The three important segments of time are the past (history), the present (reality) and the future (uncertainty). Of these three periods, the past (history) cannot be changed except by scholars and political sidewinders that distort events in academic papers and other media to satisfy their desires.
In general, the present (reality) cannot be changed either, however, a person that might be smoking can declare that he will never smoke again or a person can change their mind about eating a candy bar or buying a new watch.
The future is always uncertain no matter what prism we are peering through at the time. For example a couple that said their marriage vows in June may be considering divorce by December. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un whose mischievous and evil mind contemplates dropping a nuclear weapon on someone else’s soil might someday soften his rhetoric for some inexplicable reason.
Let’s take a look at history. Native Americans, including Alaska natives throughout our nation are suffering from a plethora of diseases including diabetes, alcoholism, cancer, heart disease and stroke and other afflictions. This suggests that in a century and a half these precious indigenous people have had bad advice and guidance of integrating into our population. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency of the United States Department of Interior oversees 567 native tribes and about 1.9 million Native Americans and Alaska Natives. Is our government too stupid to change?
By the way, the name Indian was given to our indigenous Americans simply because Christopher Columbus in 1492 (525 years ago) thought he had shored up on the West Indies and thus he thought the strange looking people on the beach were ‘Indians.’ Native Americans either enjoy the title or put up with it from their ‘Paleface’ invaders.
One of the other prodigious events that took place in our ‘United States of America’ was the Civil War. From 1861 to 1865, there were four Confederate flags; the first had seven stars, the second had nine stars, the third had 11 stars and the final one had 13 stars, all in a circle in a field of blue at the upper left of two red stripes separated by a white one. One of these flags flown over the South Carolina Capitol for 54 years was removed shortly after a killer took the lives of nine innocent people in a Charleston Church. Was the flag the cause of this horrifying event?
Currently there is a squabble going on in Charlottesville, VA over a statue of General Robert E. Lee on his horse Traveler located in the city. The reasoning is that Lee and his fellow Confederate soldiers were fighting for slavery. The Lee mansion stands in Arlington National Cemetery; should that mansion be torn down?
In the spring of 2015, members of the St. Louis University student body and some faculty members determined that a statue of Jesuit Missionary Pierre-Jean DeSmet depicted him praying over two Native Americans in their traditional clothing should be removed. Located just outside Fusz Hall on the campus of SLU, the statue had been there for decades, but was removed and placed in the University’s Museum of Art. The objection was that the statue symbolized white supremacy, racism and colonialism.
Statues of Jefferson Davis and Woodrow Wilson were removed from the campus of the University of Texas in Austin when students rebelled against them in 2015. University President Gregory L. Fenves yielded to student demands and removed the statues that were erected in 1933. Four other statues portraying Generals Robert E. Lee and Albert Sidney Johnson, Confederate Postmaster John H. Reagan and James Stephen Hogg who was a native-born Governor of Texas and the son of a Confederate General will remain. The reason for saving these four statues was that they had deeper ties to Texas said University President Fenves.
There have been removals of statues in cities, towns and campuses depicting people and events of the past. History isn’t changed by the emotional debates and uproar over symbols of bygone eras. ISIS destroys antiquities and artifacts that are thousands of years old. The reason given is that the history of the past is replaced by nihilism. Vandalism, riots and looting are also nihilism. Are we no better than ISIS?
Dick Baynton
