[Magdalen] Whoops. We've got the Southern slavers' battle flag in the National Cathedral.

[Jay Weigel]

Jim, with all due respect, I think you are trolling a bit here. You cannot
revise history. People try all the time, of course, but facts are facts.
That window was put up to represent RECONCILIATION, which IMO is a very
good thing. The Civil War is a sad and bad fact of our history and it needs
to be remembered as such, but reconciliation needs to be celebrated, and
history records that Lee and Jackson both made their peace with former foes
and went on with their lives. For the rest I refer you to Sally's last
paragraph.

On Tue, Jun 30, 2015 at 3:27 AM, Sally Davies <sally.davies at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Noooo!
>
> It is history and when displayed in such a way, serves to commemorate that
> which was honorable and brave, not that which was dishonourable.
>
> We have the same issue here - earlier this year we had a student protest
> movement "Rhodes Must Fall" aimed at the statue of CJ Rhodes on the
> University of Cape Town campus. Rhodes was a rogue of the first water, but
> not only that. He was also a generous philanthropist who donated the ground
> and the starting capital for that very University.
>
> Angry alumni have threatened to stop donating and supporting the
> University...it's a mess. Universities, Cathedrals - they don't just belong
> to the people who are currently using them but to the past and to the
> future as well.
>
> The movement spread around the country like wildfire, and one victim of it
> was our beautiful local Horse Memorial which showed a British soldier (of
> the Boer War) kneeling to feed his tired, hungry horse. The soldier was
> smashed...later, Megan Hope who runs the Animal Welfare Horse Unit, brought
> a bucket to put in the place of the soldier, and a lot of people of all
> ages and races brought flowers to support the Memorial. Megan pointed out
> that it was one of very few statues in the world that show a human serving
> and caring for a horse, as opposed to the horse being part of the supposed
> might and magnificence of the (warlike) human on its back.
>
> Other statues all around the country have been damaged or thrown with
> paint, with no regard for their intrinsic value. Just a knee jerk reaction
> to a very justifiable anger and frustration - and I'm sure it's the same
> thing with the Confederate Battle Flag.
>
> Glorifying a sick past is one thing, but allowing it to be forgotten is
> another...we clearly need to have an informed discussion in this country
> (South Africa) about public art, and some of these statues do need to be
> moved (not destroyed), but it must be a well considered and respectful
> process, with clarity about what kinds of public art we actually want to
> see, and about commemoration of history - everyone's history, not just the
> "victors" as it were.
>
> Sally D
>
> On Tuesday, June 30, 2015, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
> oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The dean of the National Cathedral is pointing out that the confederate
> > battle flag is displayed in the stained glass windows, along with
> > depictions of generals Lee and Jackson.
> >
> > He suggests that these all need to go, and I think he may be correct.
> >
> > Folks will say it's a history lesson, which is puzzling, but that's what
> > they seem to think.
> >
> > The history claim is BS, in my opinion. Do we really want to support and
> > honor the symbol of a view which was all about slavery anyway?  I'm not
> so
> > sure that's a good thing for our National Cathedral.
> >
> > But don't listen to me. Make up your own mind. Read all about it:
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/npazuqq
> >
> > However, it would probably be a good idea to discuss the matter.
> >
> > James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
> > *“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
> > except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy
> >
>