That damned Confederate flag should just be the beginning, I tell ya!
Hopefully, the federal government will form a committee and hearings will be held. If we’re diligent, we’ll look down every rabbit hole and find every last person, every last symbol that has done our people wrong.
And … hey, wait a second. Just a second. This is beginning to sound a little bit like that senator back in the ’50s. Yeah, you know, that Joe McCarthy guy.
Boy, I’m told those were pretty scary times. The Red Menace was all the rage back then, and the junior Republican senator from Wisconsin thought communists were hiding in every rabbit hole. Worse, they were in the government and movie industry, to boot.
Heck, they were everywhere.
Senate hearings were held. Even if you were just one of those crazy liberals with no communist ties — well, you were just as bad.
Life was troubling.
So here’s the delicious irony: The very same liberals who look back on McCarthy’s tactics as horrendous are now calling for similar tactics to root out anything that has any ties to the Confederacy.
Look, I completely agree that the Confederate flag should go. Far too many people believe it’s a symbol of racism. Whether you agree or disagree doesn’t really matter. It is perceived to be racist by many, and that’s good enough for me. We should always err on the side of being welcoming, comforting and understanding.
After all, as we celebrate our American flag today, let’s remember that it stands for being welcoming, comforting and understanding.
Our flag never stood for what McCarthy stood for.
So, if you side with those who now are saying the Confederate flag is only the beginning, how far is too far? And who gets to decide?
A good buddy of mine — an old warhorse news guy who’s retired from the business — raised a question about Robert E. Lee.
Yeah, that guy.
Lee has a long, complicated, conflicted history. One thing for certain, Lee was the commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
So my buddy posts this on Facebook:
“Should the eight Lee counties in the United States named after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee have their names changed?
“I say yes.”
New York Times columnist David Brooks raised the question, as well. He wrote you could make a case to keep some things named Lee, but, “We should remove Lee’s name from most schools, roads and other institutions, where the name could be seen as acceptance of what he did and stood for during the war.”
Wow. Just wow.
Now, both my buddy and I worked in Lee County, Fla., and never once in my decade-plus there did I think of the name as a bad thing. And I’m a Northerner, a Chicago guy! I suspect not many others thought about the name, either.
And what about my paisan Chris? Yeah, that Chris. Christopher Columbus. Discovering America and all of that.
Lots of towns and cities used to celebrate him with parades and functions.
Well, Columbus Day is sort of persona non grata now. Parades have been canceled.
I get it. Columbus opened the path for Europeans to populate the East Coast, and that was really the beginning of the end for Native Americans in that part of “our” country.
So, why isn’t Columbus, Ohio’s, name on the chopping block? I’ll wait for an answer.
Still waiting.
Guess who could be next? Us! Right here in beautiful Clark County. Yep, we’re named after one of those Lewis & Clark guys. They were actually pretty good dudes, as far as I can tell, but there’s no getting around this: In a very real way, Lewis & Clark opened up the path for Europeans to populate the West Coast much like Columbus did for the East Coast. So should the name Clark County be dumped, as well?
I’m voting no, but if the headhunters get their way and all questionable names must go, I think I can figure out a solution.
Well, actually, King County figured out the solution. The liberal county where Seattle rests was named after William Rufus Devane King in 1852. He was a long-tenured senator from Alabama and vice president of the United States under Franklin Pierce.
That stood for more than a century until some folks in King County figured they weren’t all that crazy about that King. And they were fond of another King. So in 1986, with a new law here and an ordinance there, King was suddenly named after the other King: Martin Luther King Jr.
Great guy, to be sure, but does that strike anyone else as just a little weird?
Regardless, that’s the answer, I tell ya! It clearly has given the Lees and the Columbuses and — yes — the Clarks some outs.
Keep the name, just say it’s in honor of someone else. For my money, if it comes down to this, I say Clark County should be named after Clark Kent. He was that news guy with Superman tendencies.
I could live with that.
Or, maybe we should all just take a deep breath.
And enjoy the Fourth of July.
