Early yesterday morning, and by early I mean under the cover of darkness, workers whisked away a handful of idols to a government that vanished some time ago:
Statues dedicated to Confederate heroes were swiftly removed across Baltimore in the small hours of Wednesday morning, just days after violence broke out over the removal of a similar monument in neighboring Virginia.
Beginning soon after midnight on Wednesday, a crew, which included a large crane and a contingent of police officers, began making rounds of the city’s parks and public squares, tearing the monuments from their pedestals and carting them out of town.
Thou shalt have no other state before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image of false states.
Personally, I have no issue with remove idols of statism from public view. My problem is how selectively it’s being done. Idols to the Confederate States of America are being removed by idols to the United States of America have so far remained untouched. I know a lot of people who have been demanding the removal of Confederate statutes have argued on the grounds of racism and slavery. Since the United States of America maintained the practice of slavery after the Revolutionary War as well committed mass genocide of American Indians, it would seem appropriate to move its idols as well. Unfortunately, I find myself doubting that the same zeal will be put into removing idols of George Washington as Robert E. Lee because most people living in the United States seem to believe that it’s the One True State.