Genesee Community College honored veterans today with a ceremony in the forum.
Batavia High School Band playing the National Anthem.
Taps.
Assemblyman Steve Hawley speaking. Before and during the ceremony a slideshow displayed photos of veterans associated with GCC.
Jessica Caryl, an aviation mechanist, represented student veterans and read a poem about the flag.
UTICA -- Allison DellaPenna, of Batavia, a junior on the Utica College volleyball team, was named to the Sportswoman of the Year squad, it was announced Tuesday.
The Empire 8 Conference emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete's experience in conjunction with an institution's educational mission. One member of each team is selected for displaying these traits as well as having the characteristics that make a good sportswoman.
DellaPenna totaled 65 kills and she also finished second on the team with 41 blocks in 30 matches played this season. In three years with the Pioneers, she has recorded 92 kills and 52 blocks.
Genesee Community College held an open house for prospective students today. It's the first one since the Student Success Center and Richard C. Call Arena opened and some 200 potential students, often with their parents, attended the event.
The next one is from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Nov. 18, to coincide with SUNY Financial Aid Day.
Top photo: Navaily Petrona, Susan Ryan, and Stephany Mercilia. Ryan is assistant director for admissions and Petrona and Mercilia, both from Curacao, were student guides for tours.
Below, Zoe Skarzenski, along with her mother, Susan, and father, Terry, from Findley Lake, stopped by the student bookstore to check out some GCC-branded apparel.
A tour through GCC's TV studio.
Photo courtesy of Sam Kuminecz.
Press release:
It is with great enthusiasm that Mercy Flight Inc., which provides service in Genesee County, announces a major EMS helicopter acquisition: three new 2017 Bell 429 helicopters.
This significant fleet upgrade will help sustain Mercy Flight’s commitment to bringing expert and unparalleled medical care with rapid response for many years to come.
In late October, Mercy Flight signed a Purchase Agreement and placed a deposit with Bell Helicopter for the new helicopters. This opportunity was made possible through a combined $23 million long-term lending effort from the USDA Rural Development Department and M&T Bank. These joint 20-year loans from the USDA and M&T Bank create an affordable option that will allow Mercy Flight to replace its four aging 1980s model BK-117 helicopters.
The helicopters are slated to be completed and delivered ready for EMS operations in the late Spring of 2018.
“These Bell 429s will represent a significant step in our goal to remain Western New York’s independent, nonprofit provider of emergency air medical services for many years to come,” said Mercy Flight’s Founding President and CEO Douglas Baker.
“Our current BK-117 helicopters have been pillars of our operation for a number of years, but this creative financing opportunity provided to us by the USDA’s Rural Development team and M&T Bank will allow us to retire these aging aircraft and replace them with more reliable, modern equipment.”
“USDA Rural Development’s Community Facilities program is designed to assist nonprofit organizations just like Mercy Flight – with equipment like this,” said USDA Rural Development Loan Technician Sandra Snyder. “This funding builds on the USDA’s continued investment and commitment in rural communities throughout New York.
"While the added features, expanded service range, increased speed and state of the art capabilities of these new and dependable airframes are impressive, we at Rural Development in NY also believe the pilots, emergency technicians, dispatchers and ground teams are equally impressive.”
In 2010, Mercy Flight similarly collaborated with the USDA and M&T Bank for joint loans for the organization’s first Bell 429 helicopter. This aircraft has since proven its merit, as has Bell Helicopter’s customer service. Mercy Flight is looking forward to performing its lifesaving, nonprofit mission while flying exclusively Bell 429 helicopters.
“Mercy Flight’s decision to upgrade their existing fleet to all Bell 429’s reflects both the tremendous capabilities of the aircraft and the unrivaled support Bell Helicopter is known for,” said Ron Orndoff, Bell Helicopter Regional Sales Manager. “Their fleet of four aircraft will bring the total to 21 Bell 429’s operating in the Northeast U.S., representing every mission segment.”
Mercy Flight serves the Western New York Community and beyond with its fleet of five helicopters, twenty ambulances, six paramedic fly cars, and exclusive use of a dedicated Learjet to transport patients in need nationwide. Since 1981, Mercy Flight has safely completed more than 27,000 patient missions, including scene emergencies and inter-hospital transfers.
