Destroying our past won't perfect our present

We can talk about many things in the wake of the tragedy of Charlottesville, Virginia, and we have. It's been a week of talk and talk and more talk. With all our talk, however, I'm not sure we've reached any meaningful conclusions, but I am sure we are severely distracted in the process.

Much of the conversation, if we can call it that, has been about President Trump's response to the violence.

"He didn't say enough to condemn racism on Saturday."

"What he said on Monday was too little, too late."

"He said too much at his press conference Tuesday and ascribed moral equivalence to white supremacists and those opposing it."

"He refused to disavow David Duke."

President Trump did denounce bigotry in his initial statement when he said, "We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides." Adding "many sides" to the statement infuriated people, but he did condemn what happened.

His "too little" on Monday included, "Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans."

The moral equivalence charge came when, at his press conference Tuesday, Trump said, "I think there is blame on both sides."

The David Duke complaints abound, though he has disavowed him many times. For example, in March 2016, he said on MSNBC's Morning Joe, "David Duke is a bad person who I disavowed on numerous occasions over the years," adding, "I disavowed him. I disavowed the KKK. Do you want me to do it again for the 12th time? I disavowed him in the past. I disavow him now."

Let's be honest: President Trump did not handle the situation perfectly. Let's also be honest that no matter how he had handled it, those married to their "Resist Trump" mission would not have been satisfied. Nothing he could have said, not said, said sooner or said stronger would have made a lick of difference. Forget what Trump says or does; they resist that Trump is. Some are more disturbed by how he reacted to what happened than they are with what actually happened. Some haven't expressed anger at white supremacy at all in the wake of this tragedy or at James Fields Jr, who allegedly used his car to mow down innocent people, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. They have, instead, exhausted their passion expressing anger with the president, who, with all his imperfections, didn't mow down or kill anyone.

My greater concern is that as a nation we are distracted. We have slipped deeper into the ever-growing, protest-happy inebriation that engulfs us. We're removing statues and monuments -- sometimes unlawfully -- and talking about changing historical names because, you know, that's going to ... what, help us? Black people, and those who claim to be our allies, are again decrying Confederate states because -- of course! -- that's to blame for the state in which we find ourselves. Not! Removing history does not change history. It also does not get our children a better education. It does not improve our employment rate. It does not lower the number of our babies born out of wedlock, which increases our poverty rate. And it does not, by the way, halt the genocide waged against us by Planned Parenthood, which has -- purposely, historically and ongoingly -- targeted our children to snuff out their lives before they can be born. So excuse me if I'm not too worried about a statue. We have fish bigger than Robert E. Lee to fry.

We can discuss these statues -- if and where they should be displayed, who gets to make that determination, what they do or do not teach us. But let's face it: putting away what was does not change what is. And what is right now is our focus on what will not improve us. If it could, we would have arrived at a better place already. We would have arrived when South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from the State Capitol after Dylann Roof killed nine black Bible study attendees. We would have arrived when we followed that up by taking the Dukes of Hazzard off the air because the General Lee is draped in a Confederate emblem. And had we arrived, we would not be talking about white supremacists wreaking havoc in 2017.

Once the historical relics have been carried away, graffitied or toppled, what next? What will we destroy next, and will it destroy the hate some harbor in their hearts or restore the peace that has been plundered? These distractions make some feel temporarily avenged, but what happens tomorrow ... and the next day? After all the statues are gone, the monuments removed and names changed, will we be any better off? We will not. What's more, in time, we won't have any lessons from which to learn or any examples to which we can point and say, "This is what we overcame to get to where we are now" -- because we will have destroyed them all.

Adrienne Ross is owner of Adrienne Ross Communications and a former Southeast Missourian editorial board member. Contact her at aross@semissourian.com.