Monuments, Idiots, and Antifa

            I was glad to read in our local paper last week that our elected leaders will not push for the removal of Civil War monuments in Hertford (NC). Perquimans County Commissioner Kyle Jones was right when he said that monuments are not what’s driving America’s problems. Their presence, he suggested, is no more the cause of racism than their removal would solve it. Happily, common sense prevails in our small town.

            It was not so long ago that we were treated to scenes of ISIS fanatics destroying precious monuments and artifacts in Palmyra, in a senseless, symbolic destruction of ancient Mesopotamian history. How different is that from the idiots who think that erasing links to the past by toppling statues of Confederate generals is a justified way to exact punishment for racism in this country?  

            The kids in Durham who tore down, kicked, stomped, and spat on a memorial to fallen Confederate soldiers may have thought they were protesting neo-Nazis, the KKK, and President Trump. In reality, they were demonstrating their ignorance of history. They were morons.

            Much more dangerous were the Antifa rioters who wielded clubs in Charlottesville as they had in protests against conservative speakers in Berkeley and other academic institutions. The white supremacists in Charlottesville may have been racists, but the Antifa thugs were not fighting racism: their ultimate objective is the destruction of the values and institutions that define America.

            Antifa is a violent, radical, hard-left organization of revolutionaries looking to tear down this country. It urges destruction of property, violence against police, and all-out anarchy. Its black-clad and masked cowards are the ones who threaten America, not the idiots like the ones in Durham. I wouldn’t worry about these kids: one of these days there’s a chance they may grow up and acquire some common sense. But do worry if they join the masked men in black.