ABOUT MERCY FLIGHT
Mercy Flight Inc., d/b/a Mercy Flight of Western New York and Mercy EMS, is an independent nonprofit provider of medical transport services. It began in 1981 as the first medically-dedicated air ambulance service in New York State. Today, the charitable organization operates four helicopter bases staffed by pilots, flight paramedics and flight nurses in Buffalo (headquarters), Olean, Springville and Batavia.
Long distance air transports are conducted using a Learjet 31 and the same critical care medical teams that staff the helicopters. Flight physicians also join the team as needed based on the condition of the patient.
Mercy Flight’s ground ambulance division, Mercy EMS, provides service for Genesee County, Niagara County, and the Town of Concord and Village of Springville.
Together, the organization’s employees, now over 200 strong, support the mission of providing unparalleled, critical emergency care, in the air and on the ground, “WHEN MINUTES MATTER."
Photographer Eian Windham’s exhibit (pictured above with his mother) “Psychedelic Through Life” had its opening Thursday night at GO ART! It was a very well attended affair in the Rotary Room on the second floor of Seymour Place. Quite a few of Eian’s images were purchased within the first hour of the exhibit.
Eian is a 16-year-old Batavia High School student.
When asked how he got started in photography, he said “It just happened. I used to take a lot of pictures with my cell phone. My dad bought me a camera and I realized I could take better pictures with it.”
While he is still developing his style for his images, it is clear nature and family relationships are of interest and important to him. A majority of the images are from a tour of Jamaica that the family took last year.
Eian’s exhibit runs through Nov. 25th. Go art currently has four exhibits on display. Exhibit hours are by appointment or Thursday and Friday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday from 11a.m. to 4 p.m., and every second Sunday of the month from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. GO ART! is located at 201 E. Main St., Batavia.
Tractor Supply Co. is offering a 15-percent "Military Discount" for in-store purchases to all active and former military personnel and their dependents on Veterans Day, Saturday, Nov. 11.
There's no limit to savings. Please show your military proof of service at checkout to receive the discount. This offer is not good with any other discount.
The only store in Genesee County is located at 4974 E. Main St., Batavia; phone is 343-0078.
The following is a schedule of Veterans Day ceremonies in Genesee County:
Friday, Nov. 10:
Saturday, Nov. 11:
Organizations Participating
Genesee County American Legion
Veterans of Foreign Wars of Genesee County
Marine Corps League – Hansen Brothers Detachment
Disabled American Veterans – Chapter #166
Vietnam Veterans of America – Chapter #193
American Legion Botts Fioritto Post #576
Genesee Community College
"Honor, respect and guard your freedom for it comes from the BLOOD of those who gave their life for it."
Press release:
The Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) Local Planning Committee (LPC) will hold a meeting at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 14, at City Hall in the Council Board Room, One Batavia City Centre, Batavia.
The City was awarded a $10 million DRI award from the State of New York to advance downtown revitalization and this is the first LPC meeting to introduce the DRI program, LPC members and next steps.
The program is administered by the New York State Department of State in coordination with the New York State Division of Homes and Community Renewal.
The meeting is open to public and persons attending will have an opportunity to speak at the end of the meeting.
Right in downtown Batavia, NY sits a tiny little building on Ellicott Street covered in bright pink, blue, yellow, and red polka dots. It has been quietly serving the town (and its visitors!) breakfast, lunch, and their famous Beef on Wecks since the 1950s – that’s over 60 years since first opening its doors!
Surprisingly, not much has changed since it opened over half a century ago. The building looks almost the same and the menu has kept its flavorful simplicity that keeps patrons coming back. In fact, you’re sure to see more than a few locals hanging around each morning – many in the town frequent this favorite breakfast joint.
Regulars are so essential to the Pok-A-Dot that they even put together an online photo gallery of their most loyal patrons! Check out The Cyber Pok-A-Dot to see the faces you may run into on a trip to the restaurant.
Turn up for breakfast, and you’ll find it’s of the savory type, almost all made on the grill – eggs, bacon, sausage, steak, and toast, served with a side of hash brown patties or homefries. Omelets are another standard at Pok-A-Dot and can be customized to fit your fancy. If you’re looking for something sweet, you can grab a donut or side of raisin toast for just $1.25.
