TPM Reader CH chimes in on memories of the Confederacy …
Although I am a born and bred Southerner, I agree with your general premise. It absolutely boggles my mind that following the War, General Robert E. Lee became president of Washington College in Virginia, later changed to Washington AND LEE University.
But the entire perspective on the War is different down here, even today. I was in college before I realized we had been on the wrong side of the War. It wasn’t until then that I learned that the War had really been about slavery. Growing up, it never crossed my mind that the South had done anything wrong; I certainly didn’t think of the three 100-foot men on the side of Stone Mountain as being anything less than heroes.
Vacations consisted of trips to places like Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, Kennesaw Mountain and other battlefields where there was no shortage of tales about how we were done wrong by the North and how we almost won. In our minds, we in the South had merely wanted to start our own country, much like our founders had started America, and we were unfairly attacked by the North who came down here and committed unspeakable atrocities.
And all of that is a testament to the effectiveness of what you aptly termed as the decision to “mollify Southern defeat” and the “valorization and glamorization of the Confederacy.”
I completely agree with you that most of us have benefited from the intentional decisions which led to national reconciliation, rather than continual armed conflict. And I’m not sure that the ones who didn’t benefit, didn’t benefit on account of the mollification, or, if they didn’t immediately benefit because although Lincoln didn’t think they should be slaves, he also didn’t think they should be 1st class citizens. But where I’m not on board with you completely, is on whether it is time to revisit some decisions which led to reconciliation.
Not long ago my wife and I stayed a couple of nights in Charleston and spent some time touring the Fort Sumter area. For two liberals, it was a sobering experience in a somber place. Although I was familiar with that history from a sanitized distance, soaking it up while standing on the actual grounds was eerie and chilling. The similarities between our country in the past several years and our country in the 50 year powder keg leading up to the War are startling. And you would just have to live down here in Georgia for awhile to get a real feel for the visceral and palpable hatred of President Obama.
Before President Obama was elected, I would have agreed that maybe it is time to rename some military bases (and colleges) and maybe even consider doing something about the carving on Stone Mountain. And I would have agreed with you that after 1865 it was never again seriously considered that history might repeat itself. But as things now stand, I’m not sure that those same considerations which led to the mollification decisions back then, have become irrelevant; I’m not sure that the rationale for those decisions has outlived its usefulness.
Most rural Southern white men already feel that “their” country has been “taken” from them by a black Muslim. They watch Fox exclusively and without ceasing so they are constantly on edge and genuinely and earnestly believe that President Obama’s sole mission is to destroy America.
I don’t know if we are sitting on a powder keg again or not. On a rational and academic level, I think that notion is absolutely ridiculous. But on a gut and emotional level, I worry. Sometimes I think all they need is a final straw to rally around. So maybe we could wait until a new president is in office again before we risk giving them a rallying point. Maybe the temperature down here will drop some by then.
