Confederate statue crash sparks Reidsville, NC debate

Opponents of Southern heritage claim statue is 'divisive' and 'racist'

The political leaders of Reidsville, North Carolina appear less than enthusiastic about putting the town’s broken statue of a Confederate soldier back up. The statue is now in several parts, due to being hit in an automobile accident. People in the article excerpted below claim that putting the statue back up would signal racism. The soldier statue is even compared to the toppled statue of Saddam Hussein that once stood in Baghdad, Iraq.

“I personally think that the statue should have been gone a million years ago,” said James Monte. “It should have never been put up. It’s foolishness. It’s a symbol of racism.”
Calvert Smith, an employee at the Reidsville Library, said she misses the statue. The library staff has used it for years as a way of giving directions to their facility. However, she would like to see a change to the traffic circle where the statue once stood.

“Instead of focusing on one thing, we could be a lot more inclusive and have a veteran’s memorial,” said Smith. “Make it more inclusive then divisive.”
Smith said that in Reidsville’s history, more than 100 years ago when the statue was placed, there was only one type of veteran in this area, and that was the Confederate soldiers. Now, since our country has had so many wars, there are a lot more veterans to honor.
Racism was a concern for many residents this week. Andre Walkerson said the United States has moved past racism more and more over the years, including having an African-American president, integrating schools and just getting along better.
“There are a lot of different races down here,” said Walkerson. “We’re trying to come together; we don’t want to be divisive.”

Walkerson said he believes the statue is offensive. He said this country is fighting wars based on getting rid of tyranny and when Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad fell in 2003, America rejoiced. But now, Reidsville’s own statue – which Walkerson said stands for similar principles – has fallen, and no one is rejoicing.

…Some people, while agreeing the monument is a part of the city’s history, said they feel Reidsville needs to move forward.
“People come to this city from out of state and they come into this city and they see this statue, that leaves a bad taste in their mouths,” said [James] Monte. “I don’t care about history, it’s 2011.”

Notice that even the defender of the Confederate statue, Calvert Smith, wants to make it part of a general war memorial that would celebrate veterans from the numerous wars in which the United States has involved itself since the 1860s. The Southern soldiers who fought a defensive war for home and country would be grouped with US soldiers who fought to steal part of the Spanish Empire, suppress popular uprisings against foreign occupation in Philippines, invade Iraq, blow up villages in Afghanistan, etc. There is a great moral difference between those who fought a justified defensive war and those who engaged in imperialism. As well, putting the Confederate state as part of a US war memorial would certainly take away much of the significance of the statue. The central identifying nature of the statue, as it stood in the middle of town and proclaimed the area Southern and loyal to the South, would be gone.

Also, consider the arguments of those who oppose the statue, such as Andre Walkerson. He says plainly that the statue is one of racism and “we don’t want to be divisive.” How does a soldiers’ monument signal racism? And if the goal is not to be divisive then surely nothing could ever be displayed for someone is always going to object to and be offended by any symbol – including the US flag and US war memorials. Notice too the words of James Monte: “I don’t care about history, it’s 2011.” The willful ignorance of such a statement would be unbelievable in previous ages. And what about the “need to move forward” argument? What does this even mean? How does removing a statue move anything forward? Does erasing history and knowing nothing about history, like James Monte, mean one has moved forward? Of course, it’s 2011. In that, Mr. Monte is correct. But what does the year have to do with forgetting or not caring about history? By the same argument, Rome should destroy the Colosseum – after all, it’s 2011 and we don’t care about history any more. Yes, many people love the Colosseum, but others do not. And surely, some bad things happened in the Colosseum and therefore we should destroy it and forget it ever existed, right? This is the logic of Mr. Monte and Mr. Walkerson.

If you would like to encourage the politicians in Reidsville to do the right thing and put the Confederate statue back up, you can contact city hall at:

Reidsville City Hall
230 W. Morehead St.
Reidsville, NC 27320
Also, please contact Mayor Festerman at:
Mayor James K. Festerman
1201 Benton Lane , Reidsville, N.C. 27320
Phone: 349-6146
Fax: 616-0850
Email: mayor@ci.reidsville.nc.us