As lunch rolls around, red and white Hots, Polish sausage with kraut, burgers, chicken tenders, steak, and fish all grace the menu. Your meal isn’t complete without a favorite side like dill pickle chips, mozzarella sticks, deep fried mushrooms, or onion rings – and you can top it all off with a milkshake for dessert (or as a side to an amazing meal). And of course, there’s that famous Beef on Weck – thin-sliced roast beef slowly simmered in au jus, served on a hard kimmelweck roll – for less than $5.00 a sandwich.
In fact, the entire menu shows prices that are affordable for anyone – so grab a friend or the family and enjoy a delicious meal. But don’t forget to bring cash – true to its 1950s roots, the restaurant does not accept credit or debit for purchases.
A great meal and a great taste of what Batavia has to offer can be found at the Pok-A-Dot. Add it to your next Genesee County visit!
To learn more visit www.VisitGeneseeNY.com.
Genesee Feeds celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a party at Batavia Downs last night sponsored by Purina.
Photo: Joshua Fullmer, Josh Jr., Sunny Rathod, Thomas Winters, Henry Winters, Lee Winters, and Larry Love (representing Purina).
Previously: The Winters now in fourth generation in the feed business
Twenty years ago, Brian and Beth Kemp went into the T-shirt printing business with a shop in the Harvester Center. Over 20 years, the business has grown, moving to bigger locations along the way, from Harvester and Main, to the former Newberry's Building on Main Street, to a large building on Center Street.
The Kemps celebrated the 20th Anniversary of T-Shirt's Etc. last night with an open house. Visitors were treated to hors d'oeuvres, a chance to print the back of their own T-shirt, see beanies embroidered and receive another commemorative T-shirt and glass.
June E. Ellis, 70, of South Main Street, Batavia, is charged with harassment 2nd. Ellis was allegedly involved in an altercation with another person in the parking lot of Tops at 7:15 p.m., Nov. 2.
Eric J. McGill, 34, of Lewis Place, Batavia, is charged with harassment 2nd. McGill was allegedly involved in a disturbance on Lewis Place at 6:22 p.m., Monday. A 17-year-old was also arrested.
Katty L. Jackson, 21, of Dewey Avenue, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt 2nd. Jackson allegedly violated an order of protection at 7 p.m., Nov. 2.
Jessica M. Pfenninger, 35, of Creek Road, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Pfenninger is accused of shoplifting from Dollar Tree on West Main Street, Batavia.
Christina A. Cotter, 25, of Ellicott Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt 2nd. Cotter is accused of violating a stay away order of protection by sending text messages to the protected person.
Sean M. Haugh, 20, of Covington Road, Perry, is charged with disorderly conduct. Haugh was arrested following a report to police of a disturbance at UMMC.
An 18-year-old man indicted on a charge of attempted murder in a stabbing last month behind a group of businesses on Veterans Memorial Drive entered a not guilty plea in Genseee County Court today.
The attorney for Jeffrey L. Barr, no permanent address, Public Defender Jerry Ader, said he will be filing motions to challenge the Grand Jury indictment.
A hearing on that motion is set for Jan. 19.
Meanwhile, Barr is held without bail. Ader made no application for a revision in Barr's bail status but told Judge Charles Zambito that his client reserved that right to address his bail status at a later date.
Barr is accused of stabbing a man from Buffalo multiple times, including in the neck and chest, at 9:30 p.m., Friday, behind the mall at 4140 Veterans Memorial Drive, the location of Jagged Edges, Pawn King, Yume Asian Bistro and Peebles. Then the victim stumbled to the parking lot of Batavia Downs where he was located by a person who called 9-1-1 and rendered aid.
A car accident with minor injuries is reported at Main and Jackson streets in Downtown Batavia. City fire and Mercy medics are responding. Police are on scene.
At the request of his attorney, a 26-year-old Batavia man accused in attacking a victim in a multi-person assault that led to serious injuries for the victim on East Main Street in July will be given time to consider a plea offer.
Anthony Spencer is one of two defendants identified in the case so far that led to charges against Spencer and JW Hardy of first-degree assault and gang assault.
The offer to Spencer to is to enter a guilty plea to attempted assault in the first degree.
Spencer has until Dec. 4 to make a decision.
Attorney Faris Rumi also asked Judge Charles Zambito for a reduction in bail for his client, noting that while Spencer was never charged with a crime before, he has bail set on other cases, including felony indictment and a charge in City Court, making it hard for him to gain his release.
