The Folly of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (Continued)

Confederate heritage organizations like the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) are their own worst enemy. Over the past few years, they have fought a losing battle to protect their cherished Lost Cause symbols that once dominated public spaces across the South.

It’s no wonder, then, why they would take the initiative in Matthews County, Virginia to protect a Confederate statue from being removed that is not currently under threat. The county, located east of Richmond on the Chesapeake Bay is overwhelmingly white. Eighty percent of residents voted in a public referendum last year to keep the statue in its present location on the courthouse green.

Source: Gazette-Journal

Earlier this year the county agreed to deed the land to a group that calls itself the Mathews War Memorial Preservation Inc. for $10. Such a move would guarantee that the monument would remain untouched and safe from a local population that has already expressed no interest in moving it.

This decision has completely backfired. On Monday evening county leaders were forced to delay their final approval of this plan after residents came out in force to speak out against it.

The meeting offered another opportunity for Mary Sampson, one of the few Black residents, to express her opinion about the local SCV, who regularly patrol the statue site fully armed.

Confederate groups are ‘the same ilk that would have kept my ancestors enslaved up until today,’ said Sampson, a retired social worker, her voice rising as a few people tried to shout her down. ‘And I don’t care if you don’t like it! I don’t care if you don’t like it!’ she said.

Most of the people who spoke out against the plan, however, had voted to keep it. Their concern was with the idea of essentially privatizing historic public property that dates back to 1791.

The controversy has now been reported in newspapers across the state as well as The Washington Post. If anything, the publicity has done exactly the opposite from what the SCV intended. It is now more likely that the monument will be “tagged” or vandalized in the future by outsiders or even someone from within the community. Perhaps another referendum is not far down the road.

The idea of deeding land to a private organization, essentially made up of the SCV, undercuts the central purpose of any monument or statue. When Matthews County’s Confederate monument was dedicated in 1912 it was intended to reflect the values and shared history of the entire community.

In many communities this was a fantasy from the outset. Many of these monuments were dedicated in communities that were majority African American, but because of Jim Crow restrictions and violent threats were prevented from voting and taking part in discussions about how public spaces would be utilized.

The plan is tantamount to a declaration of surrender by the SCV. It’s an admission that it can no longer defend the monument’s message or meaning in a public setting. And let’s be honest. There is plenty of evidence over the past few years to justify such skepticism.

Hundreds of Confederate monuments have been removed. Only one monument remains in the former Confederate capital of Richmond and it will likely come down next week.

When they write the epitaph for all Confederate monuments, it should read, in part:

“Died of SCV ineptitude.”