Surprised that in our politically correct, these are allowed to remain. Then again our anti Christian government still has 10 commandments on Supreme Court building. I just do not like those who fought against America being honored in America even if they were Americans!
I know each state can place two statues in the Capitol, so the result has been an extremely eclectic assortment of folks because each state has used different criteria for selecting its statues. That variety really opens up some interesting conversations by putting various figures in “conversation” with each other, so to speak. Your post is an example of one of those interesting opportunities for conversation.
I am particularly pleased about the Joe Wheeler statue, surprising as that might be. I think it speaks directly to your comment about forgiveness, and I think it also speaks to the power of redemption. Wheeler’s service to the U.S. government was noteworthy in the postwar years, as a U.S. senator from Alabama but more importantly as a general during the Spanish-American War and the war in the Philippines (oh, that Golden Age of American Imperialism).
It is not the power to forgive, in fact just the opposite. These statues are placed by the States that have clung to their Confederate legacy of rebellion, unwilling to forget, forgive or accept that they lost and were in the wrong. In addition to Davis, Lee, Stephens and Wheeler, there are also statues of Edmund Kirby Smith and Wade Hampton.
Surprised that in our politically correct, these are allowed to remain. Then again our anti Christian government still has 10 commandments on Supreme Court building. I just do not like those who fought against America being honored in America even if they were Americans!
I know each state can place two statues in the Capitol, so the result has been an extremely eclectic assortment of folks because each state has used different criteria for selecting its statues. That variety really opens up some interesting conversations by putting various figures in “conversation” with each other, so to speak. Your post is an example of one of those interesting opportunities for conversation.
I am particularly pleased about the Joe Wheeler statue, surprising as that might be. I think it speaks directly to your comment about forgiveness, and I think it also speaks to the power of redemption. Wheeler’s service to the U.S. government was noteworthy in the postwar years, as a U.S. senator from Alabama but more importantly as a general during the Spanish-American War and the war in the Philippines (oh, that Golden Age of American Imperialism).
It is not the power to forgive, in fact just the opposite. These statues are placed by the States that have clung to their Confederate legacy of rebellion, unwilling to forget, forgive or accept that they lost and were in the wrong. In addition to Davis, Lee, Stephens and Wheeler, there are also statues of Edmund Kirby Smith and Wade Hampton.