bookmark_borderRemembering the Lion of Atlanta

A monument vandalized and destroyed by people who only care about the perspectives, the rights, and the feelings of the majority; who only tolerate the existence of people like themselves; who deliberately inflict harm and pain on people who are different for no other purpose than to inflict harm and pain:

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Judy Smith (@judysmithphotography)

“The importance of preserving history and heritage, even in the face of controversy and loss.”

Amen to that. Every day, I strive to continue on in defiance of the people that I described above. On many days, this feels impossible. The pain reaches unbearable levels and my efforts feel pointless. Yet I keep trying to take meaningful steps to honor the historical figures that matter to me, and to find a meaningful path forward despite the horrific losses that they have inflicted. Because no matter what the people described above might think, preserving history and heritage are truly important.

bookmark_borderNew home for Surry County, Virginia, Confederate Monument

Some slightly positive news out of Surry County, Virginia: the Confederate monument which was unjustly removed from its rightful location is being put up in a new home.

I recently saw this post from the Virginia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, showing a crane and several workers in the process of re-erecting a monument. “Surry County Monument is going back up!! Strong work Compatriots!,” the post read. I wondered about the context behind this monument, and although doing research on these kinds of topics is fraught with potential for excruciating pain to be triggered, I decided to do just that. I found out that, according to the Smithfield Times, the Surry County Confederate monument had existed outside the courthouse in Surry, Virginia for over 100 years. Unfortunately, after bullies and bigots in the Virginia state legislature wrongfully passed the disgraceful law removing legal protections for people who are different from the norm, thereby allowing the past five years of horrifying atrocities to be unleashed, the Surry County Board of Supervisors decided to join in on the campaign of state-sponsored bullying of people who are different, and wrongfully voted to remove the monument. 

The one positive thing in this situation is that the county gave the monument to SCV Camp #9, who have now put it up at 384 Mount Ivy Lane, where it can be viewed by the public. A little piece of good news in what is overall a terrible situation. 

bookmark_borderJeb Stuart Preservation Trust’s response to the despicable bill HB1699

The Jeb Stuart Preservation Trust, the organization that runs and maintains Jeb Stuart’s boyhood home, wrote an excellent letter to the Virginia governor regarding the despicable bill that bullies and bigots in the state legislature are attempting to pass.

Here is the most important passage from their letter:

HB1699… can be argued as viewpoint discrimination. In 1995 Virginia Supreme Court held viewpoint discrimination as an egregious free speech violation. In Rosenberger v. Rectors and Visitors of the University of Virginia (1995), the Supreme Court declared: ‘When the government targets not subject matter but particular views taken by speakers on a subject, the violation of the First Amendment is all the more blatant. Viewpoint discrimination is thus an egregious form of content discrimination. The government must abstain from regulating speech when the specific motivating ideology or the opinion or perspective of the speaker is the rationale for the restriction.’

(emphasis mine)

The concept of viewpoint discrimination really captures what is so deeply and fundamentally wrong with this disgraceful bill and the thought process behind it. Thank you, Jeb Stuart Preservation Trust, for putting this idea into words and providing legal citations to support it.

You can read the letter in its entirety here.

bookmark_border“Hey MAGAs, show me your best cognitive dissonance!”

I recently saw a post from one of my Facebook “friends” regarding the accidental leaking of military information by Department of Defense officials in a group chat.

The post read: “Hey MAGAs, show me your best cognitive dissonance! Best one wins a new red hat!… Go ahead, twist me a pretzel and tell me why this is all OK.”

This post, to be blunt, really pisses me off. And it does so for two reasons:

First, the double standards and logical inconsistency. This person expresses outrage about what is a relatively minor problem in the grand scheme of things, while completely failing to express any criticism of an obvious, pervasive, and blatant campaign of atrocity that is enormous in both its scope and its severity. He calls an accidental leak “a major fuck up” and “justification for heads to roll.” However, he expressed not even the mildest criticism of the statue genocide that began in 2020 and continues to this day, a series of deliberate and intentional acts of extreme cruelty targeting people who are different from the norm in an attempt to ensure their erasure from society. It makes no sense that someone would get so outraged at what is essentially an accident, while apparently feeling no outrage whatsoever at a deliberate and cruel campaign to inflict harm.

Second is the entire way that the argument is framed. This person purportedly invites others to discuss and debate, while simultaneously stating that anyone who expresses a differing opinion is demonstrating “cognitive dissonance” and “twisting a pretzel.” This way of framing the issue puts people who see things differently in a no-win position: we could either be silent and pretend that we agree when we don’t, or we could speak up and have our views automatically be labeled as “cognitive dissonance” and “twisting a pretzel.” Talk about intolerance for those who think and feel differently than you do. What is the point of inviting discussion when you have no openness to considering alternative perspectives? Why even ask people to contribute their views, when you admittedly have no intention of actually hearing or learning from those views, but intend rather to use those views as evidence of their authors’ twistedness and cognitive dissonance?

