Let’s Build Up, Not Tear Down

Last week, in another attempt to erase America’s history and heritage, radical activists attempted to bring down the statue of former President Andrew Jackson that stands across the street from the White House.
Whether we agree or disagree about the legacy of our seventh president, it is time for us, as Americans, to unite around and promote the legacy of those whose lives affirmed the concept of Imago Dei – that we are all created in the image of God and thus are to be treated with dignity and respect – rather than simply tear down and destroy tributes because we may not agree with the policies or actions of assorted historical figures.
One such person, a man who brought people together rather than tore them part, and who thus far only has a statue in the Emancipation Hall in the U.S. Capitol Visitors’ Center, is Frederick Douglass who worked tirelessly and dedicated his life to the cause that all individuals would be free.
Douglass was born to a female African American slave and an unidentified white father in Talbot County, Maryland in 1818. For the first two decades of his life, he was treated like a piece of property to be traded back and forth by various masters. But Douglass was fortunate to learn how to read and write by a white woman who taught him the alphabet. That ability opened up Douglass’s eyes, as he learned more about slavery from various books and other publications, and quickly became an advocate to help free and advocate for his fellow brothers and sisters trapped in its bondage. In addition, he was able to successfully escape slavery himself, reaching New York, a free state.
It was in New York that Douglass became a fervent speaker at anti-slavery meetings, as well as the author and publisher of the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” which documented his successful escape. The book became a best seller and his notoriety put himself in danger of capture and return to his former owner. But Douglass would not be deterred. He persevered. He traveled to Great Britain and Ireland and was able to raise enough money to purchase his release from slavery. He returned to New York, where he was an advocate of woman’s rights, sheltered slaves seeking to escape, and led the battle to stop racial segregation in public schools.
Douglass became an advisor on race issues to two presidents: Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant – whose statues have been recently targeted by individuals such as those who sought to topple Andrew Jackson. Instead of attacking these two men, which is often the modus operandi of activists today, he sought to build an alliance with them in order to achieve a common goal of a day when all individuals would be free.
During the Civil War, Douglass served as a recruiter for the first African American army regiment. Two of his sons would join that regiment. In his meetings with President Lincoln, he shared his views on the pay and treatment of African American soldiers and discussed the president’s wishes to help escaped slaves. While Douglass may have been privately frustrated that Lincoln did not move fast enough in his view on the emancipation of the slaves, he never let that frustration stand in the way of working with the president towards their common goal. At the dedication of a statue of Emancipation Memorial in Washington, D.C.’s Lincoln Park – a statue now being targeted for removal, because it depicts Lincoln holding the Emancipation Proclamation while freeing an African American slave – Douglass said:
“The name of Abraham Lincoln was near and dear to our hearts in the darkest and most perilous hours of the Republic … We saw him, measured him, and estimated him; not by stray utterances to injudicious and tedious delegations, who often tried his patience; not by isolated facts torn from their connection; not by any partial and imperfect glimpses, caught at inopportune moments; but by a broad survey, in the light of the stern logic of great events, and in view of that divinity which shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will, we came to the conclusion that the hour and the man of our redemption had somehow met in the person of Abraham Lincoln.”
These words of Douglass are prophetic for our time as he was a uniter and not a divider. He could have screamed and made demands – like so many do today on social media or on cable television – about his frustration with the pace of the emancipation effort. But instead he sought to change hearts and minds through persuasion rather than violence.
Along with the Emancipation Memorial in Washington, D.C.’s Lincoln Park, a copy of the same statue, located in Boston, has come under similar attack from the same groups seeking to tear down any remnant of America’s past. It would be a great tragedy and travesty if both of these statues, meant to honor Lincoln and to celebrate the end of the scourge of slavery, were to be displaced and destroyed.
Rather than remove the statues of those from our nation’s past, wouldn’t it be better to have a statue of Douglass in a more prominent place than the U.S. Capitol Visitor’s Center? His presence, alongside other American heroes, would remind us all that it is perseverance, persuasion, and building alliances that brings about positive change, rather than division and destruction. Let’s build a statue celebrating his legacy, rather than tear down and destroy our past.
Photos from Wikipedia / Wikipedia
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tim Goeglein champions God’s welcomed role in the public square. His years of public service and private initiative have been devoted to faith, freedom, and family. Tim is the Vice President for External and Government Relations at Focus on the Family in Washington DC. He served in high-level government posts for two decades. He worked as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, where he was the Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison from 2001 to 2008. He was the President’s principal outreach contact for conservatives, think tanks, veteran’s groups, faith-based groups, and some of America’s leading cultural organizations. He was a member of the President’s original 2000 campaign and White House staff, serving for nearly 8 years. Also, he has served as a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a professor of government at Liberty University. Goeglein is the author of the political memoir THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE: FAITH AND POLITICS IN THE GEORGE W. BUSH ERA (B and H Books) which was published in September, 2011. His second book is AMERICAN RESTORATION: HOW FAITH, FAMILY, AND PERSONAL SACRIFICE CAN HEAL OUR NATION (Regnery, 2019), in which he offers a roadmap to national and spiritual renewal by examining American culture. His new book is TOWARD A MORE PERFECT UNION: THE MORAL AND CULTURAL CASE FOR TEACHING THE GREAT AMERICAN STORY (Fidelis Books, 2023). From 1988 through 1998, Tim was the Deputy Press Secretary, and then Press Secretary and Communications Director, for U.S. Senator Dan Coats of Indiana (who was in the Senate for a decade). Between his time with the Senate and Bush campaign, Tim served as Communications Director for Gary Bauer in his presidential bid. Tim was an intern for then-U.S. Senator Dan Quayle in 1985, and for then-Representative Dan Coats and for NBC News in 1986, during his college years at Indiana University’s Ernie Pyle School of Journalism. When he graduated in 1986, he was the Richard Gray Fellow in his senior year. Tim’s first job upon graduation was as a television news producer for the NBC affiliate in his hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. During high school and college, he produced a show for WOWO Radio, then owned by the Westinghouse Broadcasting Corporation. The program was heard in 28 states. Tim holds Honorary Doctorate degrees from Concordia University, New York City; and from Faith Evangelical College and Seminary, Tacoma, Washington. Tim is the secretary of the Coalitions for America board, a member of the board for the National Civic Art Society, a member of the board of Family Policy Alliance, and a member of the board of governors of the Young America’s Foundation which owns and operates the Ronald Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara, California. Tim also serves on the Institute for American Universities Advisory Board. Goeglein served as Board Secretary of the American Conservative Union Foundation. Also, he is a member of the Council for National Policy, the Philadelphia Society, and the Capitol Hill Club. Tim serves on the Sanctity of Life Commission for his church body, the 2.5 million-member Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; is a board member of The Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty; and has served as a deacon in his church in northern Virginia for 30 years. His hobbies include reading, tennis, swimming, biking, and the fine arts. The most important thing to know about Tim is that he is married to the love of his life, Jenny, of 31 years, and they have two sons Tim and Paul -- one in public policy and one in the fine arts and music.