I think this proposal actually is pretty graceful, and would make
a proper conclusion to the fight over Georgia's beautiful Stone Mountain.
An elevated tower — featuring a replica of the Liberty Bell — would celebrate the single line in the civil rights martyr’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech that makes reference to the 825-foot-tall hunk of granite: “Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.”
“It is one of the best-known speeches in U.S. history,” said Bill Stephens, the chief executive officer of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association. “We think it’s a great addition to the historical offerings we have here.”
Nah. How about a Confederate Flag the size of a football field carved on the side. This compromise crap is getting old- I don't like to see this PC ratchet turning one way only.
ReplyDeleteI think Grim is right about this.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I also think it should be followed up by repeated, insistent demands that the Democratic Party apologize for slavery, pay reparations to the descendants of slaves, and disband. If we are not going to allow the Confederate flag on government property, we should certainly not allow the party that sewed that flag together on government property.
I appreciate your sense of defiance, Raven, but I don't view this as a compromise. I have no problem endorsing Dr. King's speech, and viewing it as the proper conclusion to the conflict -- a conflict that began with the introduction of the idea of race in the early Renaissance as a means of legitimizing the slave trade, peaked (at least in our civilization) with the bloodshed of the Civil War, and ought to conclude with King's determination that race should not exist as a mental category: 'not by the color of their skins, but the content of their character.'
ReplyDeleteIf we shift to that ground, then a memorial that honors Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson makes sense. They were men of character whom we ought to honor without regard to race. We can see the war itself as a tragedy brought about as a consequence of this terrible, mistaken way of thinking. It puts the conflict in the right context, and brings us to the right conclusion about the way forward. King's words are better than the words often spoken today, after all. He wasn't talking about enshrining race, but about dissolving it.
King would be booed off the left's stage today, I think. Was his speech not the essence of "ALL lives matter?" See how far that got Webb?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, actually- just getting a mite tired of all the PCBS.
King would be booed off the left's stage today, I think.
ReplyDeleteWell, he was a registered Republican, after all. And in favor of the 2nd Amendment.