Everyday Erinyes #140

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”

With 17 days left until the most important election of my lifetime so far, I can’t seem to get my mind off of election hacking. I see three broad possibilities –

1) Will some, most, or all of the many possible perpetrators hack into our election systems and change votes? or,

2) Will some, most, or all of the many possible perpetrators hack into our utility systems, especially in large cities, and cause the breakdown of election equipment in order to disappear votes? or,

3) Most diabolical of all, will some, most, or all of the many possible perpetrators do nothing – other than continuing to spread chaos through social media – allow the elections to proceed without outside interference, and then CLAIM to have interfered, in order to delegitimize legitimate election results?

The problem with all of these speculations is that our Federal government will do absolutely nothing to prevent any of the above, and most State governments, maybe all of them, will do nothing either. The result of that is that when I fret about these possibilities, the person I am injuring most is myself.

So I need to give my brain a moratorium, leave the hacking issues to Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, and discuss something completely different (no, not stereo.)

Confederate monuments.

Most people who read here are aware that most “Confederate monuments” have virtually nothing to do with memorializing the CSA or the war, and almost everything to do with keeping people of color terrified so they wouldn’t get “uppity.” If nothing else, the fact that by far the greatest number of then were erected after 1900 should give that away. There is, or was until recently, one at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill which went up in 1913.

It doesn’t memorialize anyone in particular – sort of an “unknown Confederate soldier” – in theory it is dedicated to “the sons of the University who died for their beloved Southland 1861-1865.” It was nicknamed “Silent Sam.” On June 2, 1913, it was dedicated in a ceremony including a speech by Julian Carr, a Confederate veteran. The speech included references to Carr’s having “horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds,” as well as expressions of gratitude to the KKK for its racist violence.

This year a number of anti-racist activists took it down. One, Maya Little, had protested it by dousing it in a mixture of red paint and her own blood. Maya and more than two dozen other activists have been arrested for protesting the statue and neo-Confederates, and Maya’s case will return to court Monday (the 22nd.)

The arrests did not sit well with a great, great, great granddaughter of Julian Carr named Meg Yarnell. She has written an Open Letter to the Administration which, since it is open, I quote in full:

I write to you, as the great, great, great granddaughter of Julian S. Carr, to advocate that UNC drop the Honor Court and criminal charges against Maya Little and the antiracist activists arrested protesting the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam. Considering the legacy of my great, great, great grandfather, who was instrumental in erecting Silent Sam and infamously dedicated the statue by celebrating the purity of the Anglo-Saxon race and the time that he “whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds,” I am grateful for what Maya did to contextualize this statue and advance the cause for its removal.

My family can trace our lineage in the United States back to early America and the shameful time when our ancestors owned slaves, a time when it was perfectly acceptable, even enviable, for one man and his kin to become rich off the unpaid labor, industry, and suffering of hundreds of men, women and children.

My great, great, great grandfather Julian Carr fought in the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy, which explicitly dedicated itself to keeping this system of slavery alive. Yes, he loved his family and parts of the community in which he lived, but we must recognize that Julian was a white supremacist whose vitriolic speech and actions resulted in the pain and suffering of many.

As a white person, and descendant of Julian Carr, I cannot remain silent. Our silence as white people is complicity with white supremacy and has created a very painful world. It is a horrifying necessity to confront the reality that my ancestors participated in such shameful things, and I want to express my sorrow and deepest apologies for the profound suffering, trauma and inequality caused by the actions of my ancestors, including Julian Carr. However, apologies are not enough. Action is needed to help right these historic wrongs.

As Frederick Douglass said during an 1881 speech, “Slavery is indeed gone, but its long, black shadow yet falls broad and large over the face of the whole country.” This continues to be true today.

The founding of our country is circumscribed by multiple traumas of oppression and violence—slavery of Black people and genocide of First Nations peoples among them. As a nation we have failed to truly understand, acknowledge, mourn, and make reparations for our country’s violent origins.

This untreated wound is why it is so difficult to talk about race and culture in America. It is one of the reasons we do not make meaningful headway on so many of society’s problems such as poverty, institutional racism, police brutality, the prison industrial complex, and health inequality. It is why we continue to hold onto racist and damaging memorials such as the one torn down at UNC.

By our “founding fathers’” design, white people have benefitted and continue to benefit from slavery and its contemporary semblances. As white people, we need to confront our past and take responsibility for creating real socioeconomic and racial equity and justice today. For one, we need to use the privilege history has afforded us to speak the truth and remove Confederate monuments like Silent Sam, which only serve to celebrate our nation’s ugly past and present. We should applaud the actions of Maya Little and other antiracist activists, many of whom are people of color, for putting themselves at risk to improve our communities.

Maya’s action in April 2018 was a courageous act of civil disobedience and an attempt to ameliorate the harm that white people have done. She generated thoughtful discussion around issues of white supremacy at her own expense. Those that participated in the actions against the statue in August and early September also sought to turn the tides on campus to discussions of racial inclusion and social justice. I stand proudly with them.

UNC is in a unique position at this moment in time. Silent Sam has been removed. In its absence, the university can reimagine the commemorative landscape to represent the community’s highest values. UNC can create a campus that is welcoming for all and in the spirit of its mission to serve as a center for research, scholarship, and creativity for a diverse community of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students to become the next generation of leaders.

Maya Little, as well as those involved in removing and protesting the statue, are some of these leaders. It would be another wound to silence or make invisible (or worse, violently eradicate) their actions, which have put UNC’s community and our nation in a greater place to collectively heal.

Sincerely,

Meg Yarnell

I know of no one who could have said it any better; certainly not I. Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, if you can spare a moment from dealing with hackers, please keep an eye of protection on Ms. Yarnell. I hope she won’t need it, but I fear she will.

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 HERE.