That's why, a couple of weeks ago, when A&E Editor Cathy Salustri and I embarked on a point-counterpoint piece about the Confederate monument in downtown Tampa, each of us felt a degree of trepidation about the potential feedback we'd get (well, I did, anyway). It seemed more than likely we'd receive a deluge of angry comments, messages and even threats because there is so much passion on either side.
Yet, to our delight — and granted, we didn't bother looking at our Facebook comments because, well… — we received some thoughtful, nuanced responses.
It made us happy.
Perhaps we as a society can actually stop being a bunch of dyed-in-the-wool far-left/far-right flamethrowers; we can overcome the concrete walls that surround our belief systems and actually reason with each other for at least this one time.
So, here are some of our favorites.
1) Andre Audette, in reference to Salustri's defense of keeping the monument in place lest we forget the scourge of slavery and Jim Crow:
While we all have the right to our own opinion, and I suspect you [took] this assignment with trepidation due to CL's readership, I cannot disagree with you more.
It is possible to create justifications for most anything. And you make good effort to do that. But, at the end of the day, the war was fought to preserve slavery and continue the racial dominance of one group over another. As is evident by the questionable people today who fly confederate flags, argue about state's rights, and want to preserve such monuments, there are many people who wish the war ended differently and are quite comfortable in 2017 holding, if not always, stating racist beliefs. Anything that is done to bolster these people is harmful, negative, counter-productive, and mean-spirited to all of us, especially, African-Americans who must still put up with this stuff still today.
2) Former Tampa Tribune columnist Joe Brown agreed with Salustri and offered further reading material.
I agree with your take on this issue. As a black person, it bothers me to see so much time and energy devoted to removing something that has stood for over a century. I’ve never let the flag or Confederate monuments bother me. I just, as their anthem suggests, look away, look away. We as a people shouldn’t let these symbols become weapons of mass intimidation. And we need to remember who won the war. It’s not called the Lost Cause for nothing. Below is an article forwarded to me by a friend. Thanks for your column.
Is there room in Arlington — and in our memories — for Confederate soldiers?
3) Lakeisha Black says the commissioners who support preserving a monument that was dedicated in 1911, 50 years after the start of the American Civil War, continue to send the message that preserving "history" — the Jim Crow hierarchy, really — matters more to them than progressing toward actual social equality.
Dear Cathy and Kate,
I would like to continue to contribute to this discussion with my thoughts, if appropriate. Please see below.
The common argument against removing confederate monuments is that we are removing or erasing history. History is no excuse for transforming public spaces such as the courthouse. Public spaces and institutions should reflect the beliefs, inspirations, values, priorities of everyone in the community. Hillsborough County commissioners who have voted against removing the Confederate monument [are] sending a message of division and inequality, ignoring the diversity of the Hillsborough community. We cannot truly provide the hope of justice for everyone when there is a monument represent[ing] slavery and Jim Crow, two inhumane injustices committed by this country which we struggle to fight to this day. We cannot promote diversity or healing with this monument outside the courthouse, a public institution of justice.
It is stunning to hear that people say the Confederate monument needs to stay for history’s sake. Let’s examine Civil War history. The southern states seceded from the Union to keep slavery as their economic engine and preserve the white race. A Florida secessionist quote "At the South, and with our people of course, slavery is the element of all value, and a destruction of that destroys all that is property." Black people were more akin to livestock than a human being. Slavery was an institution which caused loss of life, family, inhumanity and most of all, denial of free will and destiny. The Confederate veteran did not fight for American values as written in the Constitution, which aimed to establish justice and a more perfect union, or the Declaration of Independence of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness which was the foundation for which the American Revolutionary war was fought. In fact, this Confederate monument was dedicated to the citizens of Tampa during the middle of the Jim Crow era which caused legalized terror, murder, lynching, and destruction against black people to preserve white supremacy.
It is time for our community to reconcile with the injustices and pain of our history. The Confederate monument belongs in a place appropriate to learn about the Civil War, not in a modern public space. This reconciliation can start with ensuring our taxpayer dollars are spent to transform public spaces into places of equality, hope and inspiration to the community. We elected our county commissioners to represent all of us. They should vote to remove the Confederate monument from this public space to represent justice and give hope to all of us. The community is watching and the Hillsborough County Commission has officially been put on notice for 2018.
That was just a sampling of the responses we got.
So, yeah, renewed faith in humanity.
This article appears in Jul 6-13, 2017.