1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:09,799 Speaker 1: Call Zone Media. One morning in March of twenty twenty one, 2 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: a small statue disappeared from a library on the campus 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:19,960 Speaker 1: of the University of the South in Swanningtonnessee. The bust 4 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: of the university's founder, Confederate General Leonidas Polk, had been 5 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: sitting on a shelf in the library for nearly seventy years, 6 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: and then one morning it was just gone. It reappeared 7 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 1: twenty four hours later, undamaged and wrapped in a shopping 8 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,959 Speaker 1: bag left on the porch outside of the university archives. 9 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: The student who left it there also left a note 10 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: explaining that they'd taken the bus down because they could 11 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:53,480 Speaker 1: quote no longer sit by while these symbols of white 12 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 1: supremacies stare over my and my fellow students shoulders as 13 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: we pursue our education, The note continued, I have no 14 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: desire to destroy or damage the bust and plaque, as 15 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: that would sweep its history under the rug. It has 16 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:12,479 Speaker 1: a place in the archives where it can be historically contextualized, 17 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: but has no place hanging above the heads of students 18 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: of the University of the South, And as it turned out, 19 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: the archivists did indeed need to provide some context for 20 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: the bust before it could be cataloged, they would need 21 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: to figure out where the item had come from in 22 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: the first place. They didn't actually know, the plaque didn't say. 23 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:43,759 Speaker 1: A week later, the director of the university's archives told 24 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: the student newspaper, The Swanee Purple that she'd been horrified 25 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: to discover the providence of that bust. It had been 26 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: a gift from the man who made it, a man 27 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: whose entire life was shaped by his overwhelming desire to 28 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: preserve segregation. And this little bust was nothing compared to 29 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: his best known work, a twenty five foot tall monstrosity, 30 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: a wild eyed, gun wielding cartoonishly frightening rendering of Confederate 31 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: General Nathan Bedford forest made of melted, molded, and hacked 32 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: bits of old bath tubs and covered in gold leaf, 33 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 1: that anonymous student had unknowingly rid their university library of 34 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: a piece of racist art that had been sculpted by 35 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: the man who later created the world's ugliest Confederate statute. 36 00:02:44,120 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: I Molly Conger, and this is wear blue. Guys. I've 37 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: been thinking a lot about statues lately, and by lately, 38 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: I guess I mean the last decade or so. I 39 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: must confess I never gave them much thought before twenty sixteen. 40 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:23,080 Speaker 1: I'm certainly not alone in that a lot of white 41 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: Southerners never really gave a second thought to the monuments 42 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: to slavery we were walking past every day. Why would 43 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,639 Speaker 1: I worry about that larger than life roberty lea statue 44 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: outside the library? What does it matter to me if 45 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: my only option for renting out a meeting room at 46 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: that library is a room named in honor of the 47 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 1: man who loved the priest Civil War South so much 48 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: that he paid to put that statue outside. What difference 49 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: is it to me that if I want to pay 50 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: a parking ticket at the county Clerk's office, I have 51 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:55,800 Speaker 1: to pass under the shadow of this commemoration of the 52 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: blood spilled in the fight to keep black people in bondage. 53 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: I mean, once you put it that way, it does 54 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: start to matter. You do start to notice. But before 55 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: anyone made me think about it, I didn't. I'm not 56 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: proud of that, obviously, but there it is, and I 57 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 1: know better now. And if you've already forgotten the waves 58 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: of fever pitched national discourse about those statues, think back 59 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: to when those waves crested in twenty fifteen, after the 60 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:39,320 Speaker 1: Charleston church shooting, in twenty seventeen, after the Unite the 61 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 1: Right rally, in twenty twenty, after the murder of George Floyd, 62 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: three moments of terrifying violence, Violence that we all saw 63 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:55,720 Speaker 1: on the news around the world, Violence that was undeniably 64 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:00,280 Speaker 1: about race, violence in the name of white supreme see 65 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:04,839 Speaker 1: violence carried out with the same intent, really as the 66 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: message the statues themselves were designed to send. Black people 67 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: should not feel safe. Black people are powerless. They don't belong. 68 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:17,240 Speaker 1: They cannot exist safely in this world. They cannot move 69 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: around freely, they cannot worship, they cannot use public parks. 