Ethics & Religion
Column #2,109
January 12, 2022
Progress in Black-White Relations
By Mike McManus
The three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, 25, a black
man, nearly two years ago, were sentenced last week to life in prison,
two without possibility of parole.
As Judge Timothy Walmsley put it, "As we understand it, he left his home
apparently to go for a run, and he ended up running for his life." He
was unarmed. Civil rights leaders praised the men's convictions in
November as hard-won justice in this case, which saw no arrests until
more than two months after Arbery's death.
The three men were charged only after a cell phone video of the event
went viral, thrusting the killing into the national spotlight, leaving
many outraged at a justice system that showed little concern for black
lives.
The convictions came a day after the death of Sidney Portier, who was
the first black man to win an Academy Award for best actor in his role
in "Lillies of the Field," a film released in 1963 - the same year as
the civil rights March on Washington.
The murder of another black man, George Floyd, under the knee of a
Minneapolis white police officer in 2020, sparked the removal of more
than 130 Confederate statues. Gen. Robert E. Lee, who long presided over
Monument Avenue in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy - is
gone. Another removal is the statue to Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, which also
stood on Monument Avenue. A third monument was to Jefferson Davis,
President of the Confederate States of America. A fourth was to Gen.
Stonewall Jackson, another Confederate general.
The placing of these heroes of the South's aim to maintain slavery in
the Black History Museum & Culture Center of Virginia in Richmond - is
poetic justice, immensely satisfying to black Americans today.
The plan to display the city's most historic Confederate monuments at
the Black History Museum was announced by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam
and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney. The Richmond City Council must approve
the transfer, which is expected.
The monuments were the focus of intense protests, gathering places where
demonstrators clashed with police and rallied in the name of Floyd and
others who have died in police encounters.
The future of Confederate statues taken down in other cities was
unclear. In Newport News, a century-old statue was turned down by five
organizations including historical societies and museums. Similarly, the
nearby city of Norfolk had no takers for its Confederate statue, known
as "Johnny Reb."
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are nearly 1,800
Confederate symbols displayed on public land. About 130 of them have
been removed so far. Many schools and highways are also being renamed.
The Confederate statues were located across the South, of course, but
also in far away cities. A Confederate Memorial Fountain built in 1916
in Helena, Montana was removed in 2017 and replaced with a new Unity
Fountain in 2020. In New Mexico three Jefferson Davis Highway markers
were taken down in 2018.
The expedited removal of Confederate monuments, particularly on
courthouse and government grounds is a beneficial step toward the
nation's healing asserted Geoff Ward, a professor in African and African
American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, who has mapped
out visual symbols of racism.
But Ward worries that necessary conversations about racial injustice
that people of color are asking for in their communities are failing to
happen each time a statue is taken down.
"This is a familiar U.S. scenario," Ward said. "Seeking to quickly move
on and declare matters settled rather than dealing with issues and
really processing traumas."
Nevertheless, there are been tremendous progress from a black point of
view.
For example who would have imagined that in California was a
"Confederate Corners" established in 1868 by southerners who moved to
California? Or that there would be a Robert E. Lee Elementary School in
Long Beach and another in San Diego?
It is a new day for black America.
_________________________
Copyright (c)2022 Michael J. McManus, a syndicated columnist and past president of Marriage Savers. To read past columns, go to
www.ethicsandreligion.com. Hit
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