Sylva statue demeans Memorial Day display
File photo
To the Editor:
On Memorial Day — a holiday that originally honored Union soldiers who died defending the principles enshrined in our Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and now encompasses all who have served these United States — my wife and I revisited my childhood haunts in Western North Carolina.
Though now living in Haywood County, I spent much of my youth in Jackson County, visiting extended family and absorbing the independent spirit of these mountains.
We enjoyed the hospitality of Sylva’s Main Street and the stunning views from the former Jackson County Courthouse, now a magnificent library. However, the proud display of American flags and a plaque honoring our nation’s veterans was overshadowed by the Confederate monument that stands there — a monument to those who fought to destroy the ideals those flags represent. Its presence felt akin to placing a monument to Adolf Hitler on the Normandy beaches, complete with a plaque reading: “I got a bunch of those American and Jewish suckers before I went!”
No other nation celebrates those who betrayed their country for the cause of racism, murder and greed. Anyone who doubts the Confederacy’s purpose should read Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens’ Cornerstone Speech of 1861 — one of many documents proclaiming white supremacy and the perpetual enslavement of African-Americans as the core principles of the Confederate rebellion against the United States.
As a proud Appalachian, I remind my fellow Americans that Western North Carolina and East Tennessee have long championed equality and fairness. During the Civil War, over 60,000 mountain men (and women) volunteered to defend the Union and the U.S. Constitution, despite terrible odds (Wilma Dykeman, “The French Broad”). Among them was Colonel George W. Kirk, who fought several actions in Haywood County. “Kirk’s Raiders” in WNC and East Tennessee helped tie down a full Confederate division and disrupted the slave-holding plantation aristocracy’s hold on the region. After the war, Kirk fought the Ku Klux Klan’s domestic terrorism before passing away of old age in Washington, D.C. — an American patriot and Appalachian hero to the end.
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I recognize that half of my ancestors fought for ideals I abhor. But I do not honor their misguided cause beyond acknowledging them as flawed kin. I’ve seen firsthand in my own career — from the Balkans to the Middle East, and Central and South Asia — how reconciliation and hope for future generations can begin when communities choose honesty, integrity, good faith and a commitment to a fairer future. Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has spoken of reconciling with his father’s Nazi past, declaring, “I have seen firsthand how this kind of hate spirals out of control. I have seen firsthand how it ends.” No patriotic German, nor Schwarzenegger himself, would advocate erecting a statue of Adolf Hitler, anywhere. Why then do we do the moral equivalent in Jackson County — on American soil, among the flags honoring the true heroes of a nation founded on the principle of “E Pluribus Unum”?
I wonder when Colonel Kirk’s patriotism will be recognized with a proper memorial — perhaps a plaque from the Haywood County Commissioners — to stand as a counterpoint to Jackson County’s monument to betrayal. That would honor the true spirit of these mountains, and the brave mountaineers who defended the Union — and the Constitution and Declaration of Independence that continues to define us — when it needed them most.
E Pluribus Unum, indeed.
(Jesse Fripp lives in Clyde.)