70 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 1: They are not served, nor are they protected by the 71 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 1: organs of the state. Putting a Confederate soldier outside the 72 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: courthouse sends that message, and a cop choking a black 73 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: man to death in broad daylight does too. It's not 74 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: about being overly sensitive or liberal snowflakes trying to control 75 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 1: the lives of Fox News viewers or whatever. It's about 76 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:49,799 Speaker 1: whether or not our public squares and our public funds 77 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: are allowed to be used to violate the human rights 78 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: and dignity of our neighbors, that's all. And of course 79 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: thinking about Confederate monuments stopped being optional about a decade ago, 80 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:09,240 Speaker 1: at least where I live. I've mentioned before that I'm 81 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: a longtime resident of Charlottesville, Virginia. Ten years ago, if 82 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: anyone thought of Charlottesville at all, they were probably thinking 83 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 1: about Monicello or the University of Virginia. We have a 84 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:25,240 Speaker 1: pretty good hospital here. I mean, there was a strong 85 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,440 Speaker 1: possibility if you thought about this place, you were thinking 86 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: about something to do with Thomas Jefferson. And maybe we're 87 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: close to getting back to that kind of reputation of 88 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: the name, conjuring to mind brick buildings and white columns 89 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: and scenic drives on the Blue Ridge Parkway. But for 90 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 1: a couple of years there people mostly thought of us 91 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,039 Speaker 1: as the town that had that Nazi rally because we 92 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:54,159 Speaker 1: tried to take down a statue of Roberty Lee fair enough, 93 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: and we did eventually take it down. It took a 94 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:03,680 Speaker 1: few years of legal wrangling and a change in state law, 95 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: but in twenty twenty one, the city of Charlottesville finally 96 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: removed the Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson statues that 97 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: had stood downtown for close to a century. The story 98 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:19,000 Speaker 1: of those statues is woven into the fabric of so 99 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 1: much of what I write about, because the Unite the 100 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 1: Right rally in twenty seventeen was the eventual consequence of 101 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 1: so many of the histories I've explored. But that isn't 102 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:35,080 Speaker 1: actually the subject of today's episode. I've spent so many 103 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 1: years looking at and writing about those two statues, in particular, 104 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 1: that I was surprised at my own surprise when I 105 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: saw them in the news again recently. I'd sort of 106 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: let myself forget them for a moment, and I lost 107 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: track of their ongoing story. For those unfamiliar with Charlottesville's 108 00:07:56,080 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 1: Confederate statues, they were not those chief hollow mail order 109 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: reproductions that so many little towns in the South put 110 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: up in the early twentieth century. These were big custom projects, 111 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: so we didn't just put them in a landfill. The 112 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: Stonewall Jackson statue was sent to Los Angeles, where it's 113 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art. In 114 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: a manner of speaking, anyway, the general and his horse 115 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:32,320 Speaker 1: have been cut into pieces and reassembled at odd angles, 116 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:38,240 Speaker 1: creating an unsettling piece called unmanned drone by American artist 117 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:45,319 Speaker 1: Kara Walker. I've only seen photos, but it is odd. 118 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:51,080 Speaker 1: It's probably supposed to make me feel uneasy. The Roberty 119 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: Lee statue, though, the one at the heart of the controversy, 120 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: really the one in the background of so many photos 121 00:08:56,559 --> 00:09:03,280 Speaker 1: of Nazis in our park, was destroyed. It was melted down, 122 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: and that bronze will come home again in some new form. 123 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:12,559 Speaker 1: The Swords into Plowshares project, led by Charlottesville's Jefferson School 124 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: African American Heritage Center, was given custody of the statue 125 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: with the understanding that they would shepherd the process of 126 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: reimagining it, inviting artists to submit proposals to reshape the 127 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: statue itself, literally recasting the bronze into something new, something 128 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:34,680 Speaker 1: we can be proud of. I interviewed doctor Julane Schmidt, 129 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: who is one of the leaders of this project, oh, 130 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 1: probably two years ago now for an episode of that 131 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:42,760 Speaker 1: could happen here. I'll try and link that in the 132 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: show notes if you want to look back at that. 133 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:49,840 Speaker 1: But in March of twenty twenty six, Swords into Plowshares 134 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: announced three finalists from the artist's proposals that were submitted, 135 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 1: and community engagement is currently under way to determine what's 136 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: next for that melted statue. All that to say, the 137 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:07,920 Speaker 1: statues are back on my mind, and anytime statues are 138 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:13,680 Speaker 1: back in the national discourse, somebody brings up my favorite one. 139 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:22,400 Speaker 1: Now it's not my place to say that any Confederate 140 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:26,480 