Should Alabama's Jefferson Davis holiday be abolished?

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People make mistakes. This holiday seems like a pretty easy one to rectify.
 
I believe that the holiday should not be abolished. While the Confederacy represented slavery, we cannot ignore the relationship Jefferson Davis had with the Catholic Church. From what I’ve read, he was very warm and cordial towards Catholics. I seem to remember that he was educated at a Dominican boarding school, and that he welcomed Catholics into his cabinet, while Lincoln shunned them. Am I endorsing slavery? No. Just merely stating facts.
 
I live near a road called Jefferson Davis Hwy. I do not think it should be changed to a different name, largely, because it’s landmark status as “Jefferson Davis” is well established as part of local culture. Most people here really don’t have a problem with it. I don’t live in Alabama, so what that state does in largely irrelevant to me in this context.
 
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MJCarzon said:
I believe that the holiday should not be abolished. While the Confederacy represented slavery, we cannot ignore the relationship Jefferson Davis had with the Catholic Church. From what I’ve read, he was very warm and cordial towards Catholics.
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Are you suggesting that, since he was warm toward Catholics, the man who fought to preserve slavery and who said, among other things,

”We recognize the negro as God and God’s Book and God’s Laws, in nature, tell us to recognize him. Our inferior, fitted expressly for servitude.”,

should be celebrated?
 
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There’s also that letter the Pope wrote to him. Didn’t he send him a crown of thorns or something?

Ugly incident.
 
Representing someone by their evil is not fair. While I of course do not support slavery, and believe . . . blacks . . . are equal people, the whole picture needs to be looked at in judging Davis.
 
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I am completely fed up with stories like this, ‘tear down this monument’, ‘shame that public personality’, ‘abolish this holiday’.

Will abolishing this holiday satisfy anyone claiming racism is systemic in the US?
No

Will anything ever be enough?
No
 
MJCarzon said:
I believe that the holiday should not be abolished. While the Confederacy represented slavery, we cannot ignore the relationship Jefferson Davis had with the Catholic Church. From what I’ve read, he was very warm and cordial towards Catholics. I seem to remember that he was educated at a Dominican boarding school, and that he welcomed Catholics into his cabinet, while Lincoln shunned them. Am I endorsing slavery? No. Just merely stating facts.
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That’s not really a reason to have a public holiday.
 
I live about 50 miles from the Jefferson Davis Monument. It’s a 351 concrete obelisk. It’s a piece of history that I pray will not be torn down. We can’t ignore our history - good or bad.
 
MJCarzon said:
Representing someone by their evil is not fair. While I of course do not support slavery, and believe negros are equal people, the whole picture needs to be looked at in judging Davis.
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We’re not talking about a balanced read of history—we’re taking about a holiday. That actually celebrates a man whose most notable accomplishment was leading a fight to preserve slavery.
 
KyPerson said:
I live about 50 miles from the Jefferson Davis Monument. It’s a 351 concrete obelisk. It’s a piece of history that I pray will not be torn down. We can’t ignore our history - good or bad.
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Monuments are intended to convey respect or endorsement of what is being commemorated. It’s not just an acknowledgment of history. If you just want to educate about history, that’s what museums are for.
 
The monument has a small museum attached. It gives a lot of information about Davis, both good ( he supervised the construction of the Washington Aqueduct) and bad (he was a terrible president of the confederacy and owned slaves). If you are going to tear down monuments to people you disagree with, there will be nothing left. I LOATHE Karl Marx, but I would not tear down the monument to him in Germany. I might go by and jeer, but I wouldn’t tear it down.
 
RolandThompsonGunner said:
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KyPerson:
I live about 50 miles from the Jefferson Davis Monument. It’s a 351 concrete obelisk. It’s a piece of history that I pray will not be torn down. We can’t ignore our history - good or bad.
Click to expand...
Monuments are intended to convey respect or endorsement of what is being commemorated. It’s not just an acknowledgment of history. If you just want to educate about history, that’s what museums are for.
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This begs the question, should the grave of Karl Marx be removed from Highgate Cemetery London then.
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