Why as a veteran, I oppose Confederate monuments.

     Why am I writing this? Because of an allegorical sculpture honoring 20th and 21st century American troops who have died in the post 9/11 world outside the grounds of the Texas state capitol in Austin, TX.
     Upon adulthood, we have to make life choices. Depending on your social and economic status, your choices can be unlimited or very limited.

     While my family wasn't dirt poor, my options were somewhat limited. While walking through the mall in the summer of 1978, I literally stumbled into my future. In one corner was a row of small recruiting offices for the various military services. 

     I had always imagined myself in the military. I grew up watching WWII movies. I watched both the classic films made during the conflict and the Technicolor war sagas of the 1960s. For me, the military was a viable option. I wanted to be more than I was. I wanted to travel. In my mind, the Army was the way to go. My mother knew that I was leaning towards a military career. Her suggestion was the Air Force. Not for any perceived career advantages, but because she hoped that I could be stationed at what was then Kelly AFB, less than three miles down the street from our home. She didn't want me going too far away.

     After the pondering the pros and cons of the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, I gravitated towards the Navy. Eleven months later, I was sworn into the U.S. Navy and flown to Recruit Training Command San Diego.

     Being in the Navy, you become part of the brotherhood (sister's included also) of the Navy. Despite service rivalries, you are also part of the larger military brotherhood. The Navy's victories and triumphs, past and present, become your victories. Their tragedies become your tragedies. 

     I'm indeed fortunate that with the Navy, I travelled far and wide to exotic and beautiful locations all over the globe. I've also been at the sites of many U.S. Naval victories and tragedies from the Civil War and World War II.

     In the late 80s, I was stationed at Naval Station Norfolk, site of the Battle of Hampton Roads, the famous duel between ironclads USS MONITOR and CSS VIRGINIA (ex USS MERRIMACK). I've been to Naval Station Pearl Harbor. I've been to Guam, Subic Bay, the waters where the Battle of Leyte Gulf raged, Adak Island, Mobile Bay, Tokyo Bay, Sabine Pass, New Orleans, Galveston, and even Memphis. All places where the US Navy engaged the enemy directly.

     I've also had the opportunity to go aboard several museum ships such as USS OLYMPIA (C-6), USS LEXINGTON (AVT-16), USS TEXAS (BB-35), USS CAVALLA (SS-244), USS STEWART (DE-238), USS RAZORBACK (SS-394), USS ALABAMA (BB-60),  USS DRUM (SS-228), USS BOWFIN (SS-287), USS ARIZONA (BB-39), and the historic USS MISSOURI (BB-63) while it was on it's last reactivation before it became a museum ship.
     All of these ships engaged the enemy. They are veterans of The Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, and The Gulf War.

     In addition to the museum ships, I've even been to naval or naval related museums including the National Museum of the Pacific War, Submarine Force Museum, Hampton Roads Naval Museum, Nation Museum of Naval Aviation, plus numerous historic US military forts, museums, and commerative sites. You can say that I am truly steeped in American naval and military history and lore.