Speaker 1: statue is acceptable. I mean, like I said, as a 141 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 1: white Southerner, I didn't think twice about them for a 142 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:33,680 Speaker 1: very long time, and the harm they do is not 143 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:38,320 Speaker 1: to me. And in the decades since I realized what 144 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,360 Speaker 1: those statues represent and how they function in my community, 145 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 1: I've been pretty public about my view that they are, 146 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: in fact quite bad. I've been pepper sprayed and bloodied 147 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:53,840 Speaker 1: by cops at several separate demonstrations against the Silent Sam 148 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: statue at the University of North Carolina and Chapel Hill. 149 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 1: I've tasted my fair share of chemical meat conditions in 150 00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:04,880 Speaker 1: the shadow of the statues on Richmond's Monument Avenue. I 151 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:08,120 Speaker 1: had a year's long beef with a guy who called 152 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:12,840 Speaker 1: himself the Confederate Avenger after he took a special interest 153 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: in Charlottesville statues. That guy was so invested in punishing 154 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:23,040 Speaker 1: me for writing negatively about the statues that he did 155 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:28,240 Speaker 1: genealogical research, found the cemetery where my mother's family has 156 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:33,600 Speaker 1: a burial plot, and drove several hours to do a 157 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,600 Speaker 1: little bit of light grave desecration in the vicinity of 158 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:42,240 Speaker 1: my great grandmother's bones. So I'm pretty committed to my 159 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:46,439 Speaker 1: belief that the statues and the people who support them 160 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:49,600 Speaker 1: are no good. I mean, forget the night I spent 161 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:53,480 Speaker 1: in jail during the twenty twenty uprising, that Confederate avenger guy, 162 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,880 Speaker 1: keep my fucking car. I'm pretty serious when it comes 163 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:01,040 Speaker 1: to my opinion that Confederate statue served no positive purpose 164 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:07,600 Speaker 1: and are harmful in any community. But hear me out, 165 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:13,680 Speaker 1: but I do have a little bit of a soft 166 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:18,959 Speaker 1: spot for the funniest racist statue anyone has ever subjected 167 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:23,320 Speaker 1: a community to. It's easier to say that now that 168 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,800 Speaker 1: it's gone, maybe because it too was taken down a 169 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:32,000 Speaker 1: couple of years ago. But if it is possible for 170 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: a statue of a Confederate general to be a silly 171 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: little joke, this is the only candidate. The artist envisioned 172 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: it as a monument to white supremacy, a massive silver 173 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 1: and gold symbol of the accomplishments of white Southerners, of 174 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:55,840 Speaker 1: the value and glory of Southern heritage, and I guess 175 00:12:55,880 --> 00:13:01,960 Speaker 1: he ended up doing just that. It is. Oh, it's 176 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:08,719 Speaker 1: so ugly. I mean, it's kind of phenomenal. Surely you've 177 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: seen a picture of it. If you've lived in or 178 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:14,640 Speaker 1: traveled through Middle Tennessee in the last twenty five years 179 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:18,679 Speaker 1: or so, you've probably seen it in person. It was 180 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:22,080 Speaker 1: displayed on private property alongside I sixty five, just south 181 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 1: of Nashville. If you don't know what I'm talking about yet, 182 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:32,080 Speaker 1: stop right now and look it up, the Nathan Bedford 183 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: Forest Statue. There are other monuments to the Confederate General 184 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 1: who was one of the first Clan wizards, but this 185 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:42,920 Speaker 1: one's going to come up first, I promise you, and 186 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:48,280 Speaker 1: you will know that you've got the right one. While 187 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:51,720 Speaker 1: you're getting that picture pulled up, here are some reactions 188 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 1: to the site you're about to see. That aired on 189 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:56,800 Speaker 1: TV in the fall of twenty seventeen during one of 190 00:13:56,840 --> 00:13:59,199 Speaker 1: those cycles of discourse about the monuments. 191 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 2: We can't lose the beauty of things like this actual 192 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:09,640 Speaker 2: statue of Confederate General and KKK Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford forest. 193 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:12,720 Speaker 2: Apparently the clan was founded by a skirt wearing nutcrackers 194 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:18,559 Speaker 2: riding wet lizards. That is just objectively terrifying, regardless of context. 195 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 2: He looks like if a nickel did cocaine. Some some 196 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:25,000 Speaker 2: of these statues. 197 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:32,120 Speaker 1: Stephen Colbert and John Oliver are telling the truth. The 198 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 1: statue is fucking wild. It is a bewildering sight. The 199 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:44,760 Speaker 1: twenty five foot tall abomination depicts a rearing horse in 200 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:51,040 Speaker 1: gold with its rider in silver. Right away, you might 201 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:54,120 Speaker 1: be drawn to the frightening look on the man's face. 202 00:14:55,600 --> 00:15:00,280 Speaker 1: His mouth is open, but not in the way it 203 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:04,200 Speaker 1: might be if he were mid battle cry coupled with 204 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:08,240 Speaker 1: the eyes open wide and bulging slightly in their sockets, 205 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:12,800 Speaker 1: followed by the realization that he isn't looking over his shoulder. 