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This author needs to check their premise. >>The question, though, is whether everyone implicated in slavery is ipso facto ineligible for public celebration. Th

This author needs to check their premise. >>The question, though, is whether everyone implicated in slavery is ipso facto ineligible for public celebration. That standard doesn’t only exclude Jefferson but virtually every major figure in American history before 1861. Yes. And why is that so bad? I'd rather live in a society that truthfully acknowledges its history rather than one that clings to a false hero myth. >> That’s why attacks on Columbus Day are as misplaced as removal of the Jefferson statue. The holiday and memorials in many cities aren’t really about the Genoese explorer who served a Spanish king. They are confirmations of the presence of Italian-Americans in public life, to say nothing of the courage and adventuresome spirit that led to the discovery of the New World. It's a darn big jump from Jefferson to Columbus. In fact, this paragraph feels like it reveals the author's real intentions - lead with Jefferson to create sympathy with the reader, then redirect to Columbus. As I've stated publicly in my own community (in which Italians were a significant early immigrant group) do you really want to be represented by such a monster? Even in his own lifetime he was charged criminally. Plenty of better ways to celebrate the contributions of Italian-Americans.

rayiner 5y ago
> Yes. And why is that so bad? I'd rather live in a society that truthfully acknowledges its history rather than one that clings to a false hero myth. You’re creating a false dichotomy. We already truthfully acknowledge the history. We learned about Sally Hemings when we toured Monticello (which most Virginia public school students did at some point) back in the 1990s. But Jefferson is still a hero. He was a key founder of the most successful democracy on earth. He was born into a time where slavery had always existed. (It’s acknowledged in both the Bible and the Quran, and neither demands it’s abolition.) But he played a key role in creating the framework that ultimately dismantled an institution that had existed since antiquity. The reason erasing Jefferson is bad is because it robs us of understanding how we got here. I come from a poor country (Bangladesh). And what drives me nuts about this debate over Jefferson is that Americans are so myopic about the fragile nature of prosperity. Americans are like fish in a tank—they assume the world is just a hospitable place with filtered water and food that rains down periodically. Fish-like, they don’t wonder why things are so good for them. But Jefferson is, in part, why. Ideas are a dime a dozen, but Jefferson’s ideas have been proven empirically because they produced this country. And that makes him infinitely more worthy of honor than virtually anyone else you might consider building a statute for.

rayiner 5y ago

> Yes. And why is that so bad? I'd rather live in a society that truthfully acknowledges its history rather than one that clings to a false hero myth. You’re creating a false dichotomy. We already truthfully acknowledge the history. We learned about Sally Hemings when we toured Monticello (which most Virginia public school students did at some point) back in the 1990s. But Jefferson is still a hero. He was a key founder of the most successful democracy on earth. He was born into a time where slavery had always existed. (It’s acknowledged in both the Bible and the Quran, and neither demands it’s abolition.) But he played a key role in creating the framework that ultimately dismantled an institution that had existed since antiquity. The reason erasing Jefferson is bad is because it robs us of understanding how we got here. I come from a poor country (Bangladesh). And what drives me nuts about this debate over Jefferson is that Americans are so myopic about the fragile nature of prosperity. Americans are like fish in a tank—they assume the world is just a hospitable place with filtered water and food that rains down periodically. Fish-like, they don’t wonder why things are so good for them. But Jefferson is, in part, why. Ideas are a dime a dozen, but Jefferson’s ideas have been proven empirically because they produced this country. And that makes him infinitely more worthy of honor than virtually anyone else you might consider building a statute for.