District Attorney Lawrence Friedman objected to a reduction in bail, noting that this issue was addressed before and Spencer is facing serious charges now.
Zambito said he's already reduced the bail from $25,000 to $10,000 and wasn't aware of any change in circumstances, which would warrant another reduction in bail.
A 28-year-old Pearl Street resident tried to convince Judge Charles Zambito to send him not to jail for a year following his conviction on fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, following an incident in June on Central Avenue in which Danny D. Williams pulled a knife on another person.
Williams said he did it to protect a child.
He also admitted that he's had a hard time "doing the right thing" and staying out of trouble.
"I just want to be around for my kids," Williams said. "I know I need to stop hanging out with my friends. I want to be around for my kids."
Zambito admonished Williams that even if anybody else was threatened, there's nothing in the record to indicate Williams was justified in pulling a knife.
"The proper response," Zambito said, "is to call police."
Williams was initially charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, second-degree menacing, and endangering the welfare of a child. The charges stem from an incident which occurred at 8:01 p.m. on June 9 on Central Avenue, Batavia. It is alleged that Williams pulled a knife on an individual during an altercation and that there was a child in close proximity at the time.
Zambito noted that Williams has had multiple felony arrests over the past three years, and they've all been reduced to misdemeanors. He doesn't have a good record on probation, Zambito said.
"The probation department report indicates you will struggle with compliance," Zambito said.
He sentenced Williams to a year of lockup.
Adam J. Gill, 29, of East Main Street, Batavia, is charged with DWI, two counts of burglary, and menacing, 2nd. At 1:31 a.m. Tuesday, Gill allegedly entered a residence in the Village of Elba and displayed a knife. After a brief struggle with the occupants, the intruder was disarmed and he left the residence without further incident. Gill was known to the residents. They did not sustain any injuries. Gill was located on Oak Street in Batavia and charged with DWI. He was jailed on $50,000 bail, $10,000 bond.
Lamar Iteef Randall, 32, of Walnut Place, Batavia, is charged with aggravated unlicensed operation, 1st, obstructed license plate, and unlawful possession of marijuana. Randall was stopped at 4:35 p.m. Monday on Veterans Memorial Drive by Sgt. Ron Welker.
Shaun Michael Brennan, 23, of Brookedge Drive, of Hamlin, is charged with DWI, refusal to breath test, and speeding. Brennan was stopped at 7:18 p.m. Monday on North Lake Road, Bergen, by Deputy Ryan DeLong.
Jeremy John Schraufstetter, 40, of Leroy Street, Cheektowaga, is charged with felony DWI and felony driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Schraufstetter was stopped at 1:43 a.m. Oct. 28 on Route 20, Darien, by Investigator Chris Parker.
David S. Rigoni, 38, of Pavilion, is charged with operator impaired by drugs and moving from lane unsafely. Rigoni was stopped by State Police at 3:41 p.m. Tuesday in Le Roy.
Two vehicles had windows smashed in at a parking lot off School Street in Downtown Batavia. City police are on scene investigating.
UPDATE 9:18 p.m.: Vandals smashed in windows on two vehicles off School Street and another two vehicles off Liberty Street. A total of three purses were stolen in the crime spree.
Like human beings, it’s complicated, multifaceted and a work in progress.
Historians who gathered at Genesee Community College on Saturday to discuss monuments and statues of the Confederacy made that point clear.
Other issues emanating from that controversial topic were more opaque.
Should Confederate monuments be disassembled and put into a museum? Or stand as they are and “contextualized” by the addition of explanatory signage or a juxtaposing anti-memorial?
By what criteria do we evaluate the people honored? Are they more than their worst traits? Do they contribute to the public discussion beyond their role in the Confederacy?
While more and more Americans wrestle with those kinds of questions, by all accounts, the current debate is fraught with emotion. There’s a quick-tempered divisiveness that too often rapidly devolves into shouting matches or worse, culminating in the nadir at Charlottesville.
Derek Maxfield, Ph.D., GCC associate professor of History, brought together a three-man panel to weigh in on Confederate monuments. It was the last session in a day spent talking about the short shrift that history, especially local history, is getting in New York classrooms, the stifling trend of "teaching to the test," and disaster preparedness as it relates to safeguarding historical artifacts.
