Fact: Political leaders who promote or turn a blind eye to racist policies and places are not remembered fondly in history.
So, my question for you politicians today is: How do you think you will be remembered? Will your service be noted by your inaction to remove the name of the horrific slave owner ([Zebulon] Vance) from the monument at the center of our town? Or will it be noted for creating a more inclusive tone in the heart of our city by renaming the monument for someone more deserving?
Will you be remembered for protecting the “right” of the dangerous few that insist on flying the Confederate flag and thereby instilling visceral fear in the hearts of others? Or, will you ensure the safety and security of all Asheville residents by protecting us from the menace of those who wish turn back the clock on human and civic progress?
It’s not too late for you to be on the right side of history. Be the leaders we elected you to be and take a stand against hate. Other U.S. cities are removing Confederate symbology and monuments. Let’s not waste any more time — Asheville needs to join them, now.
— Lindsey Miguelez
Asheville
Yes the best way to move beyond the dark spots in our history in to completely forget them. Gotta be PC or some might get their feeling hurt.
There are better ways to remember one’s dark spots than by honoring them. Put the man’s plaque under a dead tree that needs to be cut down.
LOL, that includes Lee Walker Heights too, right? Oh that’s different because that dark spot is being taken down for greed and that LOL of it all, the displaced will get a “chance” to move back in among the white hipsters with one caveat lulz. When hell freezes over.
LOL, the right side of history lulz. The mere fact that you have to censor in order to feel good means you’re already on the wrong side of it to begin with. But people like you live in fantasy land where you don’t see how that works.
Fight the power, Lulz!
Perhaps you should foment an insurrection against the government.
I’d love to see an Oregon style occupation of a Federal building carried out by the righty loonies who I am blessed enough to read their posts for entertainment purposes.
Would they storm the Nature Center, the Innsbruck Mall or would they go for higher value targets with built in support like the early bird special at Denny’s on Saturday morning?
On a practical note, if Vance’s name is removed from said monument, what should we who live here call it in order to give directions to tourists?
Obelisk sounds scary cuz they orginated in Egypt, and Egypt aint from here. It’s near the Middle East, which aint from here either.
How about the Baby Washington Monument?
The male symbol of power embodied in sculpture form? Somehow I don’t think that will go over well either.
Let’s rename it after an out of town developer who wants to build another overpriced hotel here.
How about a name like the Mammon Monument?
‘vance’ means ‘bed bug’ in Yiddish.
Lol. It also means “repulsive person.” I wonder how “real world” and “boatrocker” translate.
Wouldn’t be hard to fix the problem. Just change the word “Vance” to “Dance.” Maybe put some rainbow flags around it.
Weak sauce,
Work on thy comedy.
As in there are so many alternatives to “Vance”- any contribution should have something to do with short term greedy capitalist free market growth, as in cancer, as doctors define unchecked/unregulated growth. Cancer kills the host, as doctors agree.
Unless others would disagree- In all caps.
Wasn’t being funny. The word “dance” not only captures the best spirit of Asheville, it’s good advice.
I dunno, Dance Monument? Like Asheville doesn’t already have enough of a rep as woo woo New Age loony town surrounded by a thick layer of right wing woo woo rage at a black POTUS and girls kissing downtown in public?
There’s not as much info online about the actual monument, but at least Vance did jail time after the Civil War. Not quite a month, but still jail time for you know, that whole treasonous Civil War thing.
I can’t wait for the TSGDIA rage for that comment (the South’s Gonna Do It Again).
Yea, I’m saying it might be a bit think skinned for people to demand a monument built to a specific person be renamed.
Heaven forbid we ever have to suffer through reading a letter to the ed from someone who is offended.
Not that the CSA was right by any means, but Vance did distinguish himself post Civil War as a pretty darned good lawyer. He was a proponent of education (good luck with that in NC nowadays), he defended Tom Dula, he speechified on the importance of religious tolerance (something else NC is sorely lacking nowadays). He wasn’t Matlock, but he was ok.
That and I personally think those Old Testament type names sound cool. I see the points raised by the original letter, but there has to be a point when we just have to realize as a society and admit to it in spoken and written form that this country had a lot of awful dark periods-slavery, wars over money from slavery that nobody would admit was about slavery, genocide of those who were here first, internment camps for people with Asian eyes, etc in contrast with some cool stuff we did in between keeping the boot on the neck of those who weren’t the late 1800’s version of the 1%.
