Monday, July 20, 2020

MONUMENTS TELL US LITTLE ABOUT OUR HISTORY


A public library is the most enduring of memorials, the trustiest monument for the preservation of an event or a name or an affection; for it, and it only, is respected by wars and revolutions, and survives them.

I listened carefully to President Trump’s speech at Mount Rushmore on the evening before our July 4th holiday. In between the cultural war comments to his base, he slipped in some historical facts concerning each of the four Presidents represented in the monument behind him. The factual descriptions were accurate though rudimentary.  A young person would have learned more American history by watching the film version of Hamilton, which was running at the same time on the Disney channel.

After the President concluded his remarks, I started reflecting on what historical monuments teach the American people about our past.  I concluded that these numerous slabs of well-designed granite fall into distinct categories. On the one hand, war monuments or those that memorialize a national disaster like 9/11 inspire us to reflect on lives taken too soon or in defense of the nation.  These monuments are universally beloved and often serve as a destination to a place of personal and spiritual significance.

 On the other hand, monuments of historical figures are crafted and set in place to invoke a specific feeling of national pride in celebration of a life well lived.  These edifices are tributes to individuals who in some significant manner moved the nation forward to a better place.

The problem with southern Civil War monuments is that many were erected in the 1930s, not to celebrate a national story, but rather to further the aims of white supremacy. The question is not why Southern States are finally getting around to taking down these symbols of civil war traitors, suppression of Black citizens and hate. The question is what took so long.

The monument at Mount Rushmore and those in in our nation’s capital are designed to invoke patriotism and national pride.  The President is wrong when he claims that the debate over historical statutes is a sign that: “Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children.”

Our national monuments were never intended to teach history in and of themselves.  Quite the opposite was true.  It was the hope that Americans would come to these symbols of the past with a comprehensive learning of what they represent including important milestones to be praised and mistakes not to be repeated.

The problem with Trump and his core of loyal followers is that they see the world in simplistic terms and have no desire to gain a more in-depth understanding of America’s history. For his supporters, monuments and the flag are themselves American history, the literal meaning of the Bible is true in every respect, evolutionary biology and climate/pandemic science are left wing lies and Fox News is all they need to hear regarding national and world events. 

Once an individual decides not to step outside this tight circle, all information received reinforces long held beliefs. Nothing new is learned and no opinion is challenged.  Well-respected historians that teach us American history, including the blemishes, are labeled as socialists or worse; history based Biblical scholars are heretics; investigative journalists propagate fake news and removing a monument makes it impossible for children to learn our national story.

Returning to Mount Rushmore, gazing at the monument tells one little about the complex lives of these four Presidents. The greatness of each was flawed because each was human.  George Washington was a slave holder and never a scholar or a brilliant general.  Thomas Jefferson could not keep his carnal urges in check to stay out of his slave quarters.  Abraham Lincoln was not an abolitionist and was cautious about freeing the slaves until the last years of the Civil War. Theodore Roosevelt was a colonial imperialist who wanted to plant the American flag around the world.

Does being exposed to the complete biography of American historical figures dampen our love of them or of our nation?  I think not. First, historical perspective is required.  It is important to escape from our own time and place to orient our thinking about past leaders to colonial America, or to the Civil War decades, or the age of American expansionism.  Second, knowing our important historical figures as human beings rather than superficial heroes helps us truly understand them and to make sense of our complex national history.

Modern America is blessed with some of the most gifted historians in the arc of civilization. Rather than build a national park containing pigeon perches of monuments representing American historical figures, as proposed by the President, why not drawn on their knowledge to build a national library and museum.  A building that expounds on the four themes of Mount Rushmore: the nation’s birth, growth, development and preservation.  

Let our gifted historians and museum curators fill the rooms with our national story. A place to discuss our founding, America’s original sin of slavery, manifest destiny and our military engagements, as we teach our children well.  Such a building would be a memorial for all of us to share together.

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