Letter: Put historic monument back up

Graphic by Lori Deaton

[Regarding “The Bigger Picture: Local Historians Reflect on the Vance Monument, One Year After Its Removal,” May 25, Xpress:] Put the historic monument back up and remove the Vance name and then install the names of people who made Asheville what it was.

I would venture a guess that the thousands of tourists who come to Asheville don’t have the foggiest idea who Vance was and further believe a majority of students could care less, either.

Tearing it down was a waste of taxpayer money, time, energy and effort. Another example of poor leadership from the people who run the city.

— Donald O. Funderud Sr.
Asheville

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5 thoughts on “Letter: Put historic monument back up

  1. Voirdire

    Put it back up, huh? A hologram of the Vance Monument without comment might work. Okay, well… along with more than sufficient interpretative signage for the uninformed -and unformed- of course. Just a thought, sigh. Well, anything other than the above brilliancy that passes for coherency these days.

    • Voirdire

      oh, then there is this relevant article in the Washington Post today about Lincoln’s support -after his election victory in 1860- for a constitutional amendment preserving slavery in the southern slave holding states… see link below What, you say??? ..Lincoln supported the preservation/ continuation of slavery in the South as a constitutional amendment?? (lol… like who didn’t know this? …except almost every completely clueless american today) Well, okay then… ALL the Lincoln statues/ monuments have GOT TO COME DOWN !! IMMEDIATELY !! BLM forever! (MAGA too! …while were at it ;) The actual, real history of America 160 plus years ago… it’s just so very messy and yucky! And, so very out of step with our nuanced -albeit them being a bit under informed at times- enlightened modern views! Well, again, whew, who knew? …and that odorous Vance, so out of step with his fellow [white] citizens in regard to his [now] antiquated and abhorrent racial views…. he certainly got what he deserved.. Erased… like he/it never happened! Okay, sure… right.

      …and just to be clear….. do I think the Vance monument should have remained.? Yes… BUT re-purposed and rededicated to honor the hundreds of impressed (….enslaved for all intents and purposes) African American “convicts” who died while being forced to construct the first railroad line up the Swannanoa grade to Asheville… which finally connected the Land of the Sky to the rest of the nation basically. But sigh, that would have required a bit of thought and creativity on the powers that be part ..in the face of our ardent reactionaries whose demands were not to be ignored… and we all know how perilous that would have been.

      The 13th Amendment nearly preserved slavery — with Lincoln’s support:
      https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/06/19/13th-amendment-lincoln-preserve-slavery

  2. NFB

    “Tearing it down was a waste of taxpayer money, time, energy and effort. ”

    And just how much taxpayer money would it take to put it back up?

  3. Snowdog

    What is this thing, this obsession with the past? All these feckless losers sending in dna to 23&me looking for some accomplishment or cool story about a dead relative they never met, thinking something a relative did in 1740 is somehow attached to them in the 2020’s. Like they get credit and identity from something having nothing to do with them. Then we have all these signs around Buncombe celebrating some angry white guy with a militia killing yankees or natives and we act like that’s some accomplishment from our collective past and we can NEVER EVER EVER NEVER EVER forget. It’s stupid. I live in a world with a massive amount of pathetic, weak-minded idiots who turn to bronze age fairies for morality and well armed racists from the past for a sense of history. SMH. America, a 2nd rate nation stuck in the past working hard to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Where’s that f’ing statue? We can’t even build affordable homes for working folks in this town, but we’re busy dealing with the past constantly. We can’t clean up the river, but we can focus on reparations. We can’t have a quiet evening at home due to rampant noise pollution, but we have time to argue over an effing obelisk. We can’t build sidewalks and bike lanes and keep up what few parks we have, but we can outlaw abortion and practice eugenics in this state. A 2nd rate nation stuck in a backwards past with delusions that it’s first b/c we have the most bombs.

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