Speaking were:
They cited a series of articles which have been published online at a site called "The Emerging Civil War,” which offers fresh and evolving perspectives on America’s deadliest conflict. (To visit, click here.)
Mackowski provided a launching point for the sake of the discussion at GCC. He penned an article from a free speech perspective for the Emerging Civil War series because it interested him as a journalism professor, and other authors had dibs on other aspects of the controversy.
“As soon as you start saying, ‘Take down that statue because it’s offensive to me,’ to me, that’s a First Amendment issue,“ Mackowski said. "Here you have artistic expression and people saying ‘That art is offensive.’ It’s always been my understanding that one of the purposes of art is to provoke. So, of course, in some ways it’s going to be offensive to some people.”
Eula said “I couldn’t agree more that art as embodied in these statues is by definition provocative. In fact, it should be provocative. First and foremost, we need to remember that when we look at these monuments, and the discussion surrounding them, we are talking about more than monuments.
“We’re talking about how we conceive of American history…of our civil society. I think each side engaging in the conversation needs to take a moment to try and understand the other perspective, the other side."
Hamner said that although he’s disturbed by the emotional response against Confederate artwork, he diverged with Mackowski on two points.
Firstly, the question of public art versus private expression.
He said he associates the First Amendment with personal displays of art: putting a Confederate flag on your porch.
“But when it comes to public art, to me it’s not a question of free speech, it’s a question of pure politics,” Hamner said.
Therefore, Hamner advocates having a true political process to work through so that opinions are heard and a “rationale discourse” can take place regarding each monument or statue on a case by case basis.
Secondly, whether there is “instrinsic value” in a work of art strikes him as “moving the goalpost a little bit.”
Hamner said the tougher question that does need addressing is: “Do these people have intrinsic values that we need to respect – outside of their association with the Confederacy?”
Mackowski, acknowledging he purposely wrote from the viewpoint he did because it was not covered by others in the online series, agreed with his colleagues.
As we wrestle with the notion of what makes somebody worth honoring, a fear – particularly in pro-Confederate quarters – is “Who’s next?” Mackowski said, and while some argue this is a slippery slope, he allowed that “we probably need to evaluate some of these other folks.”
What do these guys represent?
It was at this point that host Maxfield brought up the stark argument, in The Emerging Civil War series, proferred by Julie Mujic (pronounced “MEW-hick”), Ph.D., adjunct professor of History at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio.
She argues that Confederate statues commemorate treason and ought to be removed.
“To sustain Confederate monuments sends the message that it’s necessary to celebrate the effort, even when that effort was malicious. The monuments must come down. They represent inequality, oppression…”
Mackowski said Mujic’s stance strikes at the heart of the whole argument: "What do these guys represent?”
“As you know, the history of the war was rewritten as soon as the war was over. And instead of it being about slavery, it starts to be about ‘noble sacrifice’, ‘doing your duty’, and ‘honor’ and ‘states’ rights’.
“So today, a lot of people refuse to look at people who served with the Confederacy as being traitors, but in fact, that’s what they were. … So do you honor that or not? That’s a very important question that we don’t have a common context for.”
Hamner has a problem with both Mujic’s argument AND the defenders of the monuments for essentially the same reason.
He cites a catch phrase, even used by President Trump in a tweet, that “You can’t change history.”
He said people tend to think of the past as objective, factual and unchanging; our historical interpretation of that past as either right or wrong.
The problem is, that “implies that the process was somehow supposed to end.”
The deal is, reinterpretation of the objective truth is going to happen with every generation, as knowledge evolves, more facts come to light, consensus migrates.
As they all conceded, historians and the citizenry can’t change the past, but the interpretations of the past must be constantly requestioned.
"I’m always struck by the curious statement that ‘We’re revising history'," Eula said. "My reaction is that ‘History is always being revised.’ "
Having said that, Eula noted that at the time most, if not all, of the statues and monuments were erected, there was no national debate about it, no consensus.
“We need to keep in mind the question: Is the removal of a monument erasing history or merely calling our attention to what is now a different interpretation of that moment in time?”
Forgotten nearly always in these discussions, Eula pointed out, are the poor whites who had not been supportive of the Confederacy from the get-go.
