There’s a better way

THE CONVERSATION about removing statues and whitewashing history begins anew as protesters, in the darkness of night, have destroyed another monument, this time in North Carolina.

We cannot think of a single problem that was ever solved through an act of vandalism, except perhaps an episode involving a Preacher and some moneychangers. These days, an act of destroying property is at least bad-mannered, at most illegal.

The Raleigh News & Observer reports protesters at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill destroyed the Silent Sam monument on Monday evening. They pulled the thing off its mount and cheered.

One student, Andrew Skinner, 23, said he was glad the statue was pulled down: “It shows that we have the power to be on the right side of history. We are part of a long tradition of civil rights in this country . . . We as a country have a lot of change and a lot of healing to do, and we are not going to get there putting racism on a pedestal.” The Silent Sam statue was erected in 1913 as a memorial to Confederate soldiers who lost their lives in the Civil War. The statue was not meant to celebrate slavery. Besides, the young man should know that his thoughts on the Civil War and civil rights are on the right side of history.

But to destroy monuments? The long lost and unlamented Soviets did their best to destroy parts of the past they disagreed with, complete with editing people out of films. It’s ironic that in a day and age when so many of our friends on the left are concerned about Russians taking over the country that they are quick to emulate their previous actions.

Next time somebody wants to remove a statue, at least they should collect signatures on a petition and do the thing the right way. That is, the legal way. As the chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill put it (and what’s a more political occupation than university chancellor?), we’re all lucky that nobody got hurt.