> I don't know much about how other people on this > list think about memorials or historical markers to > their ancestors. But I have always had trouble with > negative monuments. I also have some sympathy for > the Heritage Preservation Commission's mission. A > lot of our culture is represented in our > architecture and many people have an intense > sentimental attachment to buildings. If we don't > perserve our past, we can easily forget it. > > But the controversy over the River-Lake Tabernacle > is a fool's errand. Sure it is history. But I don't
> need to be reminded of how uncomfortable Jewish > people were made to feel in this town in the > past. I disagree. Ever heard of the Irish Holocost? If you have, you're in the minority. 6 million Irish were starved, murdered, or forced to emmigrate in the mid 1800s as the British shipped massive amounts of food out of Ireland to feed their armies. Of course, today, it was an "unfortunate potato blight" and an "act of god" - "The potato famine". Right - 'cause Irish dirt can only grow potatoes or Irish Catholics would rather die than eat anything else. If an effort is not made to remember the uglier sides of history, they will tend to disappear. Great, right? Why remember the ugly sides of history? People have to remember that WWII happened, that people like Hitler exist, that groups like the KKK exist, that lynchings happen. Otherwise, they WILL happen again. They may anyway. It might not be the Irish or the Jewish or the blacks next time, but it will be someone. Maybe Muslims, or Buddhists, or Hmong, or Vietnamese, or Hispanics, or ???. Anyone notice any rising anti immigrant sentiment lately? We have to remember that we, as a people, as a culture, are not so good that we are above hate and intolerance, or we won't be on guard against it happening again. I don't know if this memorial is the right one, but negative memorials are important. We have to remember the WWII holocost and memorialize the death camps. We have to remember the Native Americans that we pushed from these lands to build our cities and memorialize the battle grounds and memorialize their religious and cultural sites. We have to remember the slaves that died by the millions and their descendents who were beaten, murdered, and lynched by men in white robes and memorialize some of those atrocities. We have to remember that we are not perfect and we are capable of these things. We need to search for those things that we're still doing that will sound similarly appalling to our descendents. And in remembering those evils, we can also feel proud of our accomplishments and tolerance we have developed. The fact that things like the Tabernacle existed but now seems so appalling is a testiment to the fact that we have grown as a people. - Jason Goray, Sheridan, NE __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? HotJobs - Search new jobs daily now http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