A whole year before the North passed a draft law forcing mandatory armed service, the Confederacy did so, which tells historians the South was not getting the numbers of volunteers for The Lost Cause that many today would like to imagine.
And the slave-holding elite, later the pardoned ex-slave-holding elite, still got the run of the place after the war.
That meant former slave owners got to become the local bankers, and pass vagrancy laws, which continued the bondage of freed men, Eula explained.
This informs today’s understanding of the time in which the statues came to be.
“My point is that it isn’t simply a straightforward proposition as to whether these statues are works of art protected by the First Amendment; whether or not there are contemporary implications for race relations in our own day.
“These are products of a specific historical moment in a specific part of the country.”
Impact Beyond the Confederacy
Eula also said many of the Confederate generals had no significance beyond their military career. That raises the question, for example, does this form a slippery-slope logic for the removal, say of the Washington Monument? No, Eula argues, because although Washington owned slaves, “his significance lies in his contribution to the construction of a new nation.”
“These (Confederate) monuments are dedicated to the memory of an elite South…seeking to destroy the United States in the name of slavery…that was as busy trampling on the rights of poor whites as it was on the slaves."
And, if the decision is made to get rid of a monument, which whether you like it or not is a “historical document,” then the process to do so must abide by some local, identifiable political construct.
To just tear down a monument, Eula said, is akin to someone walking into the Genesee County archives and saying “Well, I don’t like what’s said on this particular piece of paper, therefore, I’m going the shred it.”
“Just like for any other historical document, we have to find a way to preserve these. Whether or not they should be preserved in a public space, that’s another issue...
“These are the kinds of issues that need to be sorted out before we can make any final decision on whether or not any particular Confederate memorial stays or is replaced,” Eula said.
The operative phrase is “particular piece,” says Mackowski.
“To look at Confederate monuments as a big, monolithic one-size-fits-all sort of issue is absolutely the wrong way to go about it,” Mackowski said. "But because tempers are flaring and emotions are high, that’s sort of how people are approaching it.”
Instead, a lot of questions should be asked to inform a reasoned debate, say historians.
Who was the monument put up to honor? Why was it put up? Who put it up? When? What was the intent?
Moreover, a statue of Stonewall Jackson is a very different thing than a statue in the courthouse square that honors the local county boys who got drafted into a regiment and sent off to war.
Plus, consider that community values change, and over 150 years, they change a lot.
A book by David Lowenthal called “The Past is a Foreign Country – Revisited” describes, the panelist said, how today’s values differ vastly from those of yesteryear.
So, it behooves people today not to try and look at history through the lens of “presentism.”
“I think we’re not really talking about history at all when we talk about these monuments, we’re talking about memory,” Mackowski said.
The Sorry State of Historical Literacy
This observation prompted Maxfield to mention a problem he calls “historical literacy,” or more precisely, the lack thereof.
“I don’t want to come off as elitist about this, but the fact of the matter is we are spending less and less time in the public schools teaching history,” Maxfield said.
“We’re shoving it out of the curriculum and, in fact, Confederate history in particular, CANNOT be discussed in some Northern states.”
And vice versa; Texas comes to mind.
“That’s an unhealthy phenomenon, when you can’t look at the other side of an argument,” Maxfield said.
Meanwhile, Hamner is concerned that while people scurry to make sure history’s getting correctly written and that context is being correctly construed, there’s a gaping window open for some people to ram their political agendas through.
“One only has to look at the way Donald Trump defended the artistic value of these monuments, when he has a l-o-n-g history of development in New York City of tearing down artwork after artwork to make room for his projects.”
To wit, the construction of Trump Plaza is said to have resulted in the destruction of an Art Deco-style store that featured windows created by Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali.
None other than the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City waited in eager anticipation of what was supposed to be the fantabulous donation of massive Art Deco bas-relief murals from that store, only to find they had been knocked down and destroyed by Trump’s crew so as not to prolong the project by a week and a half.
The point?
“We have to be very careful that we are separating people who are using some very valid argument to shield ulterior political agendas,” Hamner said, adding “…I would hate to see a very important, intelligent conversation like this being used in a way as a shield for what I consider very, very base intentions.”
It also is not helpful that the general public does not seem to understand what the discipline of history is all about.
