A Confederate statue in North Carolina praises 'faithful slaves.' Some citizens want it gone

jeffw@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 254 points –
A Confederate statue in North Carolina praises 'faithful slaves.' Some citizens want it gone
usatoday.com
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"Confederate Army Lt. Col. William F. Beasley gifted the county the monument in 1902."

Barely 100 years old? Fuck it, tear it down. You don't memorialize the losers in a Civil War.

Yep. Doesn't even have historical significance. It's just another of those Jim Crow statues meant to oppress black people after slavery ended. Fucking NC.

It annoyed me that I couldn't see the whole statue. It's just a statue of the local general but another part of the inscription was also interesting:

THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER WON AND IS ENTITLED TO THE ADMIRATION OF ALL WHO LOVE HONOR, AND LIBERTY.

Uh huh. From a monument built 50 years after the war ended. Physical copium.

THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER WON

Ah, now I see why conservatives want to learn history from statues.

White slave-owner: ... all those who love honor, and liberty
Black slave: Excuse m--
White slave-owner: Not you!

I’m not an NC resident and I want it gone. That shit is offensive on like a half dozen levels at the very least.

I am not even a US citizen or resident, and I want it gone.

It serves only to embellish history.

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Meanwhile at City Hall:

I know getting funding to tear it down can be difficult but hear me out, why don't we just take out the "e" in slaves and repurpose the statue to celebrate our local Slavs by putting a track coat on it.

This would cost a lot less money to do since removing a letter is much less labor intensive than removing an entire statue.

(This is known as the Florence Y'all Approach)

Shit do they have the names of all the slaves that killed their masters on it? I would consider that closest to godlyness.

It would almost be better if it’s toppled by a large crowd of people. The people who support such a thing need to see the shitstorm they would rightfully face if they ever said it too loudly.

If by “shitstorm,” you mean “watching all the protestors get waaaay too long prison sentences, then yes

Still kind of relevant today; benevolent big corporate appreciating the work of its faithful office slaves

/s just in case

Not surprising. Drive down 40 from Asheville towards Charlotte and you’ll see 3 or 4 huge confederate flags waving right next to the highway. There’s so many homes and vehicles waving it too all over the place. Folks are loud and proud down there, it’s gross.

Proud of what?

"We used to own slaves but now we can't and still bitter about it"?

It should be illegal to fly confederate flags in the US, like it's illegal to fly Nazi flags in Germany.

Ironically, those that proudly fly a traitor's flag due to their proud heritage generally also think of themselves as patriots. Just like, ironically, those that fly the Gasden flag tend to be bootlickers and also tend to be the same people.

NC is so weird. Many whites there will tell you other than 'reverse racism' that racism doesn't really exist anymore all while being explicitly racist in the next sentence.

What a foul thing to still exist in 2024. I’m sure some chains and a big truck could make short work of the removal.

Pull it out and leave in on the mayor's lawn. It'll be disposed of in no time. You know, even just deface it with a chisel.

Just topple it and make sure the lettering is smashed to fuck.

It would be such a shame if some people who lived near there read this article but disregarded all the warnings printed clearly on it.

Some citizens want it gone, others can't believe it's still there at all.

Let me guess, the faithful slaves wants the faithful slaves monument removed?