After writing this book where my whales represent religious and social equality as a main theme, I felt like I should say something about what's happened this weekend where a white supremacy group invaded a town to try to spread some kind of message. My sister lives in Charlottesville right now and I was nervous about what she was experiencing amongst all the news. She has two young children and a husband that probably all felt this quarrel's hate. I tried calling her several times during the day and there was no answer. I couldn't think straight, I just wanted to know that her family was okay. I had volunteered to work on a race committee that day and as I sat waiting for the chairmen to spout off directions, my thoughts were in Virginia. Then she called as I was waiting. Relief. She shared all the events she experienced and none of it made me feel good, but knowing she and her family were fine, I could think again.
I was born in Baton Rouge and unquestionably it's part of the old south but it didn't really feel like it, then my family moved to the small town of Joliet in Illinois, then we moved just outside Washington D.C. to an area called Fairfax County. I was right around 10 years old and impressed by all that seemed to feed into and drive the control center that is our government. Our home was just about 25 miles from the capital. The capital of the country that so many of us hold near and dear, regardless of our opinions of how things should go. Regardless of where we're from or who we vote for or what sides we've taken when issues with policy arise, America is our shared home. Over 200 years ago, issues with policy arose in Colonial America that many people believed were worth fighting for. Worth fighting for freedom, worth the risk of danger and at that time, a lot of underlying issues between colonies got ignored because the birth of a new nation justified ignoring them. Once this uniting cause ceased, our nation of many states began arguing over policy and it has only stopped when we've faced a unifying cause.
The final episode of the series 'Turn: Washington's Spies' just aired on Saturday and I completed the last installment of the episodes. The show stars Jamie Bell who plays one of Washington's most important spies, Abraham Woodhull, a spy in the Culper Spy Ring during the Revolutionary War and the series also covers Major Benjamin Tallmadge, played by Seth Numrich, who was charged with leadership of the Culper Spy Ring by none other than George Washington. (Please note that Tallmadge was only 22 years old when the Continental Congress declared independence from Britain.) As I was watching the closing moments of this series, it dawned on me that the entire time I was writing 'The Pod', everyday I was also reading Ron Chernow's comprehensive biography of the Father of Our Country, George Washington. The biography is simply named 'Washington: A Life' and its coverage of his life begins before the birth of George and includes events that occur a few years after his death as well. It's an honest approach to his life, it hides very few details about him and covers both the good and the bad aspects of an imperfect man's life. And while we can look back and judge the man with today's standards and see just another slave owner that commanded over a war without ever engaging his opponents fairly, we can also look back and see that he was clearly the only man in the world for the job. Now he's become the beacon for self rule that has spread around the Earth like wildfire. His leadership and the countless good decisions he made on behalf of a young nation are the reason that we still have one to claim as our own. He made unbelievable sacrifices for us throughout the Revolutionary War because his properties became unprofitable. It cost him unknown amounts of money, but he hid his debts from society because they needed him to be the foundation that we're still built upon today. In addition to financial sacrifice, he also lived most of the 8 year war without his beloved wife Martha. He had so many strong beliefs that were incredibly forward thinking as we moved away from imperial rule. He believed in the inclusion of all our diverse people, in a government that pays its bills, in centralized government and military, a government separate from any type of church rule, and he believed that free speech was necessary for free people to rule themselves. As a writer, I hold free speech near and dear. And I hope in some ways that Washington's character rubbed off on Narwhal, the leader of 'The Pod'. It could be my little way of saying thanks for all he did so selflessly.
Living near Washington D.C. as a kid, I've seen the White House, the Capitol, the Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson Monuments, both the original Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I saw so much of what Washington envisioned, but he wasn't there to see the government finally set up shop in the city in the year of 1801 because he had died 4 years prior in 1797. The design of the city is extremely well planned with streets coming in from 4 different directions that are all connected by an array of loops and parallel passage ways. It seems that no matter which way you come into the city, you can easily get to the center of it all. It almost seems like a visual representation of our government. However, roadblocks can be set up in a well planned capital and they are. It's frustrating anytime you run into a roadblock much less one that effects your every day life. Not having your voice heard can erupt into anger and over the years of our established democracy, people have gotten angry by not being heard. It's an ugly side to democracy that can't be avoided. Without roadblocks, no policy would last and a feeling of insecurity would certainly arise. Without having your voice heard and recognize, people get angry. That same sense of insecurity and same sense of anger is created by large groups of protesters. It's that part of you that wonders what will come of this, but our Bill of Rights protects those that feel the need to protest and that is a point of strength in our country. That being said, the government does request that your protest be peaceable and if it is not, it's no longer protected. In other words, it is not within your rights to violently protest.