Personally, I support Trump and his administration because I’m on the autism spectrum and my special interest is history and statues, so the events involving statues that have taken place over the past 5 years have had a profound negative impact on me. The issue of military information being leaked just isn’t important to me in comparison, and therefore I do not share the outrage that this “friend” and so many other people are expressing. This isn’t cognitive dissonance, and it’s not twisting a pretzel. I simply have a different perspective because I’ve had different life experiences and my brain works differently.

bookmark_borderLydia O’Connor, a despicable bully and bigot

There are no words that can adequately express the cruelty, nastiness, and immorality demonstrated by the despicable lump of flesh and bone that calls itself Lydia O’Connor:

“Trump Signs Order To Restore Inclusive and Diverse Monuments, Remove ‘Anti-America’ Ideology.”

Or perhaps:

“Trump Signs Order To Restore Monuments Signifying That People Who Are Different Actually Have a Right To Exist, Remove ‘Anti-America’ Ideology.”

There, Lydia. I fixed it for you. 

Needless to say, I did not read the entire article, because my mind and nervous system don’t have the resilience needed to handle such a traumatizing experience. Thanks to merely glimpsing the headline, my body is shaking with rage, my stomach is sick, and my chest feels like it’s being crushed in a vice.

This headline, and the accompanying article, are enormously harmful to me as an autistic person who has grown up being excluded, bullied, and different from the norm. The monuments that O’Connor sickeningly characterizes as “racist” are the monuments to people like me. They are monuments to people who are different. They are monuments to the entire concept of being different from the majority, resisting authority, rebelling against social norms, not fitting in, thinking for oneself. They are the monuments that enable a person like me to actually be accepted and included in society. They are the monuments that signify that I have a right to exist. 

But yeah, this is clearly racist.

Obviously, allowing people who are different from the norm to exist, is racist. 

It’s racist to honor a diverse range of viewpoints, stories, and perspectives, rather than only honoring those that conform to the dominant ideology.

It’s racist to accept and include people who are different.

Not.

This headline and article are completely unacceptable. And this is an understatement. In fact, anything negative that could possibly be said about this headline, article, and author would be an understatement, because no language has words adequate for the task of accurately describing such complete moral bankruptcy.

Racist monuments. 

Yup. Because for me to actually have a life worth living is “racist.”

Because allowing me to exist as an autistic person is “racist.”

No.

Wrong, Lydia.

Allowing people who are different form the norm to exist, is not racist.

This is obvious. It should not even need to be stated. It is, in fact, bizarre that it needs to be stated. It is bizarre that over the past five years, I have had to state this again and again, because despite how obvious it objectively is, it is clearly not obvious to a large percentage of the population. Even after five years of living through this hell, it is still both shocking and sickening beyond belief that an ideology has taken over this country which believes that allowing a person like me to exist, allowing a person like me to be accepted and included in society, is racist. 

I have a right to exist. My existing is not racist. Period. Full stop. End of story.

Thanks, Lydia, for completely destroying my morning. Just another attack on my very existence, one of hundreds, if not thousands, of such attacks that I’ve been subjected to for nearly five years now. I am so incredibly sick and tired of people thinking this way, speaking this way, writing this way. I am sick and tired of having to justify my existence again and again, of having to defend my very existence against claims that it is “racist.”

Lydia O’Connor is the epitome of a bigot and a bully with no mind, no soul, no capacity for independent thought, no empathy, and no tolerance for any perspectives other than her own. She and the Huffington Post have inflicted severe harm on me by writing and publishing this article and should be sued for the harm that they have caused. 

I have a right to exist. Statues like these have a right to exist. We are not racist. Period. Full stop. End of story.

bookmark_borderTrump takes action to restore statues on federal sites!

A very significant piece of good news took place Thursday night, when President Trump signed an executive order titled, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” This order directs the Vice President and the Secretary of the Interior to restore federal parks, monuments, memorials and statues “that have been improperly removed or changed in the last five years to perpetuate a false revision of history or improperly minimize or disparage certain historical figures or events.” 

This is objectively fantastic news and for me, desperately needed. I’ve had an absolutely awful few days and this lifts my spirits somewhat. Trump should have signed this order on his first day in office, but better late than never! This executive order means that thanks to President Trump, the statue genocide will indeed be partially reversed, something that my 2020-2021 self did not think was possible.

Check out some posts / coverage by:

bookmark_borderAn argument that the statue genocide is unconstitutional

I recently came across an excellent article by David McCallister at the Abbeville Institute, entitled, “A Modern Bill of Attainder?” In it, he argues that the despicable “Naming Commission,” which erased all diversity from the names of military bases and also completely destroyed Arlington National Cemetery, is unconstitutional because its actions constitute a Bill of Attainder:

Removals of base names, ROTC battle streamers, just to name a few constitute honors granted but removed pursuant to a Congressional Act meant to stigmatize a group’s progeny into perpetuity. By the passage of section 370 of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress did just that when they adopted Elizabeth Warren’s Naming Commission provision based on her contention of universal, and individual guilt for treason, acting as judge, jury and executioner, with a complicit Congress behind her, despite President Trump’s veto of the troublesome Law.  The Law singled out a deemed group unworthy to have any honors based on their military service, over 150 years after the fact, and saddling their descendants with hereditary shame and stigma.  No trial, no treason.  No treason, no condemnation.  No condemnation, no cancellation.