This letter is wrong on so many levels. My guess is that Lindsey is very poorly informed on the subject matter she decided to write about. That’s never good.
And, she evidences a smug and annoying behavior that is prevalent these days, which is: contemporary people overlaying today’s values and understandings on long-dead individuals and slapping them down because they don’t measure up to the 21st century. Utterly absurd! Try learning about and considering the whole of a person, their life and the era in which they lived before deciding they or their monument should be thrown out.
Jewish people, a discriminated against tiny minority in WNC during Vance’s time, found him an ardent friend and supporter when it wasn’t popular to be either. I believe they would offer a very different view of the man. (That he was also a slave owner is a contradiction, yes. I can’t explain another person viewpoint unless they’ve explained it to me. But, it is worth mentioning that he grew up with them, it was a common way of life then.)
A quote from an old 2003 Mtn X article: “To North Carolinians, he is the incomparable Vance of war and Senate fame and many jests; to the Jewish people he is the author of ‘The Scattered Nation’, the one American statesman of his day who pleaded their cause to the people of the United States,” Vance biographer Selig Adler wrote in 1941. That advocacy, noted Adler, was all the more remarkable, given that “there were somewhat less than five hundred Jews in North Carolina at the time Vance wrote the speech, a fact that discounts all political motives.” http://mountainx.com/news/community-news/0507vance-php/
Another Vance article from Citizen Times in 2015: http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/03/12/vance-monument-history-set-stone/70226886/
My view….we should definitely learn from the past and focus on improving upon it. But, we’d be better served, for example, asking ourselves why we’re okay with the choices for the US Presidency this election year. Some of them ought to in jail and some of them are crazy. Let’s have some impact on our lives in the 21st century.
Yea, you raise valid points, The Real World.
Yet you ask too much.
Why enlighten oneself when social media and advertising-driven ‘journalism’ drive local press?
Ka- ching- that means money rules and read instead of relying on local press.
There is a special place in Hell for ‘citizen journalism’- sadly, everyone there will agree with themselves that it is epic.
The Civil War was long over when Vance worked black “convicts” to death to build a railroad. http://mountainx.com/news/honor-system-vance-monument-restoration-raises-troubling-questions/. There is no historical context in which that atrocity can be excused. No enlightened behavior can make up for it. Find someone to honor who doesn’t have innocent blood on his hands.
LOL, you assume people walk by the monument and bow to it like some sort of idol lulz. Most don’t even know who Vance is. Again, more examples of loons moving here and wanting to change it to suit them. And of course their pea brains not being able to grasp the notion that they do more harm than good. What’s next, the Confederate memorial in front of the Court House? Ironic how Asheville managed to survive all these years with these monuments but all the sudden it’s detrimental to being “on the right side of history”.
And no excuses should be made. Like I said, consider the whole of a person, warts and all.
Peter, there you go wanting to dismiss someone who was a product of his time. It’s arrogant to hold a person who lived in the 1800’s to present day standards. A quote I like: “the past is like a foreign country, they do things differently there.”
Point of clarification: the monument was built FOR Zebulon Vance so leaving it in place but removing his name is another absurdity. And it was funded by none other than EW Grove (of Grove Arcade and Grove Park Inn fame). Hhhmm, so he ponied up the dough for a monument to a slave owner? Perhaps we ought take his name off the Arcade and change the name of the Inn. Anyone have the phone number of the Omni handy?
Viewing Vance’s railroad atrocity strictly in historical context, I conclude that it was an act so heinous as to render the whole person unworthy of honor. People of that era knew that it was wrong to round poor people up and work them to death as virtual slaves for one’s own financial gain. We can find better heroes to honor.
Just a historical note – Grove didn’t have anything to do with the Vance Monument – the monument was commissioned and mostly funded by George Willis Pack – a native of NY state, who had moved to Michigan and made his fortune in timber and came to the mountains in the 1880’s to see if the mountain air would help his wife’s respiratory ailments. He became friends with Zeb Vance, and when Vance passed in 1894, Pack commissioned and funded most of the cost of the monument, and helped solicit the funds to cover the rest of the cost. He also donated the land for Pack Square, Montford Park, and the building that used to house the Buncombe County Library. Edwin Wiley Grove, a native Tennessean (whose father was one of General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry officers) came along around the turn of the century…
Yea, good luck with that. Why couldn’t we claim Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Seuss or Superman as NC natives?