206 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 1: The angle of his head atop his neck. It isn't natural, 207 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: it isn't possible. Perhaps the mouth is locked in an 208 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:26,960 Speaker 1: eternal grimace, a final moment of agony, as this man 209 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:33,400 Speaker 1: is surely dying of a broken neck. Look closer, are 210 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:39,880 Speaker 1: his eyes glowing? There are these terrible little blue marbles 211 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:44,920 Speaker 1: breast into the gaping eye sockets. The longer you look, 212 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:50,400 Speaker 1: the stranger it becomes The rider is holding a gun 213 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:53,640 Speaker 1: in one hand and a sword in the other, but 214 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:56,200 Speaker 1: the sword in his right hand is held as though 215 00:15:56,240 --> 00:16:00,640 Speaker 1: he's leading a cavalry charge forward, all while he's turned 216 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: almost all the way around to point the gun at 217 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: an unknown enemy directly behind him, resulting in the man's 218 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:12,840 Speaker 1: arms being completely spread eagle. So what then, is he 219 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: holding the reins with if both of his hands are 220 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:20,480 Speaker 1: full of weapons. Oh, don't worry, there are none. There 221 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: are no reins at all because the horse isn't wearing 222 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 1: a bridle. There's a saddle, but no stirrups. The rider's 223 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:34,280 Speaker 1: feet are just dangling. Come to think of it, his 224 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:37,040 Speaker 1: butt isn't even touching the saddle. Actually, he's sort of 225 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,920 Speaker 1: raised up, but with nothing to bear down on. You 226 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:44,480 Speaker 1: have to wonder how he's keeping his balance. Best I 227 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,160 Speaker 1: can tell his only hope of staying on that horse, 228 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 1: which is, might I remind you, rearing up on its 229 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:54,280 Speaker 1: oddly thick hind legs. Is the grip he's got with 230 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 1: his knees. They're sort of digging into the horse's shoulders 231 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 1: well in front of the skirt of the saddle. I mean, 232 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 1: look at the picture. If you've ever ridden a horse. 233 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 1: This doesn't look right to you. As a horse girl 234 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:12,120 Speaker 1: myself in a long ago phase of my life, I'm 235 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:16,360 Speaker 1: baffled by the physics of this. I've always had more 236 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:20,000 Speaker 1: of a sense of adventure than actual sense. So when 237 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: I was a teenager, I taught a horse to reaar 238 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 1: on command because I thought it would be funny, and 239 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:28,320 Speaker 1: I dug out an old photo of me demonstrating the 240 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:31,600 Speaker 1: trick bareback, so I do have a reference image for 241 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:34,880 Speaker 1: what I'm imagining here. And Nathan would have fallen off 242 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:39,480 Speaker 1: that damn horse. That's all I'm saying. Staring at this 243 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:45,960 Speaker 1: perplexing image, letting its impossible shapes wash over you, you'll 244 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: probably realize something else. It's so smooth, it's so shiny. 245 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:59,919 Speaker 1: It's plastic. It's made of fucking plastic. How is that 246 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:04,720 Speaker 1: even possible? The silver and gold colored parts of the 247 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:09,280 Speaker 1: statue are silver and gold leaf pressed patchually onto a 248 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 1: fiberglass shell shaped over polyurethane foam blocks. The materials were 249 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:19,520 Speaker 1: repurposed by the artist from things that just happened to 250 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:23,920 Speaker 1: be on hand. The piece was commissioned by Nashville area 251 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:30,120 Speaker 1: businessman Bill Doris, whose Aqua Bath company made specialty bathtubs 252 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:51,120 Speaker 1: for the elderly. The statue is made of bathtubs. When 253 00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 1: the statue went up in nineteen ninety eight, Bill Doris 254 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,879 Speaker 1: told the Nashville Commercial Appeal that he decided to commission 255 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:00,119 Speaker 1: the piece for display on his property next time to 256 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:04,440 Speaker 1: the interstate because he was quote tired of the genocide 257 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:09,879 Speaker 1: of Southern culture. It's a heritage issue with me, and 258 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:14,920 Speaker 1: that's all it is, he said, distancing himself from unsavory 259 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:19,840 Speaker 1: groups like the Clan or the Aryan Nations. In two thousand, 260 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,200 Speaker 1: about a year and a half after the statue was unveiled, 261 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,880 Speaker 1: Doris told the Tennessean that he had no idea who 262 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 1: had snuck onto his property to hang an effigy of 263 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:32,160 Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln from one of the flagpoles that surrounded the statue. 