Tributes to Civil War’s losers have no place in Hollywood

The Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville was the largest gathering of hatemongers this country has seen in decades. Although this rally began as a protest of the removal of Robert E. Lee’s statue, it became a national call to action for those who hate.

While white supremacists were marching, some wearing 82nd Airborne hats, two African-American soldiers of the 82nd Airborne died in combat that weekend. They were posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal, and Combat Action Badge.

White supremacy is the father of the American Confederacy and Nazi Germany. More than 750,000 Americans died to destroy both. My father fought against the Nazis in World War II. My mother’s family came from slave plantations not far from Charlottesville. I went to Hampton University, an hour from Jamestown, where American slavery began in 1619.

Decades later, we see tributes to the white supremacists of the Civil War, including in Hollywood — in a black neighborhood, no less. Confederate Gen. Nathan Forrest, the first Grand Wizard of the KKK, has a street named after him. On Aug. 30, Hollywood commissioners will vote on whether to remove his name. But two still don’t understand the difference between the U.S. and Confederate constitutions. According to its vice president, Alexander Stephens, the Confederacy’s “cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”

Confederacy ideology was defeated by war and the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. Since when do the losers of a war write the history and get statues and street names?

This story was originally published August 29, 2017 at 8:47 PM with the headline "Tributes to Civil War’s losers have no place in Hollywood."