A Local Monument Protection Act--at the County Level?

As monuments and memorials nationwide come down--where will the line be drawn?  Will Native American monuments be next?  I support the preservation of history, good and bad, including not taking down statues, monuments, and memorials.  

At this past week's Escambia County Republican Executive Committee (REC) Meeting, a discussion about protecting monuments and memorials, particularly those that honor military history and historic military figures, took place.

The featured speaker of the evening was State Representative Mike Hill, who sponsored legislation  last session to protect monuments and memorials from removal/replacement.

His bill was referred to a committee, indefinitely postponed, and ultimately withdrawn from consideration.  It was never heard by the full legislature.  I'm told Representative Hill will re-introduce the bill during the upcoming session, so we will see what happens with that.

A member of the audience at this months REC asked "Could the county introduce its own ordinance to protect monuments in Escambia County?"  Then folks looked at me, as the only county commissioner present.

"I'll find out, and I'll report back next month" I stated to the crowd in attendance.

Subsequently, I received a link to a Lee County, Florida, ordinance that was written to protect military monuments.

But there are a lot of politics at play with this sort of an ordinance.

It appears to me that the goal and objective with the Lee County ordinance is simply to keep in place a bust of Confederate General Robert E. Lee--the namesake for the county. ( There is a movement afoot to remove that statue from its current prominent downtown location to a museum on private property.)

I prefer to protect all monuments, memorials, buildings, and structures that are given such honor by the communities, counties, and states in which they are erected and placed--without carving out exclusions.

Should we leave vulnerable the monuments to police officers, members of the clergy, ordinary citizens that did/do extraordinary things, Native Americans that fought against America to save their land, prominent statesmen, Astronauts, and civil rights leaders?  Do we not offer protection to these?

Most ALL memorials and monuments are anticipated to be established and  maintained in perpetuity--because a lot of thought and consideration is typically given BEFORE such designations are given.

And this is why when buildings are rebuilt, the names remain.

Two local examples of this are AK Suter Elementary and Ernest Ward Middle School--two schools that were demolished and rebuilt but that kept the memorial designation as previous school boards had intended--even though they were not military memorial designations. "New Building- Same Name"-- as intended!

Some folks will act aggressively to protect some memorials and monuments-while others will act in an equally aggressive and strident manner to remove monuments and memorials--- given the right set of circumstances, their ideology, and the proper motivation.  Sometimes members of competing ideologies agree on memorial removal/re-designation.  Meanwhile-- the majority of the rest of the citizens don't and won't weigh in one way or another--as they are busy living their lives, raising families, working, etc.

The successful and deftly executed plan to remove the memorial to Philip D. Beall locally is a stark picture of what I believe such a memorial protection act should prevent--but also why I don't think a memorial protection act will ever pass locally.

(Ironically--a reading of State Representative Mike Hill's bill would lead many to believe that if it had in fact been enacted and passed into law--it would have prevented the recent moves toward removal of the memorial designation for Philip D Beall Sr.  This is interesting because Representative Hill was in support of removing the Philip D Beall Sr. memorial designation)

Talk about mixed messages??

I don't deal in mixed messages and half-measures----and I want to make one thing crystal clear:

I support ALL history and ALL historic figures (of all stripes--including military and non-military figures) and in order for such a bill locally (like Lee County's ordinance) to gain my support, the language would have to be changed to include protection for all monuments and memorials-----with the specific clause inserted that the only removal permitted would be if the namesake was found guilty of a crime, posthumously, or of violating the law as it was written during his/her lifetime, in such a manner that would bring disrepute to the community that honored such a namesake.

Otherwise, like the effort last legislative session by representative Hill, such bills will not go


 anywhere-- locally, nationally, or statewide----as they will be seen merely as stealth-measures to protect Civil War monuments only.

And as we have seen now locally and as we see nationwide, when constituencies mobilize to remove memorials of all varieties-- they are often very successful as again----most average citizens do not engage--unless they are fans of history OR descendants of the namesake.

And sadly-- those that seek only to protect the historical monuments and memorials will be targeted for ad hominem personal attacks while the target memorial for removal simultaneously absorbs targeted, coordinated historical character assassination--void of context and historical realities.  It's all about a means to an end.

In the recent successful Beall memorial removal effort and campaign in Pensacola, look simply at which side absorbed vicious personal character attacks (Beall family and supporters), and which side was respectful in advocating for protection of the memorial (Beall family and supporters).

So, sadly,  I do predict many more monuments and memorials will be taken down in the years and decades to come throughout our nation--the precedent has been set.  Multiple times over.

Now comes word that a mural to our first President, George Washington, is being painted over at George Washington High School in San Francisco--at a cost of $600,000.00 taxpayer dollars---because two students felt "uncomfortable" about the work of art. 

Who would ever imagine something like this happening in the United States of America?

Our nation is changing, yes.

And our history, good and bad, will slowly fade away and be replaced -- to appease certain constituencies and for political correctness' sake.  That's my prediction.