264 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: There were thirteen flagpoles encircling the statue, each one flying 265 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 1: the Confederate flag. The newspaper says the large sign reading 266 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: Ape Lincoln found next to the hanged effigy must have 267 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:52,880 Speaker 1: been a reference to the former president's gangly appearance, which 268 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:59,520 Speaker 1: seems like not the most likely explanation to me. Doris said, 269 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,920 Speaker 1: whoever did it, he does know how they feel because 270 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:07,399 Speaker 1: he feels the same way about Abraham Lincoln. He just 271 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:12,520 Speaker 1: personally wouldn't have gone about expressing it this way. When 272 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:15,520 Speaker 1: Doris died in twenty twenty, he left the statue to 273 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:20,000 Speaker 1: the Battle of Nashville Trust, a nonprofit focused on preserving 274 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 1: and interpreting sites related to the eighteen sixty four Battle 275 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:27,880 Speaker 1: of Nashville, but according to WKRN news. 276 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:32,800 Speaker 3: They didn't want it. The Battle of Nashville Trust released 277 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:35,960 Speaker 3: a statement as to why they took down the controversial 278 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,919 Speaker 3: statue of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest along I sixty 279 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:43,080 Speaker 3: five yesterday. The group says they weren't even aware the 280 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,239 Speaker 3: former owner, Bill Doris, left it to them in his 281 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 3: will until after he died last year. The statement said 282 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 3: they had several reasons as to why they don't want 283 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:55,679 Speaker 3: to use it. That includes the facts that Forrest wasn't 284 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 3: present at the Battle of Nashville. The statue is ugly 285 00:20:59,040 --> 00:20:59,639 Speaker 3: and a blight. 286 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:06,679 Speaker 1: The statue was taken down in twenty twenty one and 287 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:10,360 Speaker 1: remains disassembled in storage somewhere, with no plans to put 288 00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:16,960 Speaker 1: it back together. The statue itself is a fascinating object 289 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:19,639 Speaker 1: worthy of a little story about how it came to 290 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:23,879 Speaker 1: be there, and most stories about it have a couple 291 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:27,400 Speaker 1: of lines about the artist, a man named Jack Kershaw. 292 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 1: The two facts you'll usually hear about Jack are that 293 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,960 Speaker 1: he was briefly James Earl Ray's lawyer in nineteen seventy seven. 294 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:38,080 Speaker 1: Remember that's the man who murdered Martin Luther King Junior. 295 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:42,400 Speaker 1: And Kershaw was also a founding member of the neo 296 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:47,000 Speaker 1: Confederate hate group the League of the South. And I 297 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:51,000 Speaker 1: never gave it much thought beyond that, Sure, a guy 298 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:54,640 Speaker 1: who founded a Confederate hate group wanted a Confederate statue, 299 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,920 Speaker 1: But he sucked at art, so he made a hideous monstrosity. 300 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:02,919 Speaker 1: What's there to think about? So I was surprised to 301 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:07,359 Speaker 1: find that for as much as he loved racism, he 302 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:13,240 Speaker 1: actually loved art first. This was far from his only sculpture. 303 00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:19,119 Speaker 1: John Carl Kershaw called Jack, was born in Joplin, Missouri, 304 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:23,000 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirteen, to parents Ethel Norton Kershaw and William 305 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:27,199 Speaker 1: Carl Kershaw called Carl. The family moved to Tennessee a 306 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:30,240 Speaker 1: few years after Jack was born, and he attended Montgomery 307 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:34,120 Speaker 1: Bell Academy and then Vanderbilt university where he studied geology 308 00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:38,920 Speaker 1: and played football. And I assumed, as I was making 309 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: my timeline that I would find that he attended law 310 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:44,919 Speaker 1: school at this point, because I know he became a lawyer. 311 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:50,960 Speaker 1: But that's not what happened. In the nineteen thirties. After 312 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,959 Speaker 1: graduating with his degree in geology, he first pursued his 313 00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:02,359 Speaker 1: real passion art. He painted and sculpted. One article mentions 314 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,520 Speaker 1: that he was well known for his award winning woodblock prints. 315 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:11,160 Speaker 1: He was for several years the statewide supervisor in Tennessee 316 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:15,520 Speaker 1: for the Federal Art Project, a new deal program that 317 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:19,760 Speaker 1: funded the visual arts. When he registered for the draft 318 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:24,440 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty, he wrote Art Center as his place 319 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: of employment. I'm sure the racism was always there, but 320 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,960 Speaker 1: until he started working on strom Thurman's campaign in the 321 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:38,280 Speaker 1: late forties, you could imagine maybe that he was a 322 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 1: nice young man who got a football scholarship, tried to 323 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,720 Speaker 1: love geology to impress his father, but got a good 324 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,840 Speaker 1: government job that gave him the freedom to pursue his 325 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:53,640 Speaker 1: love of painting. And doesn't that sound nice? But then, 326 00:23:53,960 --> 00:24:00,800 Speaker 1: of course there's his sixty year career as a professional racist. 327 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:03,879 Speaker 1: Now I had in mind for this to be a 328 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: quick story about a strange man in his ugly statue. 329 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 1: I did. I know. I always say that, but I 330 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:14,000 Speaker 1: really meant it this time. I felt like we were 331 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,359 Speaker 1: all due for a quick and straightforward one parter after 332 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:21,199 Speaker 1: that three month ordeal with Joseph Paul Franklin, and I 333 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:23,959 Speaker 1: swear we're gonna get out of this one in two 334 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:26,840 Speaker 1: no matter what I have to cut, as long as 335 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,440 Speaker 1: it's not the bit about Martin Luther King Junior's assassin 336 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:33,160 Speaker 1: suing him for pocketing the eleven grand Playboy magazine paid 337 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:36,080 Speaker 1: for the chance to interview his Klein in prison. That'll 338 00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:39,600 Speaker 1: be in there. This was supposed to be a fun 339 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:41,919 Speaker 1: story about a racist lawyer who made a statue out 340 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:46,160 Speaker 1: of old bathtubs. But as I was doing my eleventh 341 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,679 Speaker 1: hour due diligence, sort of rounding out my timeline, crossing 342 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,600 Speaker 1: my t's, dotting my eyes, you know, gathering some clips 343 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:58,040 Speaker 1: and quotes and double checking my sources, I realized something. 