My Vote

When I got the phone call last weekend that our mayor was going to request the removal of the Confederate statues, my first thoughts were that I don't want the crazies here. I was upset at him for putting us in a position that would invite the KKK and white supremacists to our city. 

But then I started to reflect on what those statues mean and why those statues have been unnoticed by me for the last 26 years I've lived in Lexington. I worked in that courthouse for several years and probably could not have told you who those men were that stood outside guarding the courthouse.  It's not that I don't know my history or appreciate my history. I don't think anyone can say that we should forget what happened during the Civil War.

As I sat last night listening to people speak quite eloquently, my mind went to my best friend from fourth grade who remains a very good friend to this day. She and I grew up going to school together, spending the night at each other's houses and gossiping about boys and our future. We grew up in a world where this white girl and black girl could do those things together. But the truth is our parents and grandparents could not. 

I don’t know about slavery myself and I do not know if anyone in my family ever owned slaves.  And my friend was never a slave herself, bought and sold.  But most of her ancestors were.

Last night, I started to look at those statues through her eyes, and tears came to my eyes.  

My vote was because it was the right thing to do.