Is George Washington fit only for contempt? – The Boston Globe

Can GW be redeemed? Francois suggests 4 methods to attain progress: “decolonizing” the curriculum, admitting extra Black college students, hiring a Black president, and — the marquee proposal — altering the college’s title. Stripping all point out of George Washington from the college that Congress itself named in his honor “would cement the college’s dedication to racial justice.” Francois doesn’t say whether or not Washington’s title must also be stripped from the town the place GW is situated and the masthead of the distinguished newspaper that featured his column.

You would possibly count on a column calling for the cancellation of George Washington to supply a substantive critique of the person. However Francois mentions just one factor about him: that he was “an enslaver of males.” About Washington the indispensable hero of the American Revolution, concerning the towering chief with out whom independence would have failed, about the one American so extremely regarded that he was unanimously chosen to be the nation’s first president — about that Washington, the column says nothing.

Calls to strip Washington’s title and picture from the general public sq. as a result of he saved human beings in bondage have proliferated lately. Not all these calls have been peaceable. In a single infamous incident, a statue of Washington was toppled by protestors in Portland, Ore., who wrapped its head in an American flag that they set on hearth.

Is Washington’s complicity in slavery the one element of his life that Twenty first-century Individuals ought to care about? Does nothing he achieved matter extra? In that case, then no faculty ought to bear his title and no statue ought to honor his reminiscence, or that of any of the Founding Fathers who enslaved Africans. However not even probably the most passionate foes of slavery doubted that males like Washington — regardless of that horrible blot on their information — had been entitled to esteem and gratitude.

In his Put up column, Francois recommends renaming GW for the famend abolitionist Frederick Douglass, to honor “his work for social reform and equal justice.” But Douglass himself was not blind to the imperfections or the greatness of Washington and the opposite Founders.

On a number of events, Washington spoke of his philosophical opposition to slavery. He wrote in 1786 “that there’s not a person dwelling who needs extra sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it.” In his will, he left directions for the eventual emancipation of everybody enslaved by him and for many who had grown outdated or in poor health to be supported by his property in perpetuity. That doesn’t erase Washington’s culpability in what he knew was an odious apply, but it surely earned Douglass’s admiration. In his super 1852 oration, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?,” Douglass reminded his viewers that “Washington couldn’t die until he had damaged the chains of his slaves.” Extra considerably, Douglass extolled the heroism of Washington and the opposite Founders:

“They had been statesmen, patriots and heroes,” he mentioned. “For the nice they did, and the rules they contended for, I’ll unite with you to honor their reminiscence.” Like all of us, Washington and his friends had been diminished by hypocrisy and ethical flaws. But “with them, justice, liberty, and humanity had been remaining — not slavery and oppression,” Douglass emphasised. “It’s possible you’ll effectively cherish the reminiscence of such males.”

Washington’s enslavement of different individuals was a grievous failing, the worst factor he did on this earth. However solely somebody blinded by ideology would contend that it nullifies all the pieces about Washington’s legacy that was so terribly constructive. With out him, there would have been no Revolution, no United States, no new nation conceived in liberty, no rising stress on America to dwell as much as the perfect that every one males are created equal.

“Rename George Washington College” could also be a catchy battle cry. However no matter ails my alma mater won’t be healed by repudiating its namesake.

Jeff Jacoby could be reached at jeff.jacoby@globe.com. Observe him on Twitter @jeff_jacoby. To subscribe to Debatable, his weekly e-newsletter, go to bitly.com/Debatable.