Anti-monument thugs need history lesson

Takiyah Thompson, the 22-year-old college student who toppled a monument of a Confederate soldier in Durham, North Carolina, instantly became a hero of the liberal media. She became even more of a hero when she was arrested at a news conference in which she demanded amnesty for the protesters.

For instance, Huffington Post hailed her in its headline, saying, “Takiyah Thompson, Hailed As ‘Hero,’ Showered With Support For Toppling Confederate Statue.” The media hung on her every word at the news conference, an event put on by the Workers World Party, a group that Thompson belongs to.

Nothing, however, was said about the Workers World Party itslef, the Marxist-Leninist group that has taken credit for organizing the monument-toppling. There was a reason for that: the Workers World Party’s history needs to be hidden in order for Thompson to be hailed as a hero.

As The Daily Caller points out, “the WWP has some very dirty secrets. It’s a pro-North Korean, anti-American organization that often espouses violence and crime to get its way…founded in 1959, it’s a hardline offshoot of the more moderate Socialist Workers Party.”

But as the WWP put it, “Organizers and protesters in Durham sent a clear message: Love does not trump hate; only mobilized people’s power can tear down white supremacy.” So vandalizing of property is suddenly unlawful?

These WWP folks seem to assume that the monuments were originally meant to signify oppression or hate or approval of slavery. But could they possibly consider that monuments could have been meant as a sign of repatriation, bringing those that had set themselves apart from the Union back into the fold? At the very least, can they not see these monuments as a reminder of our shared history, good and bad, and what we can learn from it? What a concept to actually see these monuments as a sign of actual unity of past.

Unfortunately, corrupt, divisive and uninformed people have recently sought to muddy the waters and propose a different meaning for those monuments, while fanning the flames of real hate by their horrible, violent actions. Perhaps it’s time they be reminded of what the monuments’ original purpose was. And, while I'm at it, if they want to eradicate real hate, how about at the very least starting with a protest of organizations like Planned Parenthood, which aborts close to 300 black babies every single day?

But no matter. People like Thompson are protesting on false premises, committing crimes, and making demands as if they deserve it. They are what is wrong with this country. I hope Thompson does face consequences for her actions. I’d settle for her being sentenced to at least one year of authentic history study and a reality check on what real hatred is. In the meantime, the only statement she and her ilk are making is that “we are thugs and the laws don't apply to us." That's not exactly a recipe for peace.