I see your point, but again it will be difficult to find many sterling examples of good-itude from a nation built on exploitation and greed.
Also, whatever name someone suggests as a replacement will be jeered by comments from people who type in all caps and miss those ‘good ol days’ when the hired help knew their place. It’s called the Internet, and it killed rational discourse.
I am OK with questioning the continued existence of Confederate monuments. But, the Vance Monument is NOT a “Confederate monument”.
Vance only served the Confederacy for four years as an army colonel and governor.
He served as governor of the UNION state of North Carolina for eight years, and would have served six as a UNION Senator for NC if his election had not been nullified by the U.S. Senate.
The pyramids, sphinx and the temples of Egypt were built with slave labor. The colosseum in Rome was built with slave labor. The ruins of Ancient Greece, Mesopotamia and even Timbuktu in… Africa… were built with slave labor. Shall we bulldoze all of that ala. isis to make white liberals feel better?
I believe that is our ‘only’ solution. Just take it down and bury the stones in the landfill, and erase all public references to it’s former existence. Done. NOW. How many salary dollars to be wasted on this historical eradication ?
How will that make all the lieberal progressives ‘FEEL’ ? good, I hope…
LOL, right on. The loons can’t seem to grasp that censorship and bans are not free thinking or even freedom. It’s totalitarian in nature and evil in its core. Catchy jingles such as the “right side of history” of course also means the complete whitewashing of it on top followed by book burnings ala the Nazis. Think about that. Modern day leftist are acting like the Nazis in regards to history and the treatment of certain groups of people.
From a technical standpoint of history, the Pyramids of Giza were not built by slaves. They were workers who were well fed and taken care. Hollywood versions are a distortion of reality. Archeological discoveries in recent decades have challenged the myth of slave labor used in the construction.
It is very difficult to go back in history and not find someone with blood on their hands. President Lincoln holds the record as a President for the largest public execution of Native Americans at a single time. Should we tear down the Lincoln Memorial?
Should we rename every street in Asheville named after slave holders? The list never ends. Now don’t get me wrong, I have no use for the public display of Confederate Flags The Vance Monument honors an individual who was a product of his environment. He wasn’t perfect but do not confuse him with Nathan Bedford Forrest.
They were built by aliens, sheesh.
‘We’ won’t be bulldozing any of those because the rest of the world isn’t America and they have their own sovereign laws. They also weren’t the last industrialized country to give up slavery.
They also use different currency, language and customs in other countries, which is why the US has trouble keeping its nose out of other people’s business post WWII and its body count from dead Americans reinforces that assertion.
As far as your favorite bogey man with an acronym name, ask yourself if vandalizing a mosque, defacing a synagogue, building a strip mall on Indian burial grounds or shooting/bombing/burning down a black church is any different.
Yea, it’s all about ‘white liberals’ and the insidious plot to take over the world. You’re on to them, but shhhh, keep it a secret and they might not come for your guns, your private property and your precious white women.
I think everyone can discuss the issues without resorting to name-calling. Thanks.
This truly should be turned into a monument for something positive! I
have lived here my entire life, so I do not want to hear some whiny comment about me moving here wanting to change everything. Mr Vance was a despicable far from human acting person. Anyone, no matter what time of history they live in; who chooses to purchase/own another human life is horrid and wasted their entire life by doing so. As well, the only reason someone like him chose to do so is because they were wealthy and felt it acceptable to own another human, while forcing them into cruelly hard labor and abuse. All to ensure they themselves or their family, never had to truly work for what they had. Anyone who has ever done so, deserves to be themselves enslaved and have their family history wiped clear from anything else that is truly human. If ANYONE as a person feels they can defend such actions based on what time of history that person was in, your soul is dark and you truly are blinded by ignorance. There will never ever ever, be any reason to justify human cruelty in any way, but especially not to such an extreme. This was not exclusive treatment for African people as well. It has been carried out against human groups all over the world in the past and today. But there is no excuse for continuing to celebrate such horrid living in the past! There is no valid reason to celebrate slavery in our current society either. One of our most potent modern slavery mechanisms lies in our Prison system. This is where people for lots of reasons that do not fit such deplorable punishment are locked up institutional systems that strip them of all of their rights and many are forced to work for companies that use prison employee’s as outsourced jobs in the US. These prison workers are paid pennies for each dollar the Prison they are in makes from each company. Wow, and if you look into it the majority of prisons in the US are currently run completely by Companies who contract to the Government. This is one of the faces of modern slavery. I would not want a statue honoring the owner of a Prison Operating Company either.
