Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia is a beautiful, tree lined avenue with large statues of Robert E. Lee, Jeb Stuart, Jefferson Davis, “Stonewall” Jackson, and Matthew Fontaine Maury positioned at strategic round abouts and intersections along the way (A statue of tennis star Arthur Ashe, a native of Richmond, was added in the 80s).
As a graduate of the University of Richmond, I have driven the several miles of Monument Avenue hundreds of times.
And I can honestly say that not once – never, in fact – in all those times have I as a native Virginian ever felt any pride in the heritage those monuments were intended to symbolize.
That’s because that heritage was born and bred in slavery.
Slavery.
Slavery, the buying and selling of human beings, and the rupturing of families as mothers and fathers were torn from their children and sold to different slave owners.
Slavery, the brutal system of treating human beings like animals, sometimes worse than animals were actually treated.
Slavery, the practice of de-humanizing men and women for one’s pleasure and moral depravity.
Slavery, that is what Lee, Stuart, Davis, Jackson, Maury and thousands of my other ancestors fought to preserve.
Slavery.
And when they lost the war, they chose to continue slavery by another name – Jim Crow.
Political leaders determined to maintain white supremacy at any cost passed laws to enshrine the system of segregation that subjugated black Virginians every bit as much as slavery had.
Then they chose to erect monuments to “honor” those who fought to defend the Confederacy whose racism they were determined to maintain.
What they were thinking boggles the mind, erecting as they did monuments to “honor” people who disavowed their own country in order to defend a way of life that made crimes against humanity a daily occurrence.
That is not a past any good and decent Virginian takes pride in. We are in fact ashamed of it.
Ridding ourselves of those monuments has nothing to do with trying to erase our heritage.
We are simply weary of it being put on a pedestal as if it deserves to be glorified.
That is why I was sickened by the comments Donald Trump made this week about what happened in Charlottesville.
To have a President align himself with the racism that was my southern heritage was astounding.
Every white Virginian who cares about justice can tell him from first hand experience that there has never been and never will be any good or decent person who marches with the KKK, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis.
Everyone who marched with them in Charlottesville deserved condemnation by the President and Vice-President of the United States, not a defense of them.
I don’t know what can or will be done about Monument Avenue in Richmond, or the hundreds of Confederate monuments across the South.
Probably a few will be moved or destroyed. I suspect most will remain where they are because of people like Trump who want to pretend southern history was something other than what it actually was.
But for those that remain in place, the only thing that could ever make them a genuine symbol of southern heritage would be for a slave owner’s selling block to be erected right next to them.
Only then would they tell some of the truth about what the Confederacy was really all about.
linnposts.com 
Or, if the justification is to commemorate history, place alongside them heroic statues of Lincoln, Grant, McClellan, et al.
I was married to a person who proudly claimed a “Southern Heritage”, bragged about his ancestors owning slaves. It always made me cringe. Good to hear thoughts.
Nice idea, Jan. One poll suggested that 85% of republicans do not agree with removal of the statues. That so many people can maintain such a callous attitude towards the awful past and so insensitive to what these monuments represent leaves me sad to the point of despair. There are more humane and respectful ways to honor one’s ancestors.
Jan, a short response is ok but maybe a question for a future blog; monuments aside, is there an acceptable and appropriate way for those who fought for the south and died in the civil war, or the Vietnam War for that matter, to be honored? If shame is the only acceptable response by descendants, it’s not surprising that there is a growing attempt to rewrite and even redo history. It seems that people need to feel some sense of pride in their ancestors.
Jan,
Your blog is brilliant in its first-hand perspective of a UR grad and native Virginian, in its unrelenting emphasis on the evils of slavery and Jim Crow, in its “balanced” explanation/condemnation of monuments, and in its full-bore attack on Donald Trump!!
Many “good” people will disagree with you with sincere statements, but yours is a much more powerful statement for the present times!
Bill