344 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:02,400 Speaker 1: I mean, I made what looked like an incredible discovery. 345 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:06,760 Speaker 1: It couldn't be true. It didn't make sense. I had 346 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:10,320 Speaker 1: to put everything aside, go back and recheck this, and 347 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,919 Speaker 1: I did a couple of hours of genealogical research. It 348 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:19,280 Speaker 1: couldn't be true. I triple checked. I missed my self 349 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:22,399 Speaker 1: imposed deadline, having promised myself i'd finished writing before dinner, 350 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 1: but I had to go back. John Carl Kershaw Jack Kershaw, 351 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:33,200 Speaker 1: co founder of the League of the South, a man 352 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:37,840 Speaker 1: whose lasting legacy is this hideous Confederate statue, a symbol 353 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,600 Speaker 1: of an entire life devoted to racism under the guise 354 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:47,359 Speaker 1: of caring deeply about Southern heritage. Wasn't really a Southern 355 00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:54,879 Speaker 1: as he claimed, not by heritage anyway. He lied he 356 00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:57,280 Speaker 1: was a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, but 357 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 1: I can't find any evidence that he qualified for membership. 358 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:07,960 Speaker 1: The Sons of Confederate Veterans requires genealogical proof that applicants 359 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 1: are descendants of someone who fought for the Confederacy during 360 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,760 Speaker 1: the Civil War. I mean, maybe they make exceptions for 361 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,520 Speaker 1: you if you're a particularly influential racist. I don't know. 362 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,840 Speaker 1: Maybe theyre rules for collateral kinship are so broad that 363 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,480 Speaker 1: it counts if your tenth cousin twice removed was a 364 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:29,680 Speaker 1: Confederate soldier. I guess that's possible. Years ago, I briefly 365 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 1: considered applying for the Daughters of the Confederacy as a bit. 366 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:36,960 Speaker 1: I don't know. I didn't do it, so I never 367 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:39,479 Speaker 1: thought it all the way through. But I do have 368 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:43,320 Speaker 1: genealogical evidence that I may direct descendant of a Confederate officer, 369 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:46,920 Speaker 1: So I looked into it a bit. And I don't 370 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:52,520 Speaker 1: think Jack qualified for membership. But even if he's got 371 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: some hazy collateral aunts cousins stepdad's brother's son kind of claim, 372 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:03,879 Speaker 1: he would full online about being related to an Admiral 373 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:09,719 Speaker 1: Kershaw of the Confederate Army. His obituary has this vague 374 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 1: sounding claim, one that he made often during his life, 375 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:18,119 Speaker 1: that he was quote an heir of Admiral Kershaw CSA 376 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: of South Carolina. The CSA after his name means Confederate 377 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:27,119 Speaker 1: States Army, so he's saying he is an heir of 378 00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:33,480 Speaker 1: an admiral in the Confederate Army. Now I'm not a 379 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:37,480 Speaker 1: big military history above, but admiral is a naval rank, 380 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:41,440 Speaker 1: and if he was a naval officer, it would be CSN, 381 00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:47,879 Speaker 1: not CSA Confederate States Navy. I do happen to know 382 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:54,080 Speaker 1: that because my Confederate ancestor was in the Navy. And 383 00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 1: the next problem here is there was no Admiral Kershaw, 384 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:03,880 Speaker 1: not at all. But in terms of Confederate officers named 385 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 1: Kershaw from South Carolina, there was a General Joseph Kershaw 386 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,880 Speaker 1: from South Carolina, and that seems to be what he's 387 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:18,240 Speaker 1: trying to evoke here, and on its face that seems possible. 388 00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:22,399 Speaker 1: There aren't a ton of Kershaws today, and there is 389 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,879 Speaker 1: a Kershaw County, South Carolina, and a town in Lancaster County, 390 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:29,760 Speaker 1: South Carolina that's also called Kershaw, So I bet a 391 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:32,639 Speaker 1: lot of Kershaws in the United States are from that 392 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:38,520 Speaker 1: area the general was. Census data shows there are about 393 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,360 Speaker 1: five thousand Kershaws in the US now, and the best 394 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 1: I can tell from the eighteen eighty census, there were 395 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:49,080 Speaker 1: about twelve hundred then, and a lot of people with 396 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:52,840 Speaker 1: that last name do have some degree of shared heritage 397 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 1: if you trace it all the way back to whichever 398 00:28:55,400 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 1: of their ancestors emigrated from England. So sure it seems 399 00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:05,720 Speaker 1: reasonable that he could be related to that general. And 400 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 1: the phrase an air of is pretty vague. He's not 401 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 1: claiming to be a direct descendant, that's fair, But in 402 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:20,520 Speaker 1: interviews and in writings over the years. He very often, 403 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: very clearly uses the word grandfather. He's talking about a 404 00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:32,000 Speaker 1: grandfather who fought for the Confederacy. And who this grandfather 405 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:34,960 Speaker 1: is and what he did, and whether or not he 406 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:41,800 Speaker 1: died changes from telling to telling. Sometimes this imaginary Confederate 407 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:45,440 Speaker 1: grandpa died bravely in battle, as in his description in 408 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:48,040 Speaker 1: a nineteen ninety four letter to the editor in the Tennesseean. 