“A lot of what historians do is really philosophy,” Maxfield said. “Until we have the opportunity to teach more critical thinking and encourage more exploration, I’m afraid what we‘re doing, especially in the public schools, is narrow and narrow and narrow.”
Facts and Sensibilities
It’s important to remember, too, Mackowski offered, that in history, a set of facts does not equal a set of facts. Two plus two does not equal four when you are dealing with facts in history, he said.
Fact: The Union Army moved in to occupy Fredericksburg in the spring of 1862.
But that fact is viewed vastly differently by two diarists who wrote about it. One was a member of the social elite who wrote about it being this great calamity; “The Yankee invaders are here; this is awful.”
An emancipated slave saw it differently. He wrote “This is the greatest day of my life. This is the greatest thing to ever happen.”
Thus, adding together different historical perspectives over the span of a century and a half is something that can’t be “summed up” tidily.
“Before this degenerates into mindless philosophy,” Maxfield told Saturday’s attendees, garnering some comic relief, how about considering one solution offered by a historian: Leave all the monuments as they are, but just improve the interpretive signage.
How other nations have addressed the issue of historical monuments was something that Eula explored when asked to participate in the GCC panel.
“The whole issue of holocaust memorials was an obvious one” to look into, he said.
One approach he found was memorials constructed next to other memorials with different interpretations attached to them.
In the United States, for example, you could put up: a monument next to the existing one that denotes the number of slaves murdered during their enslavement; or the number of soldiers who were murdered at the Confederate prison of war camp at Andersonville, Ga.; or “the number of poor whites who couldn’t buy their way out of the draft, who didn’t support the planters’ war, and who paid for that with prison sentences,” Eula said.
Coming up with a county-by-county count of the dead, might be a way of “softening the effects of the monuments with regard to those who find them objectionable,” the official county historian said.
At this juncture, Hamner said he sees agreement about the panel’s strategies and tactics; but it comes down to his original point: the need to separate the historical element from the political one.
“I would hate to take The Lost Cause interpretation monument and then simply encase it in a new interpretation and say ‘That’s the official interpretation. Now it’s done.’ "
There is no "One Conclusive Truth"
Hamner's desire is to protect the PROCESS of public history, not the monuments themselves.
“If the political process in that community says ‘We’re putting it in a museum.’ Ultimately, I’m for that," Hamner said. "What I’m really worried about is understanding the particularities of each monument, maintaining the process of investigation, and the willingness to revise our thinking – every generation, every person.”
Which begs the question, in Eula’s mind, as to WHY we necessarily have to have ‘ONE CONCLUSIVE TRUTH’?, he asked, slapping his hand on the table as he spoke each word.
“The minute you do that it leads you down, historically, a path of dogmatism that tends to shut down democracy, that tends to shut down the expression of free ideas.”
What if we as a society never have agreement?
“So what! … Why can’t we agree to disagree and have a civil discourse?” Eula asked.
The absolute declaration of what the correct interpretation is, was called totalitarianism in the 20th century, Eula reminded the audience.
Remember, there was a time when you were either for or against McCarthyism. You were either for or against the United States entering the purported "war to end all wars,” “The Great War” -- World War I.
“That’s when a lot of innocent people get hurt and killed, for reasons to me that are absolutely senseless,” Eula said.
Mackowski countered with a “get real” argument.
Philosophizing aside, and since the notion of “contextualization” of Confederate monuments is so kosher among historians, Mackowski wanted to play devil’s advocate.
“If you’re driving down Monument Avenue in Richmond (Va.), it’s basically an auto park,” Mackowski said. “Who’s able to stop at one of those traffic islands in the middle of traffic and read context about Stonewall Jackson or Jeb Stewart or Jefferson Davis?”
Context is actually difficult to pull off in some places, he noted, and maybe even if you could pull it off, does it really match up to these giant men on giant pedestals?, he asked.
And let’s say you decide to leave it in place, what about vandalization?
To that, Maxfield chimed in with something that a historian from Texas A&M University had to offer, and that is that location does matter.
Andersonville, for example, is cited as the South’s version of a 19th century concentration camp; a place where 11,000 to 13,000 federal troops meet a grisly end under brutal conditions.
If a monument stands in a place such as this, it should be kept there, the scholar argued, even if publicly funded, because going TO that site or a battlefield is voluntary. The same cannot be said for someone who must drive past a statue that offends you every day to get to work and there’s no other route to go; that’s involuntary.
