in Charlottesville was a fight to define our nation’s legacy. Hundreds of Americans demonstrated because
they have strongly differing opinions about what it means to be a patriotic
battleground they chose was what kind of monuments we should have.
nationalists and neo-Nazis who gathered there believe monuments should stand to
those who defended slavery. They terrorized, intimidated, and ultimately killed
not because they believe in a statute but because they believe in an idea:
courageous citizens came to Charlottesville to challenge them, and to celebrate
the ideals our nation was founded upon. The monument they came to defend was an
idea: that all men are created equal. They risked personal injury because they
recognized that that ideal must be defended in every quarter in every town at
response to these tragic events, President Trump disgraced himself by declaring
“there were many fine people” among the white supremacists and neo-Nazis.
this wasn’t the first time, nor will it be the last, that President Trump has
been on the wrong side of history. In April, Trump issued an unprecedented executive
order that called on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to recommend which of the
national monuments that celebrate our history, culture and natural heritage
should be taken apart.
Zinke provided Trump with a list of which monuments to dismantle.
know which national monuments are on the final hit list, but based on what
Zinke already said, it’s clear he recommended Trump take a hatchet to some of
our national monuments.
shared American legacy is comprised of divine gifts that must be protected for
future generations. Equality and liberty are natural rights, but they are
fragile. If lost, they may never be
replaced. This land we have inherited is also a divine and fragile gift, and we
are at risk of losing many treasured spaces.
ancient trees of Giant Sequoia National Monument are the largest on earth, yet
they may soon be sacrificed to the timber industry. The Grand Staircase-Escalante
Monument, which descends from Bryce Canyon to the Grand Canyon, contains a
dazzling kaleidoscope of colors – but those colors may soon turn to black if we
give it away to the coal industry. The solace of rugged desert canyons in the Organ
Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in my home state of New Mexico could
also be shredded to appease the livestock industry. These are merely three of
the many monuments in danger.
Zinke already gave a reprieve to some of the 27 national monuments targeted by
Trump, none of our monuments are safe when some are threatened. The same is
true of the civil rights of our citizens. When the rights of some of our
citizens are threatened the liberty of all is threatened.
Americans face an urgent and simple question. What kind of
monuments will endure? Whatever meaning monuments to the Confederacy once had,
that meaning changed in Charlottesville. Now, they are a rallying point for
racism and hate. They have become magnets, attracting those who embrace the
worst parts of our past. Will those monuments survive, while the natural ones -
the ones that attract people who want to celebrate the beauty of America - are
Throughout history, the vulnerable have been exploited by the
powerful and slavery is the most poignant example. The remarkable idea, at the
core of our nation, is that the vulnerable have rights equal to those more
powerful. At our best, we have fought
for that ideal. And this ideal is what
we should venerate. Like the Giant
Sequoias, they tower over us, they inspire us, and they are not made of marble.
If Trump is successful in striking down one or more of these
monuments, you can be sure that others will follow. He has already targeted the
free press, which Thomas Jefferson valued as supremely important in the defense
Equality, freedom of the press, and beautiful canyons are linked
in ways that transcend our normal way of thinking. These things belong to all
of us and they cannot defend themselves.
At this moment, they are all threatened by those who care more about profit
and power than they do about our nation’s ideals.
For the wild,
photo: upper Bob Wick-BLM