409 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:51,280 Speaker 1: He wrote in to take issue with an article about 410 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:53,960 Speaker 1: Confederate flags. He didn't think they were taking the issue 411 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:59,400 Speaker 1: seriously enough. He wrote, quote to attack the symbols under 412 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:03,080 Speaker 1: which my grandfather gave his life. He's indeed not a 413 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:08,040 Speaker 1: light matter. Three years later, in a nineteen ninety seven 414 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:11,560 Speaker 1: article in the same newspaper, he describes a story his 415 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: grandfather told him when he was a child about what 416 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 1: it was like serving under Nathan Bedford Forest in the 417 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: Civil War. In two thousand and one, when the League 418 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,080 Speaker 1: of the South was demanding Congress pass a bill that 419 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:27,080 Speaker 1: would pay reparations to descendants of Southerners whose property was 420 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:30,600 Speaker 1: destroyed by those evil Union troops during the Civil War, 421 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:34,640 Speaker 1: Kershaw claimed he believed that the state of Tennessee owed 422 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 1: him millions of dollars because his grandfather had owned a 423 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:42,720 Speaker 1: large plantation in the western portion of the state that 424 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:47,840 Speaker 1: had been destroyed during the war. These things can't all 425 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:52,360 Speaker 1: be true. His grandfather cannot have both died in the 426 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:56,200 Speaker 1: war and told him stories about the war in the 427 00:30:56,280 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties. His grandfather cannot be South Carolina plantation owner 428 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:06,480 Speaker 1: Joseph Kershaw and the owner of a plantation in western Tennessee. 429 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:10,320 Speaker 1: Confederate General Joseph Kershaw died in South Carolina in eighteen 430 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,880 Speaker 1: ninety four at the age of seventy two. And more importantly, 431 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:20,960 Speaker 1: he wasn't Jack Kershaw's grandpa, not at all. Jack Kershaw's 432 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:26,200 Speaker 1: grandfather didn't serve in the Civil War, but he did 433 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:32,040 Speaker 1: register for the draft. In eighteen sixty three in Illinois. 434 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:38,800 Speaker 1: Jack Kershaw's paternal grandfather registered for the draft with the 435 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:43,880 Speaker 1: Union Army. His father's entire family was from the North. 436 00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:02,000 Speaker 1: Jack Kershaw's father, William Carl Kershaw, who went by Carl, 437 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 1: was born in Bloomington, Illinois. Carl's father, Jack's grandfather, John 438 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:14,360 Speaker 1: Wesley Kershaw, was also born in Illinois in eighteen thirty 439 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:19,400 Speaker 1: eight to parents who had emigrated from England. In eighteen 440 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: ninety one, John Wesley Kershaw was described as one of 441 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:26,640 Speaker 1: the wealthiest landowners in McLean County, Illinois. He owned about 442 00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:29,680 Speaker 1: nine hundred acres of farmland in Illinois until he sold 443 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:33,160 Speaker 1: it and retired to some land in Iowa. He died 444 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,240 Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty three, when his grandson Jack would have 445 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:39,920 Speaker 1: been ten years old, and his obituary doesn't mention any 446 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:44,400 Speaker 1: military service at all. I mean, the Kershaw family is 447 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:51,200 Speaker 1: so completely and totally from Bloomington, Illinois that when Jack's dad, Carl, 448 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 1: returned home for a brief visit in nineteen oh five, 449 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:59,040 Speaker 1: the Bloomington Weekly Pantograph ran a story about it that 450 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:02,920 Speaker 1: opens with the line, mister Carl Kershaw, one of Bloomington's 451 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,480 Speaker 1: best known young men, were turned for a visit to 452 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 1: his home on Tuesday evening after an absence of more 453 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:13,240 Speaker 1: than a year. He'd graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 454 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:17,360 Speaker 1: Bloomington a year earlier, and then spent a year working 455 00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:20,160 Speaker 1: for the US Geological Survey, and he was home for 456 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:25,280 Speaker 1: a bit before starting a job in nearby Geneseo. And honestly, 457 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:28,160 Speaker 1: there's not much on the other side of the tree either. 