Now as well about Vance. If you check he was also a member of a well known nation wide group that formed after the Civil War ended to promote the dominance of Caucasian people in America, it was called the Knights of the Golden Circle. This is the exact same group that formed the Klu Klux Klan as their mob like strong arm group across America to inhumanely carry out hate and genocide against any people of Color. Another prominent member of the Knights of the Golden Circle was Albert Pike who was great friends with Vance, and the Governor of Colorado. There are numerous things glorifying him in Colorado that should be changed as well. These people ran their entire lives based on hate for others and profited off mistreating them in any way they chose as Slave Owners. If you believe you can justify that as ok ever, then I can only believe the next seven generations of your family will be mislead by such delusional ignorance you may spew at them.
Taking care of other people no matter what form they appear is and will be the only real solution. Because by mistreating another Human or celebrating those that have, we continue to allow the darkness of such a cloud to hang heavy over our bright now and future. In turn it would be appropriate to erect a modest Memorial in honor of the Human slaves of all kinds who lost any form of a true life due to the extreme cruelty of mr. Vance if the monument is allowed to keep its current name. This would be necessary to inform anyone who comes to the monument about the actual character of Vance.
Ahhhh- paragraphs please?
It’s what we do when we write in our native tongue for others to read and not get eyestrain.
I get so tired of pointing out that just ‘cuz I was born here’ really bugs the people who really are ‘from here’ whose ancestors weren’t fresh off the boat.
It’s called history. So you n yours ain’t from here. though an unrelated point. I enjoyed reading the points you bring up, though it hurts to read it.
I appreciate your comment. I am although unsure as to what your points are, as they feel loosely stated. I only include a large body of information since the majority of people commenting have little knowledge of WNC history. My family has been in this area since the 1770’s and I have spent a life time researching these things. I do constantly hear comments on how people who have more recently moved to Asheville perceive the area and their concept is based on recent times and having very little education about the area’s rich history. I would guess the eye strain is mainly due to the fact that people do not read much any more and it feels like such a heavy burden to do so; as well as doing the majority of their reading on a glaring computer. I hope my message is not lost in the large volume on information. I also hope this serves to get peoples interest enough to inform themselves before commenting on any topic.
No, the eyestrain thing is from lack of paragraphs. Each new idea in written form is usually made into a new paragraph.
I suggest this as a lover of reading, not as some nit picker.
But thanks for responding- Internet high five.
I love NC history too, but roll the eyes when for having a lack of a Southern drawl I’m told ‘you ain’t from here, are you?’.
By the ‘ones here first’, I of course mean the Cherokee, who laugh at whitey’s short history here. 400 ish years vs. 10,000 ish years is a big difference.
I always enjoy reading about the rivalry between VA and NC during the Age of Piracy, Blackbeard and the VA governor referring to NC folks as low class for eating pork. VA considered its wealthy slave owners as the royalty of the New World.
Cherokee history, moonshining, U boats off our coast during WWII and music also get me hot and bothered in a good way.
I appreciate you and was being silly in my comment for you earlier. I just as a free flowing writer. You probably then will enjoy the comment I left for The Real World below. History is very worth knowing and I am still learning all the time. Much Thanks for the High Five
Todd – no one said anything about celebrating Vance or any other slave owner. You came up with that all by yourself because you didn’t comprehend accurately the views expressed above. And, clearly that monument exists for other reasons. Hello?
Tell me what you think of this idea: how about reparations (money) being paid to the descendants of Black and Native Americans by old, wealthy Southern families. Because if you stop to consider, the OLD wealth in this region almost had to have come from taking the land from Indians and forcing Blacks to perform the labor on your farm/business and in your home. What do you say, Todd?
I like it and would be much more willing to discuss all sorts of revisionist history if we could first get people who’ve financially benefited from those atrocities to TRULY acknowledge its wrongness with some cool, beneficial cash to the repressed descendants. What do you say, Todd?
