Wall Comes Down

I live in Small Town, USA. Make that, Small Southern Town, USA.

This week, we made and UN-made history, all at the same time. Let me explain.

Near our little uptown are two cemeteries, the Old English Cemetery, and the Freedman's Cemetery. The Old English Cemetery is marked with gravestones, many from the Revolutionary War. The headstones are well-etched and readable. The grounds are well-maintained.

The Freedman's Cemetery, a cemetery for slaves and freed blacks from the late 1700's and early 1800's, adjoins the Old English Cemetery -- with a granite wall between the two. The original wall was wooden, built in 1842. The granite replacement was erected in 1855. There are no grave markers in the Freedman's Cemetery. The cemetery was tampered with twice, first in the creation of the nearby street, and later in the widening of that street.

A year ago, our little town, I guess in an effort at making amends for generations of wrong, held a contest for artists to compete at ideas for honoring the Freedman's Cemetery. The artist who won, (her name is Maggie, too, btw), came up with the idea of creating an opening in the granite wall, a symbolic gesture. So far, good intentions, good idea.

Her original idea was to create a 20-foot gateway between the two cemeteries. Cities being what they are, a public debate ensued as the size of the opening. Granite is valuable! The wall is history! The Historic Preservation Commission got involved. The City Planner had to get his quotes in.

Finally, 7 stones have been removed from the wall, for an opening that is 5 feet wide at the widest point and 3 feet wide at the narrowest. The stones have been numbered in case we would want to replace them

~~help me understand this! Are we making this bold gesture and providing a backup plan in case we get pissed with black people again?? I don't get this part~~

and in the meanwhile, "the stones can be used for benches and tables," --direct quote from The Planner, one of my favorite people. "Part of the reason for the wall project was an attempt at making amends for the desecration," The Planner said.

Oh. Right.

Right. We're going to create a database as to where the tables and benches are, with the numbers still crayola'ed underneath, so that, if we get stupid and reinstate White Supremacy, we can dissemble them and rebuild the wall!! Brilliant.

Are the people who cry out "Historic!" really saying, "I like the walls between the races!" ?

Give me a break. Just because something's been there for a long time doesn't mean it always has to stay. Remember the story about the generations of women who cut both ends off their hams before cooking? And the generations of men who cringed to see the pricey meat go straight into the trash? They finally queried Great-grandma on her deathbed as to why she had cut the ends off before cooking. "My pot was only this big," she wheezed.

Correcting the flawed thinking of the past isn't sacrilege. It's ENLIGHTENMENT. It's growth. It's creating a NEW page of history.

Do not, do NOT, read this and say that ol' Maggie is anti-preservation. My heart breaks every time I see a tree pulled down. Damnable parking lots. I live in an historic home and attend an historic church. President of an historic neighborhood.

The difference is in the PAIN caused by the walls, by the damned Confederate flag, by the giant monument standing in the center of our uptown. Yes, it's history, folks, and HISTORY BE DAMNED.

Speaking of which, how much rectification can we claim? We pull out 7 stones, mark them for future replacement, to create a 3-foot gateway, and KEEP the GIANT STATUE in HONOR of the many who lost their lives fighting to keep slavery??

I've got to wonder if anyone else notices the irony of the whole thing...