America’s modern witch hunt
By the numbers:
55 (at least): number of buildings, universities, institutes, public schools, highways, bridges, and dams named after him.
83: number of days he led the filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
14: Number of hours he spoke — nonstop — to defeat that bill.
1: Number of different letters that identify his former organization. (Hint: it’s three “K”s in a row.)
His statue and official portrait still grace the United States Capitol.
Haven’t heard about this? No surprise, for that would require consistency and logic from the left — two things in which its intolerance squads are sorely lacking. If these mobs on gleeful tours of selective destruction weren’t hypocrites, you would have seen them protesting all of the above monuments proudly bearing the name of former Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd from West Virginia.
So let’s get this straight. Byrd was an avowed segregationist and Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan. He was caught lying about when he supposedly cut ties with the organization. Yet Byrd’s legacy and monuments remain virtually untouched.
Same goes for the Hugo Black Federal Building in Birmingham, Ala., named after a Democrat and U.S. Supreme Court justice who was also a Klansman. And ditto for the statue of segregation champion and former Virginia Democratic Gov. Harry Byrd (no relation), which still stands in the state Capitol.
Contrast that with the dozens of statues being toppled and desecrated in the name of “antiracism,” and “equality.” Monuments dedicated to Robert E. Lee, Teddy Roosevelt, Frank Rizzo, Kate Smith, Christopher Columbus, George Washington and Francis Scott Key (of “Star—Spangled Banner” fame) have succumbed to the politically correct censor police at an alarming pace. And that’s just a small sampling.
But even more disturbing are three things:
1) In story after story about vandalized statues, police were often nowhere to be found — a carte blanche for continued destruction. That only feeds the mobs’ appetite for more. If people want monuments to be removed, they need to petition their leaders to make it happen. But unchecked destruction of public and private property must be stopped, and the culprits prosecuted. Otherwise, America is done.
2) Those engaging in this erasure of history have no idea what they’re doing — evidenced by the desecration of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment monument (honoring the black troops made famous in “Glory”); and the targeting of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant statues. Most of those engaging in historical carnage are not doing so out of principle but simply because they feel smug after becoming the nation’s new headline. They must increasingly engage in over-thetop and in-your-face actions to outdo the last obnoxious act.
3) Where is everybody? The overwhelming majority of citizens, of all races, oppose these actions, even if they lack an affinity for certain monuments. So why are people remaining silent? Doing so is taken as tacit approval for the recklessness to continue. Precious few are publicly demanding that their police step up, and their leaders put an end to the modern—day witch hunt sweeping the land.
Let’s be very clear about something. The only problem this author has with Byrd’s name on buildings is that some of those dedications were enacted while he was still a senator. That’s wrong. Serving in Congress is a privilege given to elected officials by the citizenry, and, as such, it should always be about the people, never the politician.
But removing Byrd’s namesakes would be a mistake. Why? Because I want to believe that over his career, the senator changed on the issues of race. I want to think that he realized that his views were narrow— minded, and subsequently allowed his horizons to expand. I want to have faith that Byrd — like every human being — was capable of realizing his sins, and, more important, atoning for them. Penance should be celebrated, not punished.
Who are we to judge the veracity of contrition in the heart of one who seeks redemption? The political correctness police arrogantly believe that only they, are perfect enough to judge whose legacy survives. Yet their selectivity in whom they ravage has destroyed what little credibility they may have had.
It’s time to act like responsible adults instead of constantly giving in to petulant children masquerading as a principled movement.
We should celebrate the accomplishments of our ancestors, while rejecting the sins of their day. But if we don’t stop kowtowing to the ridiculous absolutisms of the leftist censors, our culture will be destroyed, and our history eradicated — and we will be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
And that truth is set in stone that can’t be toppled.