Oh gee, an important piece of info appeared after I posted: “My family has been in this area since the 1770’s”.
Methinks you should pull out your checkbook because talk is cheap, you know.
I did not share about my family’s history in the area until someone commented that my family must not have been from here. I do agree that many Native and African American peoples should be given some sort of reparation for everything they have lost. If you do not recognize celebrating someone as the continued glorification of their name by letting an old monument stay named after such a hateful person, then I guess the statues of other well known people across our country do not celebrate them either. Doh. Now I am not saying any random family is responsible for giving money for reparations. I would say our Federal Government would be the ones who would dish that out accordingly since the entire monetary system we live by, was built on the backs of brutalized people. So many reparations are due. But I can tell from your attitude that you really do not care about anyone who’s family has suffered as such. I have no wealth or inheritance or land from any family ever given to me. If anyone in my family ever had anything to do with owning slaves then I would consider them vile and glad to be disconnected from such. I also seem to find it fascinating that you seem obsessed with using my name since I am actually willing to post it unlike others who post defamatory remarks all under the guise of wisdom, but so unsure about what they are saying they would hate to have any realize who they are. That is not me in this conversation. So also be aware slavery and extreme racism existedexists around our country not just in the south. At least be educated to what you are speaking of or it has no merit. So besides the monument being there to glorify mr. Vance, the slave owning, KKK associated, elitist and the Masons who’s symbol is on the monument as well since he was one. What else are you aware of that it is in honor of? Please enlighten us anonymous one?
“I did not share about my family’s history in the area until someone commented” No matter b/c is was evident that that was the case and it also seemed you were speaking from a guilty conscience (whether deserved or not).
Celebrating and commemorating are not the same thing, check your definitions. And your understandings, since you’re a native you should know why North Carolinians wanted to commemorate him.
“I would say our Federal Government would be the ones who would dish that out accordingly.” Let me be very clear on this: the hell with that! But it so totally figures that would be the answer. Because it always is — just off-load it to someone else. How mature and upstanding. Vast numbers of Americans had nothing to do with what was happening to Black people in this region. Nope, the old families here own it. The English, ya gotta love them, they’re still elitist to this day on this side of the pond or the other.
Having thought about it some more I decided that it needn’t be only the old wealthy families who fork over. There are plenty of situations in WNC, for example, where extended families live in multiple dwellings on much acreage that isn’t being farmed. That (stolen) land was passed down and, even if the current families are not be big earners, they are sitting on way more (stolen) land than they need. So, perhaps, they should be required to sell it, give half the proceeds for reparations and keep the rest to buy new homes or rent their existing homes from the new owners. Yea, now we could really right some wrongs. Rather than wasting so much time on a past we can never change while the same nasty forces are all over this country and the world doing the same heinous things! Why aren’t you people involved in trying to stop the horrible human treatment happening today? Rhetorical question: the answer is because this is easier and talk is cheaper than effort. Pathetic.
“What else are you aware of that it is in honor of?” The internet is your friend, do some research. Also, hitting the Enter button creates paragraphs.
I heard a comment awhile back on NPR by a leading civil rights activist that pretty much backed up what you say above – she noted that one of the greatest hindrances to the civil rights movement is none other than the garden variety white liberal….usually well-educated, well-heeled, well-traveled, they dedicate energy and passion to identify themselves with a “cause” – choosing to preach and holler about long dead racists and slave owners and past injustices rather than attacking the problems of the here and now. Not exactly inviting the street people into their gated communities…Many of them remind me of the rich young ruler, who, in the Gospel of St Matthew, asked Christ what he should do to be saved. When he was advised to sell all that he had, give it to the poor, and follow Jesus, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions….I reckon there is nothing new under the sun. as the saying goes….
