So not sure how many members of this community have visited Columbia, SC but I have and I did an interesting tour of the statehouse during one of those visits. It's not just that ALL the most prominent statuary in the building and on the grounds is dedicated to glorifying the Confederacy--there is a sculpture group way off to the side ne…
So not sure how many members of this community have visited Columbia, SC but I have and I did an interesting tour of the statehouse during one of those visits. It's not just that ALL the most prominent statuary in the building and on the grounds is dedicated to glorifying the Confederacy--there is a sculpture group way off to the side near a little-used entrance that represents the enslaved people who (ahem) BUILT the statehouse--it is that the Articles of Secession ARE CARVED INTO THE WALLS OF THE BUILDING'S INTERIOR and the SC governor and legislators look at it EVERY DAY. If you want to know the true meaning of Christofascism, spend an hour at the statehouse in Columbia. And I actually like Columbia: it's an interesting city with good food and a diverse population. But those guys are never going to give up their dedication to the Confederacy and what it stood for no matter how many people bleat about it. And it's a true irony of both the Patriarchal and Post-colonialist Bargains (See Kandyoti and Sa'ar among others for an unpacking of those terms) that the mouthpiece for everything awful in SC is a woman of color of South Asian heritage whose home country was exploited almost to obliteration by the tiny white Christian nationalist imperialist country of Great Britain.
So not sure how many members of this community have visited Columbia, SC but I have and I did an interesting tour of the statehouse during one of those visits. It's not just that ALL the most prominent statuary in the building and on the grounds is dedicated to glorifying the Confederacy--there is a sculpture group way off to the side near a little-used entrance that represents the enslaved people who (ahem) BUILT the statehouse--it is that the Articles of Secession ARE CARVED INTO THE WALLS OF THE BUILDING'S INTERIOR and the SC governor and legislators look at it EVERY DAY. If you want to know the true meaning of Christofascism, spend an hour at the statehouse in Columbia. And I actually like Columbia: it's an interesting city with good food and a diverse population. But those guys are never going to give up their dedication to the Confederacy and what it stood for no matter how many people bleat about it. And it's a true irony of both the Patriarchal and Post-colonialist Bargains (See Kandyoti and Sa'ar among others for an unpacking of those terms) that the mouthpiece for everything awful in SC is a woman of color of South Asian heritage whose home country was exploited almost to obliteration by the tiny white Christian nationalist imperialist country of Great Britain.
Thanks for this report, Linda.