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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 2017)
4B THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 We’re still fighting, more than 150 years after Appomattox Deep divisions remain between north, south By JAY REEVES and FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — When the Civil War was over, when the dead were buried and the union was reunited, it came time to tell tales and write his- tory. In reunion gatherings and living rooms alike, differing versions of the causes of the conflict became as hardened as sunbaked Georgia clay. More than a century and a half later, those dueling narra- tives are with us still. Did 620,000 die, as North- erners would have it, in a noble quest to save the union and end slavery — the nation’s horrific original sin? Or was the “War Between the States” a gallant crusade to limit federal power, with slavery playing a lesser part, as Southerners insisted? Who was worthy of honor — Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, or Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee? After all this time, it could be argued that it doesn’t mat- ter, but the blood that was shed over a statue of Lee in Char- lottesville, Virginia, is power- ful evidence that it does. The national dispute over the fate of stone and bronze monuments begs this larger question: How does one country with two his- tories move forward? The answer, some say, is by seizing a rare chance to build a shared history through small steps. “This is a moment to acknowledge the incredi- ble change that we have seen among American people when they look at their past,” said Peter Carmichael, a history professor at Gettysburg Col- lege. “They’re not trying to sweep things under the rug. There are no saints and there are no sinners back in 1861. Everyone was to blame, except for the slaves.” Chad Williams/DroneBase A statue of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va. Chad Williams/DroneBase The statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va. Aftermath Other countries have dealt more forthrightly with the aftermath of horrific violence or oppression. After apart- heid’s end, South African lead- ers formed the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation to promote national unity in the early 1990s. Rwanda’s com- munity courts investigated the slaughter of as many as 1 million people in 1994. Post- World War II Germany out- lawed Nazism and its symbols. Sanford Levinson, a Uni- versity of Texas at Austin law professor, said such commis- sions generally focus on ter- rorist activity by nationalist governments, killings and tor- ture immediately after they happen to hold oppressors accountable. The United States could examine aspects of the Civil War, such as military prisons, the massacre of black soldiers or slavery itself, he said. But, “it would turn inevitably into historians testifying,” he said. “There aren’t concrete indi- viduals who are going to come up and say ‘yes, I did this and I really beg your apology.’ All those people are dead.” Americans also would need to reach genuine consensus that the Civil War should be confronted, a willingness to dredge up repressed memories and someone to lead the effort, he said. Academics and others told The Associated Press the road to avoiding a more divisive future may be lined with dis- cussions rather than shouting matches; more complete his- tory lessons; local, rather than state or national action; and a renewed focus on individuals who fought and were impacted by the war, including the depri- vations they endured. The drafting of men for the war, desertions in the Confed- erate and Union armies, polit- ical disagreements and dis- sent are among things not well represented in the memories of the conflict, especially not through monuments, said Ste- phen Rockenbach, history pro- fessor at Virginia State Uni- versity. Americans can draw on primary sources, including writings of people who lived during that time period and their diaries to understand dif- ferent viewpoints. “The danger occurs when you only look at one aspect, one person, one battle, even one time frame,” he said. Historians often don’t reach consensus on interpretations of the past and the general pub- lic can’t be expected to, either, Rockenbach said. “How then do we con- vey this huge experience that all kinds of Americans went through in meaningful way?” he said. “Statues do not do a very good job of doing that on their own.” Joe Zuniga, a 60-year-old school teacher in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, wants to see Confederate statues in muse- ums or part of historical sites or battlefields so that visitors have the context they need to understand what happened. “We are talking about his- tory,” said the self-described conservative. “We don’t have to have it on top of a build- ing overlooking the city with the idea of it being glorified. But, nonetheless, it is history. Whatever is in a person’s heart can be there. It doesn’t have to be replicated by granite or marble.” Carmichael, the Gettysburg College professor, said some of the problems of today could be addressed by doing a better job of explaining the war and how it affected a group that generally was ignored by both sides after Appomattox Court- house: black Americans. Rather than simply tear- ing down statues, interpre- tive markers should be used at Confederate monuments to show the systematic oppres- sion of black people through lynching, the denial of vot- ing rights, and segregation, he OPEN HOUSE Saturday, September 9 th • 11 AM to 2 PM said. That way, Americans can understand that the system of slavery destroyed by the Civil War didn’t create equality but instead ushered in Jim Crow laws. Reconciliation won’t hap- pen in the immediate after- math of Charlottesville, he said. The best change might be through local efforts where people who know each other can hash things out. “The more it’s done from far away, the more I think it’s likely to provoke resentment and anger, and not lead to any- thing wonderfully produc- tive,” he said. Reunited Civil War veterans reunited on battlefields for years after the fight. But today, organiza- tions composed of descendants of the armies that battled from 1861 to 1865 have few deal- ings with each other or conver- sations on a broad level. The head of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Mark Day, said open- ing a shared dialogue about the nation’s history might be a good start. “We’re Americans. We have an ability to hold differ- ent opinions and share differ- ent opinions,” said Day, the national commander. “I think it’s a national thing that we maybe have to talk to each other.” Thomas V. Strain Jr. is Day’s Southern equivalent, commander-in-chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which is more than three times the size of the Union group with some 33,000 members. Strain doesn’t mind talking to Union descendants — he recently attended a gathering of the Northern group — but he doesn’t know that discus- sions will help. People are more interested today in fighting battles with monuments as proxies than in figuring out what happened long ago, said Strain. “Until society as a whole changes and we start see- ing things for what they are, I don’t think at any time we’re going to be able to sit down and reconcile,” said Strain, of Athens, Alabama. The Southern descendants’ group supports the preser- vation of Confederate mon- uments and members often espouse the traditional, South- ern view of the war that min- imizes the role of slavery in the conflict. 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