August 31, 2018
MY CORNER by Boyd Cathey
Amending What I Wrote about John Hood - He Defends Silent Sam
and Wants It Put Back Up
Friends,
As a young boy
I was taught that when someone makes amends or comes round to your arguments,
your point of view (after you have criticized him), you should acknowledge that
in a gentlemanly and honorable fashion, that you should welcome gracefully that
change of heart or that apparent shift in opinion.
Such is the
case for me this morning.
Back on
Sunday, August 19, and then on Thursday, August 23, 2018, I authored two MY
CORNER columns critical of the stance of North Carolina conservative and
president of the John Locke Foundation, John Hood, expressed in a piece that he
wrote about Confederate veterans' memorials. My second column was picked up by
The Abbeville Institute and spread far and wide (and several friends spread it likewise).
As usual, my criticisms pulled few punches.
But this
morning I happened across another piece by John Hood, written after the two
riots by revolutionaries on the Chapel Hill campus, and the resultant toppling
of the Silent Sam monument to Carolina students who went off and fought and
died in Confederate ranks over 150 years ago.
And I was
taken aback--John Hood had written a column defending Silent Sam and demanding
that it be put back in its rightful place of prominence.
And so this
morning, I must in good conscience amend what I wrote about him and his
position on August 19 and 23. It is the right and honorable thing to do.
First, here
are links to my two earlier MY CORNER columns (and the Abbeville publications);
then I follow with John Hood's essay, which I encourage you to read and
distribute:
August 19, 2018:
August 23:
By NC SPIN on Aug 30, 2018 04:14 pm
by John Hood, Syndicated columnist and NC SPIN
panelist, August 29, 2018.
Politicians tell people what they want to hear. Leaders tell
people what they need to hear, even if they don’t want to listen.
I don’t envy the challenge faced by Gov. Roy Cooper and other
officials who favor removing the “Silent Sam” memorial and other Confederate
monuments from the public square to less-traveled locations such as cemeteries,
battlefields, museums, or storage. They have some reasonable arguments for their
position.
But this is no longer about the proper remembrance and
interpretation of the Civil War, the historical context of monument placement
during the early 20th century, or what the symbols mean to North Carolinians
today. Those are matters for public debate, for legislative deliberation, for
editorials and speeches intended to change either the minds or the identities
of the relevant public officials. Let’s collectively label such options Plan A.
For those who contend that Silent Sam and similar objects on
campuses form a hostile education environment for students and thus contravene
federal law, the proper place to present that case is a court of law. That’s
Plan B.
For those who feel strongly enough to take direct action, there
is also Plan C: civil disobedience. You publicly break a law you believe to be
unjust, prepared to accept the consequences and by doing so advance your cause.
Civil disobedience affirms rather than weakens the rule of law, as long as your
acts do not threaten the lives, liberty, or property of others. In this case,
protesters could have, say, formed a human wall around Silent Sam and refused
to move without being arrested.
As Martin Luther King, Jr. famously put it, “any man who breaks
a law that conscience tells him is unjust and willingly accepts the penalty by
staying in jail in order to arouse the conscience of the community on the
injustice of the law is at that moment expressing the very highest respect for
law.”
These are the only alternatives available to individuals with
strong opinions who must live in a free society with other individuals who may
have strongly divergent opinions. There is no Plan D.
The Silent Sam protesters contend that reasoned discourse was
taking too long, that they had not yet achieved their objective and were thus
justified in assembling as a mob, erecting barriers, throwing smoke bombs, and
yanking the statue down. But impatience is not a vote-multiplier. Outrage is
not a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Many North Carolinians are impatient or outraged about other
causes. Anti-abortion activists, for example, aren’t just upset about alleged
hate speech. They believe unborn children are being killed every day, and that
some perpetrators are indirectly subsidized by tax dollars in the form of
grants to clinics for “family planning” or “women’s health.” Should pro-life
activists take the law into their own hands by obstructing, defacing, or
destroying abortion clinics? Should North Carolinians with a strong dislike for
other historical figures depicted in statues, plaques, nameplates, and artworks
on public property be free to break or remove them?
After Silent Sam was toppled, Gov. Cooper said the right thing,
that “violent destruction of public property has no place in our communities.”
University of North Carolina leaders condemned “mob rule” and correctly
observed that the perpetrators had threatened public safety — not being masonry
contractors or demolition experts, the perpetrators lacked not just the
authority but the expertise to do safely what they did. They recklessly
endangered themselves and others.
The hard part comes next, however. To allow the mob to achieve
its objective would reward criminality, weaken the rule of law, and set a
dangerous precedent. What might the next mob do?
Silent Sam must be placed back on its pedestal and protected
from future assault, perhaps with a plexiglass case, as Mecklenburg County did three years
ago after vandals repeatedly defaced a Confederate monument.
Both the criminals and the authorities who failed to intervene must be held
responsible. While most North Carolinians will agree with these decisions, some
won’t. They’ll be furious. Countering their fury effectively will require
leadership, not political calculation. It will be difficult. That’s the job.
John Hood (@JohnHoodNC) is
chairman of the John Locke Foundation and appears on “NC SPIN,”
broadcast statewide Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 12:30 p.m. on UNC-TV.
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