The United States Constitution went into effect in 1789, by 1801 we found ourselves in a war with the Barbary Coast (Ottoman occupied coast of North Africa) for 14 years, we had the War of 1812 that lasted 3 years, and then we had The Mexican-American War which lasted from 1846 to 1848, all the while we were expanding as a nation and living our Manifest Destiny. When things started to settle, the American people began to think about their differences again and in 1861, the Southern States went to war with the Northern States in the Civil War. Slavery was certainly a big issue in the debate, but that was part of a larger issue that boiled down to economic differences. The North couldn't live without the goods the South provided and the North wanted to tell the South how they were going to go about doing that. The votes in the North overpowered the South and so the South protested. They no longer believed their voices were being heard. Eventually, it all boiled over and became anger that fueled the Civil War on both sides. The casualties of the war numbered over a million combined. People lost a lot, especially in the South. William Sherman marched into the South during the war and while away from the eye and control of the Northern leaders, burned cities down to the ground. It was total war. Sherman's men stole food from anywhere they could find it in foraging parties, if hostility was felt by the commanders of Sherman's armies, they could destroy houses, cotton gins, grain mills, the soldiers were allowed to steal any livestock they wished to take including horses, and the recently freed negroes could be taken and put into the service of the army against their will. I'm sure many of you reading this think that the North was a bunch of angels that came down to kindly free the slaves and make everything better, but Sherman's Army was more like the apocalypse with army issued paperwork justifying any action. This treatment of the South was never rectified and trust me, there are people in the South that are still angry about it, angry about not having their voices heard even though they live in a democracy where everyone has a voice.
Fast forward to this past weekend, the White Nationalists gathered in Charlottesville and from what I can only gather by an educated guess, the group was there initially to protest the removal of General Robert E Lee's statue in Charlottesville Virginia. They came ready for a fight, this was never supposed to be a peaceable protest, it wasn't and now a few people are dead and many many others have sustained injuries. I can't help but believe that all of this could have been avoided had these White Nationalists followed the constitutionally protected guidelines and protested peacefully. Everyone in this country has the right to free speech, especially those you disagree with, so be aware if you oppose this idealism. You could rightfully be punished if you take this right from others. You have the right to be angry, you have a right to be heard, but you don't have the right to be violent. If you want to win this debate, whatever the hell it may be, it will not be done with violence. Now, I personally believe that no Robert E Lee statue should be taken down. The man fought for every state and every American in the Mexican-American War and is a hero for that, his leadership of the Southern Armies at the end of the war was such that when he surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant, the armies he led followed suit rather than continue a bloody war that was only serving to hurt all sides. After the war he sought reconciliation with the North so that we could move forward together as one nation. After the war ended, Robert E Lee got involved with the Washington University, started by George Washington when he granted his Potomac Canal shares to the organization, and because of the donations he separately made to that educational system, the University is now called Washington Lee. It would be foolish to strip his name away and pretend he didn't exist. West Point has a barracks named after Lee and in general, the Northern states warmed up to Lee following the war. Clearly this man was not some pure entity of evil and this is not some good versus evil matter anyway where there is only right or wrong. He, after serving the United States Army in the Mexican-American War, struggled to choose a side in the Civil War. Certainly he was aware of the positive merits of the North's cause, but surely he understood that the South was not without merit as well. War is full of tough decisions and maybe Robert E Lee was the right man to decide to negotiate a truce rather than fight on and to me, that's what he should be remembered for. The man that ended the violence by conceding the fight when the fight was deep, widespread, and as old as our nation.
People aren't perfect, you're not perfect, I'm not perfect, but we all deserve to be remembered for our positive contributions to this world when we're gone. I hope that this weekend will serve as a reminder of what happens when we let violence try to solve our issues. Turns out that when you're protesting with violence, nobody can hear the meaning of your actions. The young men that fought the Revolutionary War were angry too, they were tired of being oppressed, but though they were not being listened to, they kept their heads and won a war where they were outnumbered, outgunned, out-supplied, but they were not outwitted. I will probably never agree with anything that this White Nationalist party has to say, but I'd suggest to any group that is outnumbered, outgunned, out-supplied, they can still keep their head and at least attempt to win in a peaceful game of wits. At least no one dies that way and you might be heard. To this group, I literally have no idea why you were there in Charlottesville and so the Robert E Lee statue was just a guess. That means your protest was a complete failure with me and probably for many others you tried to persuade. For now you're just a bunch of angry white dudes preaching hate for others and I pity you. You're missing out on the bright side of life.
To the young lady revealed as Heather Heyer that gave her life to opposing this protest, thanks for giving of yourself. May you be a beacon like George Washington whose memory may serve to cool tempers and give the a nation a boost that can help us move on once again. Your life may have ended because of anger, but may you live on in our hearts and minds because of a natural love that we all share with our fellow humanity. Your work is not finished.
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