Since time immemorial, clans, empires, and nations have celebrated their ancestors and history through the construction of monuments and monuments.
The same goes for America.
We have more monuments, town names, schools, and roads named after our nation’s founding president, George Washington, and great leaders like Thomas Jefferson and later Abraham Lincoln than any other.
That’s because Americans value history, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
After all, it can’t be denied.
It happened and we are all better off if we recognize the truth.
History is the interpretive study of the human past, including human behavior, society, and development, and true history allows for a deeper understanding of modern society by examining past actions and their consequences.
History is not static. Whether the winners write history or the losers write history, it is clearly an evolving dynamic with multiple perspectives.
Americans necessarily understand that American history cannot be equated through the prism of modern far-left ideology, because the social values and customs of ancient civilizations are unacceptable today.
For most Americans and Floridians, accurate depictions of past historical events are important and relevant, if only because they show how we have progressed in our thinking and relationships with others.
Representative Dean Black (HB 455) and Senator Stan McClain (SB 496), both from ancestral families in Florida, have introduced legislation to preserve history by ensuring that historic monuments and memorials are not permanently removed in the future.
This is important. Because we, the people, cannot understand what happened in the past unless we understand and appreciate where we come from.
The left wants to erase history because it is disgusting and, in some cases, abhorrent.
They want to rehash history to prove how bad early American history was.
But they lack the empathy needed to understand the fact that this was the case in the past.
You can’t and shouldn’t sugar coat it.
It should not be ignored.
It is a disgrace to those who sacrificed their lives and beliefs for the advancement of our country.
The proposed bill is similar to previously passed legislation that allows the state to preempt local ordinances that may violate Second Amendment rights.
Under the law, which was sued and found to be constitutional, no city or county can enact stricter gun laws than those already in place by the state.
Once this bill is passed and signed into law, it applies equally to historic objects, objects that have been in public view for at least 25 years, monuments, and monuments.
At the same time, despite frequent misinterpretations by reporters, the bill does not require monuments or monuments to be reinstalled. This bill is just a vision.
And if a historical monument or monument must be temporarily moved due to infrastructure or construction projects (i.e. roads, sewers, etc.) or military needs, once the project is completed, the monument must be returned to its original location or, if that is not possible, to a similarly prominent location nearby.
The Civil War is not cited or mentioned anywhere in the bill, despite Democrats repeatedly trying to make this point about Civil War monuments.
Democrats seem to be doing this intentionally to exacerbate racist anxieties, but they fail to even consider what would happen if future generations wanted to remove Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson, Mary McLeod Bethune, or the “Circle of Chains,” or the Indian Heritage Tableau, or the sculpture garden at the A-T-A-T-Ki Museum.
However, Floridians understand and appreciate that history matters and do not support the “cancel culture” of these reactionary activists.
A Signal state-wide poll of likely Florida voters in November 2023 asked the following question: “Recently introduced legislation in Congress would protect historical monuments and memorials, including those of soldiers who fought for the Confederacy. It would give states broad enforcement powers over local officials who protected them from the federal government and overrode the will of the Legislature.Whether the TCC supports or opposes legislation to protect historic monuments and monuments, including those who fought for the Confederate States of America? ”
The poll, which was not prompted by historic preservation advocates, found that 50% of urban voters supported preservation, 52% of Hispanics, 56% of South Florida voters, 61% of Tampa voters, 63% of North Florida voters, and 72% of rural voters supported it.
Overall, Floridians are twice as likely to support preserving historic monuments and memorials as opposed to 59.4% to 26.7%.
Clearly, Floridians do not support “cancel culture” and want to preserve our history, even when asked specifically about Confederate monuments and memorials.
If we allow activists to wipe out our history, if we allow revisionists to rewrite America’s founding (i.e. the 1619 Project), or if we demonize historical figures like General Andrew Jackson and Christopher Columbus, we succumb to the belief that there is nothing to learn from past leaders who lived in very different worlds.
Congressman Black and Senator McClain have deep roots as they are 8th and 7th generation Floridians, respectively, and their ancestors helped make Florida what it is today.
Like the law and most Floridians, they support contextual markers so that both positions are presented for educational purposes and accuracy.
No one is trying to glorify the past, but at the same time, we are not trying to bury the past just because it might offend some people.
The history of the Free State of Florida is not like that.
Bernie Bishop III first registered as a lobbyist in 1979 and is the head of the Guardians of American History, which pushed for the bill. He is a former executive director of the Florida Democratic Party and former chief executive officer of Associated Industries of Florida. He is currently president and CEO of Barney Bishop Consulting LLC, a strategic public relations firm based in Tallahassee. He can be reached at Barney@BarneyBishop.com.
