Who Ignores the History of Slavery?

One of the reasons given for destroying the Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery is that it has a “sanitized” depiction of slavery. The US Army says it will carefully take it down without disturbing graves and store it somewhere. If it comes down, Moses Ezekiel’s art is destroyed. It no longer exists in pieces in some warehouse. The county is about to revoke Ezekiel’s permission to be buried at the foot of his creation.

There is a clip on the United Nations Website where Nikole Hannah-Jones says the following.

“…only those who have power are on the side of saying that we have to ignore this history in order to heal. We can’t heal by ignoring what happened.”

Let’s say that this is not a strawman and that there is a concerted effort to ignore what happened. Why then are people behind destroying a piece of art that portrays slavery? Is it really that the two depictions do not give a balanced view.

They were both slaves and they were robbed of their opportunities to live as whites did in the United States and colonies for hundreds of years. The country restricted their human freedom in ways we cannot imagine today. Many suffered mental and physical abuse, literally and figuratively scarring them for their lifetimes. Slave masters controlled things as basic as finding a mate.

While the enslaved woman was caring for her master’s children, she might have been separated from hers. As for the black man marching, it is likely he had no real choice but to go to war with his master. When he got his chance, he may have escaped to the Union lines and joined the US Colored Troops.

There is something else happening with Ms. Jones and those who would destroy a monument in a cemetery. It appears to have little to do with people ignoring the history of slavery. Imagine if slaves were not portrayed on Ezekiel’s work.