Lynching memorial leaves some quietly seething: 'Let sleeping dogs lie'

[yallerdawg]

The brutal new memorial to the south’s dark side has left some in Alabama frustrated and angry at its insistence on confronting the past

Source: The Guardian, by Sam Levin


Black men were lynched for “standing around”, for “annoying white girls”, for failing to call a policeman “mister”. Those are just a few of the horrific stories on display at a new national memorial to lynching victims in Montgomery, Alabama.

One mile away, another historical monument tells a very different tale about the American south: the First White House of the Confederacy celebrates the life of “renowned American patriot” Jefferson Davis, who served as the president of the Confederate states, while making virtually no mention of the hundreds of black people he and his family enslaved.

The contradictions of Montgomery’s historical narratives were on full display this week as thousands of tourists and progressive activists flocked to the city to mark the opening of the country’s first memorial to lynching victims – while some locals quietly seethed, saying they resented the new museum for dredging up the past and feared it would incite anger and backlash within black communities.

*****

The angry and in some cases blatantly racist reactions to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and accompanying Legacy Museum provided a window into some white Americans’ deep resistance to confronting the nation’s brutal history of racial violence, from slavery to mass incarceration.

While celebrities and civil rights icons lauded the memorial as a powerful symbol of America’s shame and a turning point toward healing, some conservatives in Alabama rolled their eyes at the project, saying they were more concerned with saving Confederate monuments, now under threat from leftwing activists.

Alabama’s Republican governor, Kay Ivey, wasn’t present at the memorial launch, but did release a video promoting her efforts to preserve Confederate monuments a week prior.

*****

Read it all at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/28/lynching-memorial-backlash-montgomery-alabama

[hlthe2b]

1. yeah, those a'holes who want to "bury the past" probably have lynching postcards handed down

from their "Grand and Great Grand pappies", confederate flags displayed or at least at hand to go to their "alt-right" demonstrations and a rejected editorial somewhere laden with typos and grammatical errors putting voice to their persecution complex circa Trump 2016.

Confront the hell out of them. It is painful for non-sociopaths to view and absorb, but progress comes from that pain. For the rest, I hope they are made as uncomfortable as it is possible to accomplish.

[tazkcmo]

2. F racists

And their feelings.

[yallerdawg]

7. From 'Atlanta' this week:

[Greybnk48]

3. I think it's perfectly honest and shocking!

I would like to travel to see it some day soon. It's what we need.

As a side note: I remember watching Alex Haley's series "Roots" when it first was aired in the 70's. "Roots" could have been more brutal, and would have been if done today, but back then it didn't need to be.

That series changed my life, for the better I think. We need to learn and KNOW what "slavery" in America actually means, what it entailed, the horror of it. Everyone needs to know.

[yallerdawg]

4. Nelson Mandela said:

"True reconciliation does not consist in merely forgetting the past."

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Would like to see it, but don't want to spend a penny in Alabama.

[bullwinkle428]

5. The same assholes that scream like stuck pigs if anyone

lays a hand on their precious "Confederate memorials"!

[yallerdawg]

6. And this isn't "fringy" stuff down here.

On Alabama's ballot in November:

• One amendment would establish it as Alabama policy to "recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children" and state that the constitution does not provide a right to abortion or abortion funding.

• Another amendment would authorize the display of the Ten Commandments on public property and provide certain restrictions and provisions regarding religious freedom.

https://ballotpedia.org/Alabama_2018_ballot_measures

[smirkymonkey]

11. Fuck Alabama.

If they pass these amendments, they can go to hell.

[IluvPitties]

8. They want to bury the past that exposes them.

They still have their "Confederate heritage" up their asses.

[edhopper]

9. I will bet a large sum of money

that these same assholes are the ones who will not let the South's defeat in the Civil War "go".

[Adrahil]

10. Yeah, but they still want their fucking Confederate memorials...

battle flags. FUCK. THEM.

[Kirk Lover]

12. Too fucking bad. It is our history and it's about damn time that it comes out of the darkness.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

14. Get over lynchings but leave our Conderate monuments alone.

These assholes are totally thick headed and clueless.