A Peace Offering

What Happened

I really put my foot in it, the day before April 4, 2018. The Hell of the whole situation is that the “it” I put my foot in was my own crap, and I did it because I violated the standards I believe Memphis is beginning to remember.

Here's the link to the Facebook thread that brought me to this point.

Basically, I threw out a juicy morsel of Confederate statue bait and Christopher Rice set the hook.

Christopher was right; while my assertion was based on evidence I personally gathered from sources that include the microfilm files at Benjamin Hooks Library and the Chronicling America website, my statement was not backed up with readily available facts. Then there’s the further fact that while I claimed I intended no insult toward anyone’s family, my entire approach (“imagined History” was a cheap shot) is insulting.  And I call myself a teacher…

From where things stood on the third, it appeared I had two Facebook expected choices. I could have stepped up my “game” and turned an opportunity for constructive conversation into a self defeating data-dump sideshow. The other choice was to tuck tail and slink away.

I chose neither.

Sincerely:

I apologize to all Confederate Memphians. I have been painting you in with the alt-right version of white supremacy and that was nothing but mean. There can be no Memphis without you.

I apologize to Christopher. Thank you for your regard for your fellows and for stepping up to the bully.

Most importantly, I apologize to you, Memphis. I broke a rule Jesus doesn’t want us breaking, and I let you down.

Tactical Retreat

You probably didn’t notice, but I haven’t made my Face Book rounds since then. If it matters to you at all, my absence is part of what I hope is a constructive act of penance I set for myself when I found my own words wrapped around my ankles. 

I basically demoted my statement to a theory, and banned myself from Face Book until I:

• Reexamined my own motives

• Found the first penny

• Produced a composition appropriate to the conversation (I have since upped that to two, this first one being the second one assigned).

Where I Stand

Make no mistake: I’m still convinced that removing the statues was the right thing to do because of the message (intended or otherwise) they send, and the oppression they engender.

That being said, I don’t believe that this should mark the latest victory in an ongoing effort to rewrite Memphis History with a gigantic eraser. I do believe that the statue's removal can, at least in Memphis, be turned into an opportunity for constructive conversation that honestly reassesses and even embraces our shared History. When I say honestly, I mean it in the uncomfortable often painful sense of the word.

Look at it this way, without  getting into the technicalities of what defines a funerary monument just this minute, there is still the question of what is to become of the graves of General and Mrs. Forrest. Who's looking forward to that conversation? I’ll just ask y'all this: Are we going to gear up for another season of reality show news featuring the Alt-Right White Boys vs the Antifa Snowflakes, or are we going to continue to keep family (however dysfunctional) business in the family?

Who’s going to define Memphis? Fox CNN and the social media news-trolls who are bent on division, or a more mature Memphis bent on reconciliation?

Peace Y’all

Now, about that First Penny…