Plus, on a battlefield, historians and/or Park Service employees are there to help with knotty questions and interpretations, right?
Wrong, says Mackowski, in fact Park Service employees have largely been silent on the issue. Because taxpayers pay their salaries, they can’t really delve into it.
Some of the people best equipped to comment on this discussion have their hands tied because of politics, Mackowski said.
Nor has academia been free from constraints, Maxfield noted.
Removing monuments on a battlefield, which is essentially a giant cemetery, raises “other complexities,” according to Eula, who stressed the need for balance.
“Because we have people there, regardless of our own idealogical beliefs, who ended their life there, most likely involuntarily.”
He went on to recall how memorials to Stalin and Lenin came down in Eastern Europe in the middle of the last century.
Growing Dissent
“My point here is that, as much as it pains me to say this, there could be enough popular dissent out there regarding all these statues that no amount of discussion or legislation could change.
“It could be that our own society has so changed in the span of the last two generations in particular, that there is this huge upsurge demanding a removal of some of these monuments in the way that we saw in the Soviet Union with regard to Stalin.
“And I’m not convinced historians, even the most well intentioned, are really going to have a whole lot to say about this.”
This perspective prompted Mackowski to ask why this moment, why now?
Eula maintains that some of this popular dissent has been growing for a long time, back to the 1960s and the feelings spurred by the morass of the Vietnam War.
“It’s what I started off by saying – this is not simply about Confederate monuments,” Eula responded. “There are deeper currents here at work, and these didn’t begin recently.”
The groundswell of attention paid to the subject these days could, in part, stem from harsh “economic realities” many people face, which historians have largely been insulated from.
This means that “some of our discussions are frankly going to prove irrelevant” because they are not, rightly or wrongly, in alignment with what the populace is feeling, thinking or demanding, Eula said flatly.
Hamner said, on one hand, there’s this sort of academic/historical question of how best to contextualize Confederate artwork. Then on the other hand, there’s a deeper human question of WHY historians do what they do.
The thing that matters most of all, he said, is that – regardless of whether a decision is made to keep or do away with a monument – that a process is followed to get to the decision.
Hamner contends that the camp that says "Leave it alone. Don’t touch them" is made up of people who want to freeze time and not confront the complexity of heritage.
They are reducing human beings to their best qualities – like bravery – “a disembodied sort of character trait.”
But the opposite camp is also reductionist – making complex humans villains and the epitome of their worst characteristics.
For an example of the former, Mackowski showed a picture of the statue of Stonewall Jackson at Manassas National Battlefield Park in Prince William County, Va. (See inset photo above.)
He said Jackson is made to look like “Arnold Schwarzenegger on a Budweiser Clydesdale" … like this God of War – a horseman of the Apocalypse. In reality, Jackson was slight, modest and “would have been appalled to be portrayed this way.”
In other words, monuments are less about facts and more about “how people want to remember the Stonewalls.”
What About Bias?
A student asked the panel, “So if interpretation is the key solution, how do we select the accurate interpretation for each monument without being biased?”
The panel's collective wisdom: Finding “the objective truth” and “the right interpretation” is doomed.
Rather it is consensus itself, by interpreting and reinterpreting, that will painstakingly get you “closer and closer” to what the pluralistic outcome ought to be.
Yet Maxfield said even that is elusive because “there are progressive historians that believe progress in humankind is possible – you get closer and improve – but other historians disagree with that." That dichotomy also shapes interpretation.
Eula said he thinks it’s not possible for a historian not to be biased. So you be as objective as you can be by acknowledging your bias, “your theory.”
Since “just the facts” are not the whole story, “you look at evidence based upon your starting point. But the responsibility of the scholar is to let the audience know: This is my starting point.”
Before you can get to an interpretation of a monument, for example, you have to get people to “understand that history is relevant,” Mackowski replied.
“Unless you can get people to understand that history is not what happened in the past, but rather why the past is influencing what is going on RIGHT NOW, people aren’t going to get to that (new and improved) interpretation.”
It’s that whole issue of general historical illiteracy that Maxfield had lamented earlier.
To make meaningful headway, people have to have discussions, the historians said, not ongoing yelling matches.
“Or 140 characters of saying ‘You’re wrong!’ " Mackowski concluded.
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