I mean - it is likely not necessary. The reason for this report is the Military is finally going through and stripping out memorials and references to traitors. I expect this to either be changed or replaced in the next year or so.
While technically the KKK wasn’t part of the Confederacy, the focus of these actions, I can’t imagine if they were altering the triptych for anyone to go, “Oh yeah, nah, just leave that one in there.” Even if it wasn’t officially on the scope, just remove it. And if anyone wants to stand up for the Klan, go for it. We know who not to trust.
My goodness some of the articles and comments about this are poorly informed. The KKK image is one of 150 vignettes in a bronze triptych titled “History of the United States of America.”
If folks are curious about the context or intent (is it to glorify or decry racism?), West Point has a guide to the triptych available on their website that appears to date from its installation (which was in 1965, after the Civil Rights Act): CONTENTdm If you click on the little expansion arrows in the upper-right corner of the Guide image, you can see the whole thing in detail.
The guide includes a description of each of the 150 vignettes. For the KKK image, the description is “Ku Klux Klan - an organization of white people who hid their criminal activity behind a mask and sheet.”
So this pretty clearly was not intended to glorify the KKK. And the KKK figure appears right below abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Native American freedom fighters and anti-slavery activists outnumber racists like Andrew Jackson on this panel. Note the triptych also has images of “plantation slavery in the southern states” and “industrial ‘slavery’ in the northern states” (quotation marks in the original). So it seems pretty clear to me that the intent is to depict people and institutions that were influential in US history, whether they were good or bad influences.
Despite the appropriate language in the guide, the pose of the KKK person does have a “heroic” feel to it. If the artist was going for portrayal as cowards, they didn’t do a great job IMHO.
Yes I know everyone was just waiting to hear this (me) white guy mansplain his opinion on how he feels about racism.
If it had been a reference to the confederacy, it would be removed.
The Commission agrees the depiction of historical United States events on the triptych mounted at the entrance to Bartlett Hall contains elements that fall within the remit of the Commission. Two of the panels specifically commemorate people who voluntarily served in the Confederacy: Lee, Stuart, Jackson and Brooke. The Commission believes these markers should be modified to remove the names and images from the panels that specifically commemorate individuals who voluntarily served in the Confederacy.
It is saved only because it doesn’t technically fall within the commission’s remit, and if congress wishes to amend the law, it’ll be gone in a heartbeat.
I’m quite sure there are an abundance of hardware stores within a reasonable drive of Statuary Hall where one might buy a hacksaw or a cutting torch. This can be remedied.
Everyone else you just mentioned is someone remembered fondly. Are there any other villains on it? Because including one KKK guy with a bunch of celebrated figures sends a message, and it is not that they are including both the good and bad.
Thanks. We try really hard but sometimes we need somebody like you to come along and explain how dumb we are and how the entire group here has misunderstood how a miltary base known for raising officers for wars against brown people is not even both-sides-ing their relationship with the KKK, it’s just an illustration and we have all been silly.
It looks like the “narrative framework” of a then current history class memorialized in bronze. Were this a library book, it would probably be consigned to the discard pile.
My point isn’t that everyone here is dumb, but that it’s silly for everyone to draw conclusions without an actual description of what we’re looking at. I find it disappointing that multiple respected news outlets have written about this (and multiple smart commenters here have concluded that the only possible explanation is racism) without bothering to find that guide to the original artwork. The NYTimes at least showed a better closeup of the overall thing, but many others (Miami Herald, CNN, HuffPo) just show the KKK guy zoomed in and a blurry picture of the overall work.
Once that guide enters the picture, the conversation gets smarter. @anon11942186 makes an excellent point that the KKK guy looks awfully heroic to be the villain described in the guide. @jerwin nails it on the head that the triptych represents a very outdated narrative framework for how we think about history. Etc.
Some entire museums dedicated to exactly what you describe, like the Legacy Museum in Montgomery (tag line “from enslavement to mass incarceration”) and the Museum of Tolerance in LA (which is focused mainly on the Holocaust, but is the first place where I learned as a kid about SPLC’s modern-day efforts to track hate groups). And even some places with extremely problematic relationships to the horrible past (Mt. Vernon and Monticello for example) are trying to do better.
don’t pile on me for asking this - this is not a case of trying to tar both sides, I am really trying to understand.
I understand it was The Democrats in the South who were responsible for Slavery and the North was the Republicans. The KKK was started as a Democratic organisation.
How did we get from there to virtually the opposite position were the Democratic party is more perceived as the anti-racism party and the Republicans are trying to pass laws to uphold white rule?
I’m not American and it is really hard to get an explanation of this which is not told from either a far-left or far-right position. Can someone please explain it to me, or point me to some more neutral sites that I can read more.
As someone who would be considered quite left of centre in US terms, learning the history of the US Democrats is distressing, and would like to know how the modern party came about.
