Since the dawn of time, clans, empires, and countries have celebrated their ancestry and history through the erection of monuments and memorials.
So too has America.
There are more monuments, town names, schools, and roads named after our country’s founding President, George Washington, and other great leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson and later Abraham Lincoln, than after any others.
That is because Americans treasure history, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
After all, it is undeniable.
It happened, and all of us are better off if we recognize the truth.
History is the interpretive study of the human past, including human behavior, society, and development, and truthful history allows for a better understanding of modern society by examining past actions and their consequences.
History is not static; it is an evolving dynamic with obviously multiple perspectives, given whether the victors or the losers write history.
Americans inevitably understand that one cannot equate American history through the prism of modern Far Leftist ideology, because the social values and mores of ancient civilizations would not be tolerated today.
To most Americans and Floridians, the accurate depiction of past historical events is important and relevant, if only because it demonstrates how we have advanced in our thinking and our relationship with others.
Rep. Dean Black (HB 455) and Sen. Stan McClain (SB 496), both from original ancestral Florida families, have introduced legislation to preserve history by ensuring that no furtherhistoric monuments and memorials will be permanently removed.
This is significant because we, as a people, cannot understand what happened in the past if we do not understand and appreciate where we have come from.
Leftists want to obliterate history because it is unsavory, and in some cases, detestable.
They want to rehash history to demonstrate how terrible early American history was.
But they lack the empathy that is necessary to appreciate the fact that the past is what it was.
We cannot and should not sugarcoat it.
We should not ignore it.
It is a disservice to those who have sacrificed their lives and beliefs for the development of our country.
The legislation filed is similar to the law previously passed that allows the state to preempt local ordinances that might impinge on 2nd Amendment rights.
Under the law, which has been litigated and found to be Constitutional, no city or county may enact gun laws more restrictive than what the state already has on the books.
When this legislation passes and is signed into law, this will apply equally to historic, anything in public view for at least 25 years, monuments, or memorials.
At the same time, despite frequent misinterpretation by reporters, the bill does not require any monuments or memorials to be erected again. The bill is only prospective.
And if a historic monument or memorial has to be temporarily moved due to an infrastructure or construction project (i.e., road, sewer, etc.), or military necessity, once the project is completed, the monument must be returned to its former location, or if that is not possible, to a place of similar prominence nearby.
Despite repeated Democratic attempts to make this about Civil War monuments, the Civil War is neither cited nor referenced anywhere in the legislation.
Democrats seem to do this purposefully to exacerbate racist anxieties, yet they fail even to contemplate what if a future generation desired to remove monuments of Martin Luther King, Jr., or Jackie Robinson, or Mary McLeod Bethune, or the “Circle of Chains,” or the Indian Heritage Tableau, or the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum Sculpture Garden?
Floridians, however, understand and appreciate that history is important, and they do not support the “cancel culture” of these reactionary activists.
A Cygnal Statewide Poll of Florida Likely Voters in November 2023 asked this question: “Legislation recently filed in the legislature would protect historic monuments and memorials, including some for soldiers who fought for the Confederate States of America, against the federal government, and would give the state a wide variety of enforcement powers against local officials who subverted the legislative will. Do you support or oppose a law that TCC protects historic monuments and memorials, including those who fought for the Confederate States of America?”
The poll, which was not solicited by proponents who want to preserve history, documented that 50% of Urban voters support preservation, 52% of Hispanics, South Florida voters 56%, Tampa voters with 61%, 63% of North Florida voters, and Rural voters with 72% support.
Overall, twice as many Floridians support preservation of historical monuments and memorials as opposed, 59.4% to 26.7%.
Clearly, Floridians do not support “cancel culture” and want to preserve our history even when specifically asked about Confederate monuments and memorials.
If we let activists wipe out our history, or we allow revisionists to rewrite America’s founding (i.e., 1619 Project, etc.), or we demonize historical figures like General Andrew Jackson, or Christopher Columbus, then we succumb to the belief that there is nothing to be learned from past leaders who lived in an entirely different world.
Representative Black and Senator McClain are 8th and 7th-generation Floridians, respectively, so they have deep roots, and their ancestors helped to make what Florida is today.
They support contextual markers, as does the legislation, and most Floridians, so that both sides are presented for educational purposes and accuracy.
No one is attempting to glorify the past, yet simultaneously, we are not going to bury the past because some may be offended.
That is not how history works in the Free State of Florida.
Barney Bishop III first registered as a lobbyist in 1979, and he represents Guardians of American History, which requested this legislation to be filed. He is a former executive director of the Florida Democratic Party and is a former Chief Executive Officer of Associated Industries of Florida. He is currently President and CEO of Barney Bishop Consulting LLC, a Tallahassee-based strategic public affairs firm, and he can be reached at Barney@BarneyBishop.com
