Why The Destruction Of Statues Is A Proxy In The Overall War On American History

For nearly a century, a statue of confederate general Robert E. Lee stood in Charlottesville, Virginia. In 1997, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which meant that at the time — and this again was in the 90s — it was considered worthy of preservation for both its historical significance and artistic value. A little over 20 years later, in the midst of public hysteria over the overdose death of a criminal drug addict in Minneapolis, that 100-year-old work of art — which was supposed to be preserved — was instead torn down and, we were told, moved to a museum. Last week, the museum, in a symbolic humiliation ritual, melted the statue down and destroyed it. It will now be repurposed as an “inclusive arts display.” 

This is how we treat our art and our historic monuments these days. It’s especially how we treat historical figures like Robert E. Lee. But it wasn’t always this way. Going back now to the early to mid 19th century, for more than three decades during that span, Robert E. Lee served as an officer in the U.S. military. He graduated from West Point and went on to play a key role in the Mexican-American war, which no one ever talks about, even though it changed this country forever. At the end of it, Mexico ceded a lot of territory — including California, Utah, Nevada, and a lot of what we now call Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. Lee’s role in this victory earned him a series of major promotions. He was eventually named the superintendent of West Point, the military academy he once attended.