We all have a favorite seat that we enjoy to watch TV, listen to music, or just to relax.
We choose that seat because it provides a feeling of comfort and well being, we know that seat well. Sitting somewhere else just doesn’t provide that same comfort, however, sitting elsewhere gives us a different perspective and so does life when we look at things from the seat that another occupies.
With the current debate raging in America about the removal of Confederate statues, one must move to a seat less comfortable and view the issue from a position extremely foreign to those that oppose their removal. No statue should be removed without legislative action but they should come down.
When African Americans see these memories of hate, their reaction is no different than if people reacted, in disgust, to a statue of Osama Bin Laden or Jewish people reacting with disgust if they saw a statue of Adolph Hitler. The feelings of indigenous people have been ignored as well with statues of Andrew Jackson, the president responsible for the Indian Removal Act of 1830. That removal led to thousands of Native American men, womenand children dying along the way in what became known as “The Trail of Tears.”
Osama Bin Laden hurt America, Hitler murdered over a million Jewish people, the Confederacy was traitorous and defended keeping people in bondage. Andrew Jackson is responsible for the deaths of thousands of men, women and children.
Unless you are willing to leave your seat of comfort and sit uncomfortably in the seat of another, you will never understand why we must never honor hate.
Charles Thomas, Lima
