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Real sorry about your idiotic monument…

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Though I’d never publicly endorse vandalism, I see no reason to shed tears over last November’s defacement of the Confederate memorial that sits at the Alabama capitol grounds in Montgomery. On the anniversary of Nat Turner’s 1831 execution, three white teens evidently jumped the iron gates surrounding the monument, painted the hands and faces of the statues black, and sprayed “N.T. 11 11 31” across the base. Charges were filed about a month later, and now it seems the kids are quite properly going to be charges as juveniles. (Photos are via this guy.)

This limestone and wrought iron tribute to chattel slavery was actually built during the 1880s and 1890s with nearly $50,000 of state money. After a century had passed and the statues had fallen into some disrepair, the state ponied up what I’m sure was an equally grotesque sum to restore this artifact of the Jim Crow era. Any decent society would certainly have had the entire project yanked from the ground and dumped into the Gulf of Mexico, where it might have served some useful purpose as scaffolding for coral. But Alabama being Alabama, the site is apparently a really important draw for shitheads, and so the restoration earned the moral and financial endorsement of the state.

To wit:

The restored monument was rededicated on April 26, 2004, Confederate Memorial Day. Following speeches by Governor Bob Riley; Janice Hawkins, Chairwoman of the Alabama Historical Commission and Jefferson Davis’ great, great grandson, Bertram Hayes-Davis, the re-enacting band played “Dixie,” and the audience whooped a happy Rebel yell – a favorable response to the restoration work at the Confederate Memorial.

It stands to reason, then, that November’s privately funded, midnight renovations were not going to sit well with said shitheads, who among other things immediately described the vandalism as a “hate crime” — until they learned along with everyone else that the vandals were white, at which point their brains must have melted a little. Ever since the arrests, neo-Confederates have been yowling for the kids to be charged as adults. The local head of the Ancestors of Unfreedom Fighters Sons of Confederate Veterans is, of course, hopping mad that his wish won’t be granted.

Leonard Wilson said the prosecutors are being too tolerant.

Wilson is state commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, whose historical group offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the identity of those who vandalized the statue.

He believes the three white youths — they cannot be identified since they are juveniles — should be tried as adults.

“Since these men are all 17 years old, they are responsible enough to be subjected to facing adult charges,” he said, “and it’s in the greater interest of the community to do so because this act caused great emotional harm to thousands of Alabama citizens.

Hmmm. Did they spend a few restless evenings wondering if the servants were going to romp, Nat Turner style, throughout the countryside, burning barns and shooting whites as they slept? Did the vandalism remind them that their sacred ancestors had — you know — actually lost the Civil War? What was this “emotional harm” of which Leonard Wilson speaks, and are there any legal means to prolong it?

(Via Civil War Memory)

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