     I've been to Fort Gaines, near Mobile, AL. During the Civil War it protected Mobile Bay. Today it is seen as a glorified Confederate monument despite the fact that it was a US Navy victory.
     Near Sabine Pass, TX is the site of two battles. The First Battle of Sabine Pass was a Union victory. The US Navy bombarded the Confederate artillery stationed there and they abandoned the fort. The Union forces abandoned Sabine Pass and was unsuccessful at retaking Sabine Pass at the Second Battle of Sabine Pass. The site subsequently was used as a coastal defense fort during the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II. Despite the long history of the site, Texas State Parks chooses only to focus on the courageous action of Confederate Lt Dick Dowling at the second battle. The First Battle is not mentioned and later fortifications are barely touched on.
     A marker commemorating US. Navy casualties at the Second Battle sits there as an afterthought.
     Along the seawall on Galeston Island, TX, sits a small bronze marker reminding tourists of the defense of Galveston. It does not mention US Navy or Army losses during this campaign.
     Then we have 254 counties in Texas. I've been to several county courthouses, and many have at least one monument to Confederate soldiers. The courthouses in Edwards County, Real County, Uvalde County, and Medina County didn't appear to have any Confederate monuments, at least as far as I noticed. Some counties like Lavaca County and Bastrop County "only" have a stone obelisk commemorating Confederate sacrifice. While other courthouses have large bronze statues as in Llano County, Navarro County, and Bell County. The Texas state capitol is, I dare say, littered with oversized Confederate statues and monuments.
     As someone who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, defend American interests, and to defend against "all enemies foreign and domestic", these monuments almost makes me feel as though I were in a foreign country. I take personal affront to these monuments to men who swore an oath to a foreign government and did battle against my brothers. These are monuments to a nation whose sole purpose was the maintenance and continuation of slavery in America.
     Yes, there are those that will say that it was not the issue of slavery but of "state's rights". Southerners have lied to themselves for so long, that the fiction has become truth and facts are taken as an affront to the cherished memories of their ancestors. To admit facts, is to admit that their forefathers were evil men. Southerners would rather hold true to fantasy than admit to the truth.
     Facts don't lie. Here's a Confederate recruiting poster calling US forces a "brutal and desperate foe" and warning about "abolitionists" invading from the north. Now why would Southerners fear abolitionists? Because the goal of the abolitionists was to abolish slavery. Abolitionists were a threat to the maintenance of slavery.

     Of course some may argue that one poster isn't proof. What about the words of Confederate officials?
     Vice President of the CSA, Alexander H. Stevens gave a speech which thereafter will be known as the "Cornerstone Speech" in which he rationalized white supremacy and slavery. He said, "Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth."

     The values of the Confederacy are inconsistent with modern America. They considered Negro subordination to white supremacists as part of the Confederate "morality". 

     That brings us to Jefferson Davis, first and only President of the Confederate States of America.  Why was he chosen? Davis was considered a "champion of slave society and embodied the values of the planter class". Again, these aren't the values of 21st century America.

     Even after the war, Davis believed in a white supremicist social and political order where  a "democratic white polity based firmly on dominance of a controlled and excluded black caste". Again, this does not represent modern America! A monument to Davis might as well be a monument to slave holders.

     I, for one, do not see the sense in honoring the leader of an enemy nation. Based on conservative logic, we should erect monuments to other enemy leaders. We should consider a place of honor for images of Der Führer, Il Duce, Premier Tojo, and of course, Genaralissimo Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana. 

     Today the above statue of Davis stands in a place of honor in front of the Texas state capitol. There are greater Americans and Texans who's images deserve to be there instead of his. Lincoln would be a better replacement. 

     Sam Houston would also be a better replacement. He was general of the Texas Army during the Texas Revolution, twice president of the Republic of Texas and 7th governor of Texas. As governor, he was removed from office because, as a southern unionist, he refused to take an oath to the Confederacy. Houston was a Unionist. That certainly disqualifies him in white supremacist eyes!

     Another good choice would be Brigadier General Edmund J. Davis, a Texan who fought for the Union. Yes, the general was a Unionist.

     Other appropriate military Texans would be General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lt. Audie Murphy, Master Seargent Roy Benavidez, and of course, President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

     LBJ has no statue at the state capitol. It is easy to understand why. I used to wonder why so many white Texans had a disdain for LBJ. I now feel that I know why. He openly opposed the KKK and made that fact clear in a televised speech. An enemy of white supremacy cannot very well be displayed alongside a proponent of it. A statue of a President of the United States of America should surely replace a statue of a President of an enemy nation.

     "But you're erasing history!" No. Conservatives are erasing history by whitewashing the rationale for the war - the fear that abolitionists wanted to outlaw slavery in the United States and the southern desire to expand slavery westward to new states. 

     "It's heritage not hate". The Confederacy lasted little more than four years. It spent it's entire existence waging war. It added nothing to the worlds of art, literature, philosophy, or the sciences. The collapse of the Confederacy gave birth to the Ku Klux Klan and a legacy of over 150 years of hate, racism, and terrorism. The Confederacy's only lasting heritage IS hate. 

     The only function of Confederate statues is to inspire hate and the latest generation of racists and terrorists.

      I take solice in calling these Confederate monuments "second place trophies" or "participation trophies". It's time they came down!