President Kenneth Ruscio
Washington and Lee University
204 West Washington Street
Lexington, VA 24450
[email protected]
Dear President Ruscio,
In regards to viewing a Confederate Flag as being offensive to an individual, I would like to present a comparable example why Confederate flags should be honored and respected and placed back in Lee Chapel.
I would like to share some history of my family. The Guerrant family is descended from French Huguenots (Protestants). My family’s original last name was Guerin. They settled in Virginia in 1699 and changed their name to the now anglicized version of Guerrant.
The Guerin family barely escaped the Catholic-backed persecution, torture, and death of the Catholic Inquisition in France. In part the Huguenots wanted to live civilly and to worship in peace. They also wanted to practice their faith without having to be forced to practice a faith they disagreed with. The Catholic Church backed and supported the persecution, torture and murder of French Protestants. My ancestor Henri Guerin was tortured on the “wheel”. The wheel was a torture device to in part force Protestants to renounce their current faith and to announce in spoken words that the Catholic religion was the true faith.
Pope Gregory XIII (1572-85) had a medal made to celebrate the massacre of Saint Bartholomew commemorating the killing of tens of thousands of French Protestants. The Pope ordered a Te Deum to be sung as a special thanksgiving (a practice continued for many years after) and had a medal struck with the motto Ugonottorum strages 1572 (Latin for “slaughter of the Huguenots”) showing an angel bearing a cross and sword next to slaughtered Protestants.
If my eyes see a Catholic Church, a Knights of Columbus symbol, a statue of Mary or a Catholic crucifix-rosary then perhaps I should say these symbols are offensive because they represent the persecution and the wrongs done to my family (ancestors) by the Catholic Church. Then perhaps I should continue to say that these symbols must be removed and I shouldn’t have to be offended by the icons of a past persecuting Catholic Church. Is it my right therefore to have them removed?
You know I don’t buy into the idea that I should ask my Catholic neighbors to remove their symbols. Everyone has a perspective of what is beautiful and meaningful to them and what is not. Its “cool” to have Catholics who hold in reverence their Catholic symbols. A lady who was my neighbor as I was growing up was a Roman Catholic and I remember in her home symbols of her faith; of paintings of the bleeding heart of Jesus, priests, and several crosses blessed by the Pope. She spent a lot of time with me and I really loved that dear sweet lady.
My family (ancestors) died and suffered for their Christian beliefs. To this day most of them still maintain their Protestant theology and heritage. Today most of the Guerrants are members of The Presbyterian Church (Calvinists). That’s my story. But my story continues.
My point is that Confederate flags are historical symbols of my heritage. Quite simply said, men, women and children died for what they believed in by supporting the Confederate States of America, and the Confederate flag represents what they supported. Why can’t we, you and I agree that we have differences and show some mutual respect to what we find meaningful in our lives, and then together equally display statues, crosses, and flags that we hold dear.
I am asking President Kenneth Rusico to please put back the Confederate Flags in Lee Chapel where my father, Robert Guerrant, and my uncle, Saunders Guerrant, prayed and after which went back to their classes and eventually graduated from Washington and Lee (College) University.
– Emerson Roy Guerrant / Roanoke