458 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:33,640 Speaker 1: His mother Ethel Norton was born in Wyoming. Her father 459 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:37,920 Speaker 1: was born in Tennessee, and it looks like his family 460 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:40,960 Speaker 1: was from Henry County, in the western part of the state, 461 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,720 Speaker 1: but Jack's maternal grandfather was born in eighteen fifty five, 462 00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 1: making him far too young to have served in the war. J. T. 463 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:54,440 Speaker 1: Norton studied law and left Tennessee for Wyoming, where he 464 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:58,840 Speaker 1: eventually became the city attorney in Land of Wyoming. When 465 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:02,000 Speaker 1: Ethel was nine, her mother died from complications of childbirth, 466 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:04,760 Speaker 1: and J. T. Norton sent his daughter back to Tennessee 467 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:09,200 Speaker 1: to live with an aunt. So Jack's mother may well 468 00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:12,680 Speaker 1: have grown up hearing about the Civil War from relatives 469 00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 1: in western Tennessee, but her father didn't serve. It is 470 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:24,040 Speaker 1: possible that some of the Nortons from Henry County served 471 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:27,040 Speaker 1: in the Confederate Army, but it wouldn't have been a 472 00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:32,120 Speaker 1: direct relative, certainly not a grandfather. The stories he's telling 473 00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:36,160 Speaker 1: are not true. The only time he gives an actual 474 00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:39,080 Speaker 1: name for a Confederate ancestor, it's a man who doesn't exist, 475 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:42,719 Speaker 1: but is probably meant to confuse you into thinking he 476 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:46,960 Speaker 1: means General Joseph Kershaw to whom he is not related, 477 00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:50,800 Speaker 1: not directly, and not within the last four generations of 478 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:55,240 Speaker 1: his lineage. If he had a strong claim to Confederate 479 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:59,880 Speaker 1: heritage through his mother's father, the Nortons of Henry County, 480 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,360 Speaker 1: why didn't he say that. Surely one of his mother's 481 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,319 Speaker 1: father's cousins fought in the war. But he's so explicit 482 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:10,759 Speaker 1: about it having been a Kershaw and it having been 483 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:14,399 Speaker 1: his grandfather, and neither of those things can be true. 484 00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:19,480 Speaker 1: He made an entire career out of how much he 485 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:23,759 Speaker 1: cared about the values his Confederate grandpa fought and died for, 486 00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:27,960 Speaker 1: But his grandpas were a rich farmer in Illinois and 487 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:31,239 Speaker 1: a lawyer in Wyoming. The fact that he was a 488 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:35,920 Speaker 1: member of multiple hate groups based entirely around Southern culture, 489 00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:40,080 Speaker 1: Southern identity, Southern heritage. He even founded one of those 490 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:44,759 Speaker 1: groups himself, all while lying about even having the kind 491 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:49,000 Speaker 1: of Southern heritage he claimed. It really exposes the lie, 492 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,880 Speaker 1: doesn't it. Oh, it's heritage, not hate. It's about our culture, 493 00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:58,760 Speaker 1: it's about our ancestors. Bullshit, it isn't about heritage. Anyone 494 00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:00,920 Speaker 1: with half the sense God gave a goat can see that. 495 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:03,040 Speaker 1: And I know it down to my bones that it's 496 00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:05,600 Speaker 1: the truth, because it is my heritage and I hate it. 497 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:10,520 Speaker 1: He was drawn to those heritage groups because he knew 498 00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:14,279 Speaker 1: full well what that heritage talk was covered for. He 499 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:16,280 Speaker 1: knew what he had in common with the other members 500 00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:19,080 Speaker 1: of those groups wasn't the uniforms their grandpas wore, but 501 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:24,080 Speaker 1: the hate in their hearts. He was a segregationist. He 502 00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:28,480 Speaker 1: became a lawyer so he could be a better segregationist. 503 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:32,520 Speaker 1: He longed for a return to the southern culture of 504 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,239 Speaker 1: his imaginary Confederate grandpa because he didn't want to have 505 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:40,160 Speaker 1: to look at black people. I really did finish most 506 00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:43,279 Speaker 1: of my research into his career in racism, but the 507 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:46,080 Speaker 1: sudden realization that his commitment to lying about what it 508 00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:49,520 Speaker 1: means to have Southern heritage went so far as to 509 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:54,680 Speaker 1: include lying about having Southern heritage made me laugh so 510 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:59,480 Speaker 1: hard I couldn't continue. Would it have made more sense 511 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:06,120 Speaker 1: narrative to reveal this at the end, Yeah, probably, But 512 00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:09,040 Speaker 1: I was going to burst if I didn't tell you 513 00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:12,560 Speaker 1: this the moment I discovered it. So you'll have to 514 00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:15,560 Speaker 1: wait until next week to hear about Jack's midlife decision 515 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:17,759 Speaker 1: to go to the YMCA night law school so he 516 00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:24,040 Speaker 1: could wage legal warfare on integration. In the meantime, I 517 00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:27,800 Speaker 1: don't know. Just don't stare too deeply into those weird 518 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:47,000 Speaker 1: blue eyes on that statue. Weird Little Guys as a 519 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:50,240 Speaker 1: production of Cool Zone Media and iHeartRadio. It's researched, written 520 00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:53,480 Speaker 1: and recorded by me only conquer Our Executive producers are 521 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:56,319 Speaker 1: Sophi Letterman and Robert Evans. The show is edited by 522 00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:59,400 Speaker 1: the wildly talented Rory Gaigan. The theme music was composed 523 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:02,279 Speaker 1: by Brad Dicker. You can email me at Weirdle Guys 524 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,640 Speaker 1: Podcast at gmail dot com. I will definitely read it, 525 00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:07,520 Speaker 1: but I probably won't answer. It's nothing personal. You can 526 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:09,959 Speaker 1: exchange conspiracy theories with other listeners on the Weird Little 527 00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:13,239 Speaker 1: Guys Separate it. Just don't post anything that's going to 528 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:14,480 Speaker 1: make you one of my Weird Little Guys.