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Aug. 28, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: Valorizing the moral failure of oppression is dangerous. The tableau described in the Confederate monument letter of Aug. 16 argues for its removal, not retention.
“A black slave woman holding a white soldier’s baby, along with a life-size image of an enslaved man following his owner off to war.”
With no more control over where she goes than what she does when her master calls her to bed, this woman carries an infant into danger. Her own child and his? Or are she and the baby unrelated, her own children elsewhere, toiling, sold away? And the enslaved man facing death because his owner requires his comfort and support: there is no honor at any level for that owner who is fighting and killing to preserve slavery. These images are intended to glorify what? They emphasize the moral chasm of “the cause.”
Yes, as the letter writer says, those soldiers were “still Americans.” But only because they lost their war! They treasonously fought not to be citizens of the United States, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of American lives! The issue was slavery. No compromise possible. Not actual wages, not new grievance procedures. Slavery or no slavery.
Robert E. Lee had slaves whipped. He refused, for five years, to free his father-in-law’s slaves. He chose to fight against his countrymen. Lee lacked the courage of moral clarity.
Others, family and peers, did not lack moral clarity. His sister supported the United States. His nephew fought to defend the United States. Other West Point graduates from Virginia fought for the United States. Lee, unfortunately, repeatedly chose the wrong path.
Because some leaders are morally bankrupt, we each must remember that every soldier, every person, has a responsibility to not obey calls to perform illegal or immoral acts. Reasserted after WWII, this truth has guided strong people for centuries. Confederate leaders of treason against the United States failed their countrymen. They and their cause were failures.
The many Confederate flags among the treasonous rabble of January 6 were no surprise.
Monuments to oppression promote a failure of civil society. They have no place in our public spaces. MEREDITH BEDELL Rockbridge County
