When Robert E. Lee got his ass spray painted and then toppled over I must admit I thought it a shame. I was always, at best, a mediocre student though I did step to the fore in History and Social Studies. Having held a B+ average in history through the school years the toppling of poor Robert and other Southern Generals did force me to question why someone felt the need to do so.
Perhaps the answer came today ….
Someone I work for twice a month loudly informs me at each meeting that this destruction of history is shameful …. and I suppose it is. She loudly proclaims how insulted she feels over someone else’s need to destroy American history that happened so long ago. Her statements that there is no one left alive that have been a slave, or owned a slave are quite true .
Today I was caught off guard by her question of how I felt about the British Royal Family .
She asked the question totally unaware of my birth in England and went on to lament about the great Potato Famine and what the Brits and Royal Family did to her “family”.
You see, she lay’s the claim… ” I’m Irish ” as her Mothers Grandmother hailed from that beautiful place all those generations ago. And she inferred her belief that the Royal Family should be given the heave ho. The hatred of five generations for the British Royals still lives here in the United States and that amazed me.
I suddenly felt bad for her. I sympathized with her over the fact that there wasn’t one statue of the Queen in the entire country for her to vandalize . And I’m certain she didn’t quite grasp my meaning when I informed her that I’d never took a spud from an Irishman ….
….and I’m betting that she would never understand that if she’s “Irish” after five generations then perhaps the black lady down the street is still a slave.
