Carolina prof: "'Silent Sam' should topple exactly like Hussein statues"

Daily Tar Heel ^ | April 23, 2003 | Prof. Gerald C. Horne

[Constitution Day]

'Silent Sam' should topple exactly like Hussein statues

April 11, 2003

TO THE EDITOR:

After the dramatic scenes were broadcast globally of Iraqis -- with a boost from the U.S. military -- pulling down and destroying statues of Saddam Hussein, I expected outrage to erupt in Chapel Hill.

Why? Well, we are routinely told that the reason monuments to the thankfully departed Confederate States of America litter the landscape, including the centerpiece of this campus, i.e. "Silent Sam," is because this is merely a monument to history and that depositing this monstrosity where it belongs in the nearest museum would be like stowing away history.

Interesting. So where are the voices from this campus bellowing in outrage against Iraqis "destroying their history" by destroying statues of their erstwhile leader?

Actually, the CSA cause -- slavery -- led to far more deaths than those attributed to Saddam Hussein. Furthermore, those rebels and traitors of the CSA fought a war that led to far more deaths than those caused by Saddam Hussein in his battle with that very same government in Washington.

Actually, I await the call by CSA defenders demanding construction of monuments in Iraq to Saddam Hussein, in the interests of "history" of course. Hence, if anything, rather than cheering the pulling down of statues in Iraq, residents of Chapel Hill should be insisting on removing these Confederate eyesores that dominate this campus, this state and this region.

Gerald Horne

Professor

Communication Studies*

E-mail Professor Horne

(*note: Also African & Afro-American Studies, see his homepage)

[dwilli]

Silent Sam is a goner.

[tsomer]

"rather than cheering the pulling down of statues in Iraq, residents of Chapel Hill should be insisting on removing these Confederate eyesores that dominate this campus, this state and this region."

Because this guy was probably against the war in the first place, his half-assed irony falls flat.

If he's so bothered by these monuments, then let him go where they aren't any. It's much easier to ship one jerk North.

[Darksheare]

Egads.
Here in the USA, a statue is a statue.
Or a monument to history.
In Iraq, the Sadman statues were propaganda and reminders to everyone old and young that their very lives were in the hands of a madman.

Wonder why Horne doesn't understand that.
Probably because he's leftist and doesn't think rationally?

[Congressman Billybob]

The statute is to alumni of the college who died in combat. They were alumni, they did die in combat. And that's a fact of history, for better or worse. Denying history does not make it disappear, it just makes the one who denies it a little bit dumber.

Perhaps, as I suggest in my latest column, it is the Professor who should be dragged from his tenured perch, his head severed (metaphysically, of course) and dragged through the campus while students beat on it with spiral-bound notebooks. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, now up on FR, "Who's Next?"

Latest book(let), "to Restore Trust in America."

[dwilli]

Everyone in Chapel Hill over 25 is a leftist

Silent Sam is a goner.

[Darksheare]

*Anguished wailing*

[Constitution Day]

Everyone in Chapel Hill over 25 is a leftist / Silent Sam is a goner.

Any predictions on how long he's got?

[Kuksool]

Gerald Horne probably wants "Silent Sam" to be replaced with a statues of Fidel Castro and Joseph Stalin. The cleansing of Southern Heritage is outrageous. I think it is time for the Marxists of Chapel Hill to exercise some tolerance.

[dwilli]

Silent will get his last rub from alums and students before Christmas.

[Lee'sGhost]

"Any predictions on how long he's got?"


May 10, 2004. Approximately 2 a.m. in the morning by a snivelling little shit from New Jersey wearing Birkenstocks and carrying a hack saw.

[Darksheare]

"by a snivelling little shit from New Jersey wearing Birkenstocks and carrying a hack saw."

*Gasp!*
Janeane Garafolo!

[mtbrandon49]

UNC=Berkley East

[aomagrat]

Having cowed most Southern states into removing Confederate flags from public property, the liberals are now going after the monuments. Divide and conquer. Just like the liberal approach to gun control.

[Buck W.]

"I don't support this, because this is the depiction of a soldier, not a political leader."

