A debate has sprung up on Martha's Vineyard over a plaque commemorating Confederate soldiers of the Civil War.
The plaque, which was placed on top of an Oak Bluffs memorial to Union soldiers in 1925, reads: "The chasm is closed. In memory of the restored Union, this tablet is dedicated by Union veterans of the Civil War and patriotic citizens of Martha’s Vineyard in honor of the Confederate soldiers."
Joining Boston Public Radio to tackle this and other moral dilemmas of the day on "All Revved Up" were Reverend Irene Monroe and Reverend Emmett Price. Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist, the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail, and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology. Price is a professor of Worship, Church & Culture and Founding Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Monroe said the plaque presented an overly rosy portrait of the U.S. following the Civil War.
"I think it falls into what we easily get into with the 'Lost Cause' mythology. One of the things we've always said is that, while the North won the war, the South won the narrative," she said.
Price said that he sees the monument as a halfhearted attempt at reconciliation.
"The attempt here [was] a gesture of reconciliation, but reconciliation is not a one-way relationship," Price said.
"You can't impose reconciliation on a population of people who were not at the table to vote as to whether they would receive it or not," he continued.
