History, Revisited?
Why is it that some people in our society have such a difficult time letting history stand on its own merits? I have seen some ridiculous examples of historical revisionism in my life, but lately there have been some outstanding examples of elected and non-elected officials in many areas of our country overextending the reaches of their power to change many aspects of American history whenever it does not fit with their opinions. Take, for example, New York City Councilman Charles Barron, who has recently advocated having visible artwork of historical American figures such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson removed from public places such as his own City Hall and replacing them with pictures of Malcolm X and Ella Baker. He and people like him have even changed the name of Thomas Jefferson High School in New York to Malcolm X High School. This is just one example of the disrespect shown to many of the founding fathers by a large segment of our population, several of them in elected positions. The heart of this philosophy seems to stem from an inward bitterness towards what is considered �fair� treatment of facts associated with many of our greater historical figures. An actual quote from Councilman Barron while on Fox News' �O�Reilly Factor� is typical of the attitude: (speaking of Thomas Jefferson)�This is not a hero for black people. Your Declaration of Independence came when we were slaves. We were never declared independent when you were declared independent.� Of course, this would be completely discounting the fact that many free blacks fought voluntarily in the Revolutionary War. It would also be ignoring the fact that the official paper that freed the slaves was promoted, signed and enacted by Abraham Lincoln, who, if memory serves me, was one of those evil white men. Oh, yes. He was also a Republican.
This trend does not stop at pictures and names of schools. Unfortunately, children today are subjected to a version of history that only vaguely resembles the courses that were taught scant years ago. I made an investment several years in a complete volume of books �The History of the United States�, published in 1931. To read the accounts of events such as the writing of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, The Civil War, and Reconstruction, written by people who were much closer to the events themselves, and compare them with modern �politically correct� versions of history foisted on our children in public schools today is enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. I would remind my readers that the first priority of any conquering army in past days was to destroy all local histories and then insert their own, thus controlling the attitudes and memories of their newly acquired subjects. Fortunately, we live in a representative republic that has never been seriously threatened militarily by foreign conquering armies, so there has not been a threat to the accuracy of our history. Unfortunately, however, there are enough people who are dissatisfied with the way history has played out that they have succeeded in doing what no foreign country has ever been able to do: make Americans doubt the convictions of their founders.
The latest victim of the current trend of political correctness is a proposed memorial statue of the New York City firefighters raising an American flag at the wreckage of the World Trade Center. The famous picture that the statue was supposed to represent is an image that will be burned into our collective memories for the rest of our lives. Apparently, to some people, the fact that it was three white firemen hoisting Old Glory instead of an appointed commission of firemen designed to accurately represent the cultural outlook of our nation has left a bad taste in the mouths of liberals. This is not a problem, however, in today�s atmosphere of revisionist history. If the facts of a historical situation aren�t suitable to your viewpoint, you can always simply change the facts. The result? A statue that is the exact image of the historical event, except, of course, it is now a white guy, a Hispanic, and an African American raising the flag. But, after all, who cares? It�s only history� |