I agree with your conclusion, but not with the presumption that it would be OK to tear down the statue of a political leader. One simply cannot draw a parallel between Saddam Hussain and, say, Jefferson Davis. Regardless of the reasons for the Civil War, the leaders of the southern cause were, by and large, honorable men. Statues to commemorate their lives are, in fact, history.

Anyone who has ever driven down Monument Avenue in Richnomd, VA experiences a feeling of history, not of repression.

[wrbones]

I stopped reading when I caught the first actual lie.

Saddam has responsibility in the deaths of millions!!!The Iran/Iraq war was responsible for three million plus alone.

[Carolinamom]

Professor Horne has all the academic credentials, but after doing a google search on him, I think he just might be a bit prejudicial. For instance:

1. He's described as a "distinguished historian of African American and twentieth century U.S. history.

2.He has J.D. (Bolt Hall School of Law) and PhD. (Columbia) degrees. He has served as Executive Director of the National Conference of Black Lawyers.

3. He has served as Chairman of the Black Studies Department at the University of California (Santa Barba) and the University of North Carolina.

4. At UNCH he is Director of the Black Cultural Center and also of the Institute of African-American Research.

5. In 1989=93 he was Chair of the Black Studies at UCSB; a Fulbright Fellow in Zimbabwe (1994) and Hong Kong (2000).

6. He has authored 200 articles and 13 books. Some of the book titles are...Black Liberation/Red Scare: Ben Davis and the Communist Party.....Fire This Time: The Watts Uprising and the 1960s....Powell v. Alabama: The Scottsboro Boys and American Justice.....Race Women: The Lives of SHirley Graham Du Bois.....Class Struggle in Hollywood 1930-1950.

7. He has taught Special Studies: Hollywood Views the World amd jas advosed on the Slavery Project and the new Ethnic journal.

Anyone want to guess his political affiliation?

[Carolinamom]

One more thing......He was one of the speakers at some confab on Reparations.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Thanks for the ping, Con. Sorry to be so late in my response.

First, as a UNC alum, I must say that I am appalled that nowhere on this thread (unless I missed it; after a couple of glasses of non-French wine, it's possible) is there reference to how Silent Sam got his popular name. Certainly every entering freshman at UNC knows: Sam fires his musket whenever he spots a virgin. Hence, his silence.

Now, as to Dr. Horne's screed, I am particularly struck by his identification of the statue as "the centerpiece of this campus." Nonsense. Most alums consider the Old Well to be the centerpiece of the campus, as well as the University's emblem.

Others might accord that honor to the Davie Poplar, under whose branches future Governor Davie designated the site of the University. Still others would point to Old East, the dormitory whose cornerstone was laid in 1793, the oldest state university building in the nation. The Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower, the South Building (the main administrative building), the Wilson Graduate Library, and even the Dean Dome (now "Roy's House") might get some votes. But Silent Sam, the "centerpiece of this campus"? Not likely. Not in the top ten. I don't even know the statue's real name, and I'd bet most students and alums don't, either.

But, of course, Dr. Horne and his ilk have succeeded in making Silent Sam a more important celebrity than he otherwise would be. I love it when things work out like that. And now, he'll be defended to the death.

Rest assured, there is NO WAY Silent Sam will be removed. This isn't the first time the issue has come up, and it won't be the last. Carolina's liberal image notwithstanding (which I've always felt has been exaggerated anyway, liberals being louder than conservatives by and large), its commitment to historical preservation is stronger. The Civil War happened, and UNC students and alums fought on both sides; removing a statue will not change that fact.

[Chi-townChief]

"Actually, I await the call by CSA defenders demanding construction of monuments in Iraq to Saddam Hussein, in the interests of "history" of course."

And, likewise, Professor Home can lecture us all on how the Civil War was an "unjust", "immoral", "illegal", "unilateral", and "pre-emptive" attack on the peaceful South.

[dstarr]

What I notice is that this professor is not a professor of AMERICAN Studies or of AMERICAN History. He knows not of what he speaks. Professor Horne might be one of those persons who are singled out in the bumper stickers that say something to the effect that we don't care how they do things where he is from. He's on our turf now.