My e-mail to the W&L folks: TO: President Kenneth Ruscio [email protected] Provost Daniel Wubah [email protected] Secretary James D. Farrar [email protected] Executive Assistant Katherine Brinkley [email protected] Lady and Gentlemen: With regard to the battle flags in the tomb of Gen. Robert E. Lee, I see that you have chosen to remove those flags at the behest of a small group of minority students who find them offensive and who believe that the university would be “more welcoming to minorities” if they were gone. First, I must say that such a monumental decision on the part of the administration arising from the demands of such a small group of students would make sense only if those students were bringing to your attention some extremely dangerous condition on campus as, say, the presence of a fire hazard or a berserk ax murderer. However, a demand for some politically correct action based upon the opinion of people whose numbers, youth and situation negates the gravity of that demand seems not only incomprehensible, but, frankly, suspicious. Can it be that the administration wished to remove the flags but was not honest (or brave) enough to do so until the advent of this racially charged opportunity? How else can one explain the fact that six “students” were able to undo generations of history and heritage with a mere petition—a petition, I might add, that was certainly countered by those who both honor and understand the university, its history and its heritage! Obviously, this whole affair is simply one more event in the ongoing effort to consign the heritage, heroes and symbols of the South to oblivion. This campaign of cultural genocide led by the minions of the left has been quite successful in changing the facts to suit its version of “history.” Of course, much of that success is due to the use of the pernicious “race card” which brooks no resistance. It is pointless to attempt to refute the claim by these individuals that somehow the history of Washington & Lee was a mystery to them for if that were indeed the case, then their fecklessness proves that they don’t belong in any institution of higher learning. It is also silly to suggest that Lee’s tomb and its accouterments would discourage minority students from attending the university! Again, anyone who would be turned away on that basis probably doesn’t belong in an educational setting but would be more at home standing around in a polling place in fatigues and holding a club in order to discourage the “wrong type” of voter. This is not an issue of race, but of power and you are handing your power over to people who have no idea how to use it except to pull down what they did not raise up. Read the words of another black man, Booker T. Washington who actually did suffer true discrimination in his life and rose above it without demanding that the entire society help him to do it or that they pull down to his level whatever rose above him: “There are two ways of exerting ones strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.” “It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of those privileges.” “We all should rise, above the clouds of ignorance, narrowness, and selfishness.” “Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity” “There is another class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs—partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.” “No greater injury can be done to any youth than to let him feel that because he belongs to this or that race he will be advanced in life regardless of his own merits or efforts.” I urge you to reconsider this hasty (I hope!) decision and leave General Lee’s tomb in peace. Who knows? You might be able to teach these six “students” the truth about history instead of the present p.c. nonsense that is, if they can “rise above” their bigotry and learn. Very truly yours
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 13:40:59 +0000
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