Reply to APS: What's in a name? (Washington-Lee)

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Reply to "APS: What's in a name? (Washington-Lee)"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What I really don't understand is why a name change has to be attached to one side of the civil war being the righteous side. It was a war from a long time ago and it was a war where many people killed each other. If we want to change the names of schools or whatever to a new name we can do so by just focusing on the name we don't want anymore and the new name we'd like. It really does not have to be about who was right and wrong over the course of an entire war.

The analogy that we were in WWII and somehow were righteous because we stopped the holocaust is simply not a factual statement. We went to war because we were attacked and because we didn't want the Germans to gain so much power. And we had our own internment camps, turned away jews, etc. The bottom line was that stopping the holocaust was a benefit of winning the war, but not its purpose. Similarly the north went to war to regain the south because it wanted the land security and money from the south. Plain and simple.

If we don't like a confederate general or don't want to honor him anymore, etc. than just stick to those facts about that person. Make the argument about one person over another. [b]Stop trying to bring up an entire state or group of states as being morally inferior. It just simply isn't necessary and does not help the cause.[/b][/quote]

Except that by seceding to maintain legalized slavery, the Confederacy (as an institution) was moral inferior.  Plenty of "good" people fought for the Confederacy (and in my view that did not in an of itself make them bad people). but the underlying issue for the Confederacy was undeniably wrong (or evil, if you like).  Was it arguably somewhat less evil than Holocaust because it didn't involve deliberate mass murder of millions?  Perhaps, but it was still horribly wrong.[/quote]

The naming of places for Confederates mostly happened years after the war. It was done to codify Jim Crow. Just like Confederate memorials being built in areas where middle class blacks used to live at the turn of the 20th century, schools and public buildings named for those men served as reminders that people of color were not welcome in larger society. It's not about marking the South as morally inferior now. It's about creating an America that respects all people. We've got a long way to go and this is just a small step - it's no truth and reconciliation tribunal, but it's a step.[/quote]

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