(emphasis added by me)

These sentiments really resonate with me and articulate what is so wrong with the statue genocide in a way that I hadn’t thought of before. The sentiments expressed by McCallister apply not only to the disgraceful Naming Commission, but to all atrocities committed against Confederate historical figures and Christopher Columbus as well.

Essentially, removing a historical figure’s statues, monuments, public art, holidays, names, and other honors constitutes giving that historical figure the death penalty. Yet there was never any grand jury convened to charge the historical figures (and in many cases, no particular crime that they’ve even been accused of committing), no due process, no speedy and public trial (or any trial at all, for that matter), and no jury. And because historical figures are no longer alive, they are not able to be confronted with the witnesses against them, to obtain witnesses in their favor, or to have the assistance of counsel for their defense. In short, what has happened with statues and monuments over the past few years constitutes giving historical figures the death penalty without a trial. And this violates the Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the Constitution. Plus, the atrocities committed against statues are the very epitome of cruelty. If these sickening actions are not “cruel and unusual,” then nothing is. Therefore, the statue genocide violates the Eighth Amendment as well.

bookmark_borderKeeping the historical figures alive and why it matters

Last month, my cousin passed away. Matt was 35 years old, two months younger than me. We both enjoyed cheering on the Boston sports teams, physical fitness, and trying different restaurants. On a deeper level, as we aged out of our twenties and into our thirties, we shared the experience of being “misfits” in a way. Neither of us was interested in getting married or having kids, as so many of our peers were doing, and we both changed jobs several times in a struggle to find suitable career paths. Matt was an amazing poker player, basketball player, and friend. He loved golf, trips to Encore, and his apartment in the Seaport. In the spring of 2021, Matt suddenly lost consciousness while walking down the street and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He underwent various types of surgery, chemo, and radiation, all while living life to the fullest extent that his health situation would allow. All of these worked to slow the progression of the cancer, but it eventually returned. Matt enjoyed the company of family and friends, and retained his dry sense of humor, all the way till the end of his life.

While reminiscing about Matt’s life with family members, someone expressed what I consider to be a very meaningful sentiment: that people are not truly gone until and unless no one remembers them anymore. Matt touched many, many lives, as was evidenced by the droves of people who came to the funeral home and to the reception afterwards to pay their respects. I will never forget the moments that I spent with him, talking about the latest Sox or Celtics game, walking along the waterfront, joking, sharing meals and cocktails at local restaurants. And I’m sure this is true of the countless other family members, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances of Matt as well. In this way, Matt will live on in the hearts and minds of all the people whose lives he touched. 

As I do with everything, I connected this to the historical figures that I love, and that have become the victims of an unimaginably cruel and heartless genocide. This sentiment is exactly why it is so important that historical figures be preserved in the form of statues, monuments, holidays, and place names. These things are what prevent the historical figures from being truly gone. These are the ways in which the historical figures live, long after they have physically died. And this sentiment is the reason why the genocide of the historical figures has been so deeply immoral, so sickeningly wrong, and so immensely damaging. By destroying historical figures’ statues, monuments, holidays, and place names, you are murdering them. You are preventing them from living on. You are obliterating them from existence as historical figures.

This is why honoring the historical figures, via writing, art, and erecting my own statues, is so important to me. This is why I’ve dedicated my life to these activities and why I consider them my source of meaning and purpose. Because these are the activities that keep the historical figures alive. Just like my cousin Matt, the historical figures will live on in my heart and in my mind.

bookmark_borderMy open letter to Gov. Youngkin regarding HB1699

Unfortunately, bigots and bullies in the Virginia legislature – who believe, apparently, that everyone who is different from the norm should be obliterated from existence – passed a bill known as HB1699. You can read about this disgusting, unconscionable, and immoral bill here. (I guess I don’t make reading about it seem very appealing when I describe it that way, but describing it with milder language would be inaccurate.)
I wrote the below email to Governor Glenn Youngkin, encouraging him to veto this bill:
Dear Governor Youngkin:
I am writing to respectfully ask that you please veto bill HB1699. This bill is mean-spirited, cruel, discriminatory, and hurtful. I am on the autism spectrum, and my special interest is history. What makes history so important to me is that it includes stories and perspectives from a wide array of different people. Confederate history is part of history. People who fought for the Confederacy deserve to be honored just as much as anyone else does. Their stories deserve to be told, and their history preserved, just as much as anyone else’s. It is unconscionable that, after years of the most brutal and vicious attacks imaginable on Confederate historical figures, a bill would be introduced that would hurt lovers of Confederate history even more than we have already been hurt. Bill HB1699 would personally hurt me as an autistic person who loves history. It’s beyond upsetting that a bill such as this would even be under consideration. Please, please veto this horrible bill.
Sincerely,
Marissa
I highly encourage you to do the same. You can contact Governor Youngkin by…
Email: glenn.youngkin@governor.virginia.gov
Phone: (804) 786-2211
Or mail:
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 1475
Richmond, VA 23218