Can We at Least Cancel the D-List Historical Racists?

My middle school was named for a bigot — it still is — and it’s a slap in the face to everyone there

Image: Johnny Silvercloud, Shutterstock, Standard License, purchased by the author

Amid the debate over whether statues of men like Robert E. Lee or Andrew Jackson should be removed from places of honor — due to their participation in racial oppression — most have by now hardened their views into ideological concrete.

On one side are those who insist that no statuary should remain of those who enslaved Black folks, participated in Indigenous genocide or fought for the Confederacy — a government whose cornerstone was white supremacy according to its own Vice-President.

So too, neither schools nor streets, public parks, or government buildings should be named for such persons.

On the other side are those who believe the statues and names on buildings should remain, at least for the founders and presidents, if not, perhaps, for the Confederates who waged war on the nation they launched and led.

To this group, historical figures shouldn’t be canceled for failing to live up to contemporary moral standards. To do so, especially with certain figures like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, would be a terrible injustice — nearly equivalent to throwing one’s parents under…