The Desecration of ‘Silent Sam’; Or, the Ruination of Calm, Rational Debate in The United States

‘Silent Sam’ Statue Toppled on the Campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — Photo by Gerry Broom/Associated Press

Another statue has been torn down in the name of political correctness in an attempt to whitewash and remove from memory a visible recognition of a terrible time in the history of the United States. The ‘Silent Sam’ statue was erected on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1913 to memorialize those students who paid the ultimate sacrifice during the bloody Civil War. On August 20, 2018, angry students pulled down the statue and once again went about destroying another piece of history that reminds the country from whence we came and what we have overcome. In this nation from 1861 through 1865, a war was fought where brother fought brother and sometimes fathers fought sons to determine whether the state’s right to choose was upheld instead of letting the federal government decide how states governed themselves. Many questions surround what is occurring in 2018, there are determined groups pushing their political, racial, social, and economic agendas through the use of intolerant epithets and violent acts. This intolerance and violence is not limited to one political party but falls across the entire political spectrum from far right to far left.