ARGENTINE TANGO

Dance the Tango! The Argentine Tango!

Tonight!

Key West Theater on Eaton Street. Part of the Key West World of Culture Dance Series. Learn or watch. Your choice.

Trump on the receiving end. The tide is turning. It does not seem he can take it as well as he can give it out.

Liberty University a major Trump supporter. Liberty’s President Jerry Falwell, Jr. at the forefront. A few graduates are unhappy with Falwell’s support of Trump following Trump’s Nazi and alt right comments. So far, one hundred. They are returning their diplomas.

I have become a fan of the Justice Building Blog. Sometimes bland, sometimes humorous. Today’s on the funny side.

Trump on frequent occasion makes statements that are historically incorrect, nonsensical, just plain stupid. Some quotes attributable to Trump listed today. None said by Trump. Could have been, however.

Like…..”Nazis are people too. Americans.” How about…..”We spend all the money on nuclear weapons and don’t use them. What good are they? Or…..”Lincoln did not believe in global warming. Neither did Patton. Neither do I.”

Confederate statues and memorials being removed. Some in the dark of night. My thoughts move back and forth.

At first, I did not agree. Like it or not, the Civil War is part of American history. The Nation united following the war. Southern peoples have the right to honor their heroes of that moment in American history.

Then I heard the voices of today’s African-Americans. Most of the statues/memorials were constructed during the 1920’s by and in support of the Klu Klux Klan or in support of southern States during the 1960’s civil rights disturbances.

Their voices loud and clear. Whether a statue, monument or flag, we are reminded of our slavery heritage. These items represent a time when our people suffered.

I understood. Or, thought I did. Tear them down became part of my thought process.

Now, I find myself swaying back and forth between both conclusions.

Which brings me to Key West and the issue.

This morning’s Key West Citizen reveals three Confederate statues/memorials. One in Bayview Park. Another, Clinton Square. The third, Mallory square itself. There is a fourth I discovered myself.

The Confederate memorial in Bayview Park was constructed in 1924 by the Stephen Mallory chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Dedicated to the soldiers and sailors of the Confederacy.

The one in Clinton Square erected in honor of Confederate veteran and Judge J.V. Harris.

Mallory Square the best of the best or outrageous based on one’s perspective.

The huge expanse known as Mallory Square is named after Stephen R. Mallory. Mallory was raised in Key West. A United States Senator representing Florida prior to the Civil War. Served as Confederate Secretary of the Navy during the Civil War. Charged with treason following the war. Imprisoned for a time. Then paroled by President Andrew Johnson.

When a U.S. Senator, his first speech was for a return to flogging on U.S. Navy vessels. The nature of the man reflected?

I am unaware if he continued to live in Key West during his Senatorial years or any time thereafter. He died not in Key West, but at his home in Pensacola.

Well my fellow residents of Key West, do we tear down the Bayview Park memorial, the Clinton Square statue, and rename Mallory Square? No thought given so far. I doubt that Key Westers really care.

One more example. Asa Forseyth Tift.

Tift was the first owner of what today is the Hemingway House. He built it in 1851. Tift owned 14 slaves. They constituted the labor force used.

Tift’s bust is located in the Memorial Sculpture Garden at the edge of Mallory Square.

Should the Hemingway House be torn down? Should Tift’s bust be removed from the Memorial Sculpture Garden?

All food for thought. What is good for Charlottesville, Baltimore and other cities, should be good for Key West. Lets have a universal application. Or, cease and desist with the removal of these historical representations.

A confusing issue for those with no ax to grind. Like me.

Enjoy your day!

 

9 comments on “ARGENTINE TANGO

  1. History is history, good or bad. Most or a lot of the statues, monuments, et cetera were erected and/or named over 100 years ago. Leave them be, observe them as history that can’t be changed, learn from them and let them stand so that present and future generations will be reminded of what WAS and move on in positive directions.

    • I disagree. Just as when Communism finally fell the statues of Lenin and Stalin fell and were removed so should the Confederate statues be moved from prominent public places that should be enjoyed BY ALL to places such as real battlefields (for real historical context) and perhaps private cemeteries run by the DAR.

      I concur historical statues, often erected during the Jim Crow Era, should not be demolished. But clear the universal public spaces of relics from our divided past for messages that bind everyone, not just a few. Everyone of every race and creed pays taxes. Thus public spaces should appeal to universal messages such as justice for all and peace and love of mankind.

      • Whoops, I mean the UDC, not the DAR. Wrong war.

        For example, Hollywood Cemetary in Richmond, the Confederate Capital, would be an ideal site for Confederate monuments. Many Confederate dead are buried there and their leader’s statues should be with them.

        Who could justly argue with that on the left or right? Plus, our history is preserved.

  2. As a side note. I know Lou is worried about Gators. Well a second gator this month was just caught in Upstate New York. They have been named Whitney and Lisle after the nearby towns and are being properly cared for. I think proper care would be their tails in my frying pan.

  3. Last night in the dark the oldest monument to Christopher Columbus was destroyed with a sledge hammer. The monument was erected in 1792 and stood in a park in Baltimore. The vandals posted the destruction of the monument on You Tube for the world to see. What is the sense?

    • I agree the Columbus statue has no reason to be defaced. Pure vandalism and political idiocy. As usual, extremists on any side take things way too far.

  4. I’d like to know the reason over the Columbus statue. He was not the person history has made him out to be, but, there is still no good reason for its destruction.

  5. Now we want to tear down buildings built with some slave labor, Thats a lot of buildings to come down. That’ll put some folks to work.

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