History junior Ron Camarota responds to a Sept. 26 column titled “Opinion: The university is not serious about renaming buildings honoring racists.”
The demand for changing the names of buildings or other facilities seems to me a purely emotional reaction and one that is not very well thought out. In the case of the Middleton Library, we must recognize that school officials at the time felt Troy Middleton had virtues and made contributions that earned him notice and recognition. A bit of research into his background will bear this out. Based on this, they felt he earned the honor of preserving his memory on a campus building. Frankly, his military service alone deserves recognition. That he held some beliefs we now consider unpopular and socially unacceptable should surprise nobody. Such negative beliefs were still deeply seated in southern society during his lifetime.
Thankfully, evolution is hard at work. The process continues in our species — painfully slow in many areas — but we evolve, nonetheless. We have learned to change. I believe judging people who lived in the past by today’s moral and ethical standards is unfair, misleading, and simply wrong. It serves no meaningful purpose. History can be explored, more deeply examined and researched to provide revisions that offer clarity and a better understanding, but it cannot be changed.
With obvious exceptions, is it right to judge a person’s life by one specific parameter alone? If so, this suggests we should reconsider how Abraham Lincoln is remembered. After all, during the civil war, his deepest belief and driving principle was the preservation of the Union. He was willing to negotiate with the Confederacy for a settlement on the issue of slavery, i.e., allow existing slave states to remain, with no new states added, if it would end the war and preserve the union. Do you consider him racist?
I always found it interesting that Franklin Roosevelt’s family fortune was built, in part, on dealing opium to China! Morally reprehensible and highly illegal today, of course, it was an incredibly profitable practice that was overlooked, even tolerated at the time because elitist profiteers in the west cared little for the plight of the people in far off Asia. Since Roosevelt benefited directly from this fortune, would you call him and his family racist?
It was not specifically mentioned, but I do believe Confederate monuments should be removed. Not specifically on racial grounds, but because the Confederates rebelled against the Union. They chose armed conflict over diplomacy, and they lost their bid for separation. Their ideology and separatist ways were a threat to democracy and social order. They remain so even today and should be removed from our collective consciousness.
Arguing for a name change is, at best, a fleeting gesture that will not be long remembered. How would this make anyone’s life better? What terrible wrong does it right? It’s a distraction from more pressing issues facing school administration. I cannot see how this does anything more than make students and citizens who are displaying outrage and white, liberal guilt feel good about themselves. Think bigger! Take action on something that will bring change — real change. One doesn’t have to look hard to see there is much that can be done to make life even a bit better for people.
Changing the name of the Middleton Library is just not one of them.
