionating of
journalists-
cum-activists, they re-voted to remove it.) Even
worse, now that the mob has a taste of ‘anarcho-tyranny’ – having seen
that the authorities will neither prevent nor punish them for
vandalising and even overthrowing these monuments themselves – there is
nothing stopping them.
‘Heritage defense’ groups such as the Sons of
Confederate Veterans and United Daughters of the Confederacy must
disabuse ourselves of the notion that legislation or litigation can keep
these monuments safe in public spaces – that cause is lost – and rescue
these irreplaceable works of art while we still have the freedom to do
so. Some are sure to disagree, but the UDC was wise to remove its 131
year-old monument in Alexandria, Virginia, and should continue to be
proactive in taking back our monuments before it is too late.
