“Lest we forget” – That inscription is carved into the stone foundation upon which a bronze Confederate soldier stands, fully armed, at the entrance to the public building where my County Commissioners meet.  A century and a half after the Civil War, it’s time to free this young man, probably a draftee forced to fight for the long defunct Confederate States of America.  And it’s time

to move ahead in creating the future of the United States of America.  “Lest we forget”, the outcome of the Civil war was preservation of the Union, our nation, and it’s flag to which we pledge allegiance.  The failed purposes of the Confederacy included breaking that Union – treason.

Some argue that we can’t (or shouldn’t) change history.  Certainly they are correct that facts and events of history are what they are.  We fought a long and bloody civil war.  Its events are well documented.  The statue was placed to honor the memory of Randolph County veterans who served the Confederacy.  Those are facts of history that we couldn’t change even if we wanted to.

There’s more to our history than a list of events and dates.  The war arose from a conflicting sense of right and wrong – values – regarding slavery, economics and national unity.  Today our decisions about whom and what our government will officially honor are based on the values of today’s Americans.  Change is part of our history, as it is for every nation and civilization.

When Rome became a Christian empire, it replaced the statues of Greco-Roman Gods with statues of saints and old-testament figures.  They didn’t change the facts of their history or the mythology of Roman Gods.  They did change who was honored in public buildings.

When Germany lost World War II, the Allies took down many Nazi era statues and symbols.  The Germans removed the rest from places of honor but they relocated some and re-interpreted their history.  German schoolchildren are required to visit museums and learn the horrors of Nazi rule – lest they forget.

The slogan “Lest we forget” comes from a Rudyard Kipling poem about the military conquests of the British Empire.  Its original meaning in the poem is similar to the maxim “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”  We should keep that meaning in mind today.

Here in North Carolina, the majority of citizens voted against secession.  In Randolph County, the reported vote was 2579 against secession and only 45 in favor!  They did not want to dissolve the Union or join the Confederacy.  But in order to preserve slavery, the basis of their wealth, legislators seceded from the union and joined the Confederacy – overruling the will of voters.

Then the Confederacy created a military draft.  North Carolina provided more soldiers than any other Confederate state.  North Carolina’s Governor, Zebulon Vance called the conflict “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight”.  There were so many draft resisters and deserters in Randolph County that the Confederacy imposed martial law.   If our statue represents a Randolph County soldier, there’s a good chance that he was a draftee, not a volunteer.

Surely there were many Tarheel soldiers who fought courageously for the Confederacy, as German soldiers did for the Third Reich.  Today’s values judge that their sacrifices were on the wrong side of history – in support of slavery and in absolute opposition to the proposition that “…all men are created equal.” Confederate statues and battle flags are part of our history but they don’t belong in places of honor financed and maintained by the governments of free people.

Blood has again been shed over white supremacy, and it should come as no surprise to see Confederate battle flags waved by people shouting Nazi slogans such as “blood and soil”.  White supremacy ideology was suppressed but now its advocates parade on our streets carrying clubs reminiscent of the axe handles distributed by racist governor Lester Maddox of Georgia.  Our President’s election campaign was eerily similar to George Wallace’s nationalist/racist campaigns in 1964 and 1968.  Both railed against polite (politically correct) conversation and both helped unleash pent-up racist rage.

We may never be totally rid of supremacists, but our government should not honor their ideas with statues, license plates and flags.   Lest we forget, issuing license plates with Confederate battle flags and honoring Confederate heroes on public property is honoring both white supremacy and treason against the United States.