https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/21/potential-lesson-critical-real-estate-theory/
As we continue to dig trenches and throw grenades in the culture wars, perhaps we can cut to the chase and make the nostalgic defenders of “heritage” put up or shut up. How about if we take just one street in (places such as) Mosby Woods and rename it “Slavery Street,” and have the residents enter a lottery to see whose street gets renamed? That way, the whole of our “heritage” is displayed.
If the winsome Dixie-philes really want to pay tribute to their heroes of the Lost Cause, they’ll have to put their money (real estate values?) where their mouths are. If they end up losing that gamble, they can then explain the whole story of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, John Mosby, et al., and avoid complaining about the municipal costs and social disruption of correcting our historical prejudices.
The neo-Confederates can keep their precious generals on their signs, but in return they get one poignant dose of the real history of the Civil War! As a teacher, I believe that the whole purpose of learning history isn’t to wax nostalgic for the “good old days” or to prove how patriotic we are. It’s to learn how not to make the same shameful mistakes of the past all over again. That’s how you make a “more perfect union.”
