Letters to the Editor

Understanding Jefferson

To the Editor:

Mr. Stein is right. Take down that statue. The moral defectives must go! Campaigns must be undertaken to either demolish the Jefferson Memorial or change its name to "Morally Reprehensible Declaration Writer Memorial."

While we're at it, Washington owned slaves, so his memorial will have to go, the one-dollar bill reprinted with a more palatable historical figure, and the city and state names replaced as well. Lest we forget, Benjamin Franklin signed the Constitution, a document which allowed millions to stay in bondage, so while we're at it, I say we take our ethically challenged founder and cart him off.

No, no, this isn't a prelude to the historical context argument. This in spite of how the strained comparison between Hitler and the founding fathers, between the legacy of systematic slaughter and the democratic founding of a country made me cringe. The concern is why Americans still celebrate the founders of a nation that permitted slavery.

We as Americans are well aware of this nation's original sin. However, when we celebrate them, I don't think we celebrate slavery; I think we celebrate the freedoms we now have. I think we celebrate the fact that they had the forethought to give Americans the ability change our laws and minds.

But why is Jefferson still in front of Columbia's Journalism School? The man was a racist, as his writings attest to, and in fact, the statue was built in a time of rampant racism. However, unless there is some kind of dedication to the state that says it was erected so that it might stand as a barrier to the future gains of other races, I think the objections are strained as well.

If Columbia had erected the statue with the intent to espouse racism they might have picked a better person to memorialize, like the Grand Wizard or Jefferson Davis. Why is Thomas Jefferson there? I'd say he is meant to inspire young writers, so that they might try to write great and powerful things.

Students and all Americans have a right and imperative to examine our history. Our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson in particular, weren't saints. But don't take his statue to stand for racism, but for the creation of a government which eventually sought to abolish it. Leave the statue alone.

Gerard Leone

College '07

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