Ok then either you wont be satisfied or you are easily satisfied. I do not own any home, land, car, or anything of any real value. But the little I have, I worked for entirely myself to have. Now if you are indeed Cherokee your people deserve tremendous respect and some kind of restitution. No one in my family was force marching Cherokee on the trail of tears, nor did they have any part of elitist government which did so. Also, I have 80%+ Irish, some Swedish/Dutch lineage and no English. My people were not the subjugating English. Also, Irish were brought here as indentured servants (slaves) to wealthy English families. Now as well we had other tribes in the area such as the Shawnee who lived on the east side of the French Broad river exactly where the Biltmore castle is and had a deal with the Cherokee after fighting that that was a dividing line. So I would also suggest the Shawnee get the same respect. So in that case it would depend on which side of the river someone grew up on, if you want to say individual families in this area should pay a Native American family here. If I were to be aware of any personal atrocity my family itself bestowed on any other family, then I would denounce everything they stood for. This is not about me or you. It is about the past and being honest about what has taken place. I simply commented that if reparations were to be the way to go, it would be the federal government responsible. But also, if that were even a serious idea ever put forth, everyone in the US should be taking genetic testing to prove who they think they are before they are taken for that and given reparations…myself included. Now as far as I am aware of, most First Nation Peoples do not believe in ownership of land and therefore the whole concept of others taking it made no sense at all. So in theory its also difficult to re-appropriate land in particular if those groups did not believe from the start they owned anything. I however feel that it could be positive to do and help heal the wounds created from exploitation. Now there is also conclusive proof by a leading geneticist that almost all Natives peoples in the US which is most Siouxan related groups; they are all directly from Mongolian people of Russia/China, and a few other tribes closely related to Indigenous peoples of Australia. So the Cherokee or Siouxan peoples were not the first on the scene in North America either. As someone who has befriended several Cherokee people over years, I was told by them their Elders said they were not the first here either. But at the time there was all the land needed and was not a problem. They said they lived side by side with a giant race of people with slant eyes called Judaculla, as well as living next to a group of tiny people who lived underground called the Mooneye people. None of those groups were Native American as we look at it today but they lived here also side by side and before the Cherokee. My point being we should honor all of those who came before us. If it takes reparations then sure. There is no need to continue to be divided and any one group thinking they should own another or be in charge.
The above reply was for The Real World and a previous comment posted by someone saying they were Cherokee and I should appropriate what I own to them. So it may not be as relevant to others, but please read.
The reality is that my view of things like reparations is limited. There was property of value (art, etc) stolen from people in Europe during WWII that still exists and can be returned to the rightful owner or their children/grandchildren. That should be done.
Any reparations for African Americans, because of slavery, needed to happen as soon after it ended as possible or within, say, 30 years. But now? Swinging money around this many generations later is just a big money grab. And would be paid by present-day Americans, who had zero to do with it. These ideas aren’t good because it punishes people who did nothing — in order to give a handout to those who didn’t suffer. Now how ironic is that?
There are many other groups who would line up for payment as well so, it becomes endless. Examples of some actively discriminated against peoples in American history in addition to Blacks:
1 – Irish
2 – Italians
3 – Poles
4 – Hispanics of many countries
5 – Asians of many countries
6 – Jews
7 – Catholics
9 – Many other religious groups plus non-religious people (don’t forget “witches”)
10 – Homosexuals
……and the big one, ready?
11 – WOMEN (those are going to be BIG payments, yessiree)
Now, if the person happens to be, for example: female of black African and Italian families that have been here for generations – yippee, she’s going to get a heck of a payday. Add in that her father was a suppressed, closeted gay man and was so depressed he couldn’t provide well for his family – that affords her an extra bonus!
Yes, I like sarcasm but the points are valid. It is truly an endless list. Look, if someone is wrongly convicted, spends time in prison, gets released when the wrongness is acknowledged that living person deserves the pile of money the govt provides for their transgression. But, if their innocence isn’t realized until 40 years after their death the grandchildren should not get a payday.
Let’s focus on stopping the horrible treatment of people in our time otherwise we are no better than our ancestors.
he was largely responsible for the naming of Mt. Mitchell after Elisha Mitchell , a professor who possesses a divinity degree, got a problem with that as well?
Look he may be responsible for naming Mt. Mitchell after Mr. Mitchell, who may have been a worthy person to name something after. But naming something after Vance is a joke knowing what we know about him today.
Hatred, ignorance, and violence is not excusable and is nothing worth celebrating someone with a monument.
(So also, for the comment left for me before by The Real World previously to my other comment. I did look up if a monument is meant to celebrate and person or event! Yes it does. )
Vance is credited as saying “The purpose of war is to explore each other.”
That is atrocious to believe or live by. He enjoyed war and exploring others as well as exploiting.
= not worthy of a monument here or anywhere.
Why don’t you just move back to where ever you came from. This is the way it is. We can’t change the past. acceptance will set you free.