It's Colonial Heights, Please

Maybe the first time I heard the city called “The Heights” was during an interview with a local soccer coach from Chesterfield County.  As I was working, I didn’t really pay that much attention at the time, but lately I have been hearing The Heights, as a reference to Colonial Heights, more and more.

It is a bit disturbing, considering how history is being demolished throughout the US, and yes, even right here in Virginia. Supposedly, the city earned its moniker during the Revolutionary war.  During the Battle of Petersburg, the Marquis de Lafayette commanded a small artillery detachment that fired cannon shot onto the British forces in Petersburg in order to allow the Colonial Militia to retreat across the Appomattox and onto the high ground that is now the city of Colonial Heights.

Somehow, to me, cutting out the Colonial portion of the name seems wrong.  It’s like dragging down statues or trying to tuck away parts of history to “clean it up a bit.”  Jeesh, the next thing you know this kind of emasculation will continue and expand throughout the world.

Slaves were part of many of our most ancient civilizations, and are still today in many countries.  Can you imagine ancient Greece, or Rome, or Egypt without slaves?  In many cases, slaves were used as a sort of sport for the political elite at the time.

And yet, we find ourselves, we so called Americans, arguing every which way about what monuments should stay and which should go.  And even that has gotten out of hand.

Back to “Colonial” Heights.  The headquarters for the resistance back in those days was Violet Bank.  Ironically, it was also Lee’s headquarters during the siege of Petersburg during the Civil War.

So what can we do with that conundrum?

Is it proper to let it stand as a commemoration to those who fought and perished during the battle for Petersburg? Or should we just tear it down since Lee also used the strategically place property at the top of the heights in Chesterfield County, at the time, for his meetings and strategy sessions?

Beats me. I think they should all stay. Somehow, I think, we lose too much on a whim just because the truth rattles some people, or makes them feel somewhat less comfortable. In a way, it’s sort of like restructuring the Best Film, or the Best Songs, or the Best quarterback years after the face, and they tend to collect too many contemporary items due to popularity.  Then, given the time for history to do its thing, the popularity diminishes and we are left with the ones that truly deserve commemoration.

And in truth, the statues should make people somewhat uncomfortable.  These landmarks, these tourist attractions, these blots against the sensibility of a few, should stand.  They need to stay in place, like the ground zero monument at the former World Trade Center site.

Which brings me back to Colonial Heights.  In some ways, I guess people think, well the old Colonial Heights Baptist Church rebranded itself as The Heights Baptist Church so we probably ought to modernize the City, too.

But that ain’t for me.  To me, it’s Colonial Heights, in honor of the Colonials forces who managed to stop the British forces in Petersburg from breaking past the Appomattox River and sent them back to Jamestown just in time for Lord Cornwallis’ ultimate defeat.  It was a small victory, but one of the last battles that led to our initial freedom.

Statues, and battles, and flags “Oh my.”

Racism starts and stops with US

It has to end.

It must stop.

People have to realize that all this racism, all this hate, all this argument yields nothing.  It yields nothing but death, and more hate, and more racism.

Today, as I was walking into Wawa to get lunch, a black man opened and held the door for me, a white man.  I thanked him, and he said, “It’s all about respect.”

I said, “Yes, it is really. And we need it more today than we ever did before.”

He agreed and we went about our way.  He to the drink counter, me to order my BLT.  And, it struck me, as I was punching keys for a little mayo and a little vinegar, that the man had hit the nail on the head.

In the past, I’ve argued that the Confederate Battle flag no longer means what it did.  The Sons of Confederate Soldiers need seriously to take a look at what has happened to that once honored symbol.  It’s not about honor, rights, or anything sacrosanct anymore. People, bad people really, have consumed the flag; they dishonor it, they spew aspersions while waving this once very honorable banner in the air.

They are attempting to do the same thing with the Red Wings logo from the Detroit professional hockey team.  And, unfortunately, they will likely prevail in smearing that symbol, too.  They will prevail because there is no way to stop it.

It’s my belief that, for the most part, race relations have gotten better over the years.  I think black, white, yellow, red does not make a person better or worse.  We are all made of the same stuff.  A slight difference in genetic structure doesn’t affect the result except by outward appearances.  Outward appearances only.

How evil and insidious is racism?  It can pervade our society, and it can do so in a manner that we don’t even get until it’s too late.  The communities we live in, the breadth of our friendships, and how we choose to relate to one-another.  It’s difficult.

From my own life, I know how undermining things can be.  I did not come from a racist household.  We did not sit around and talk about other people in disparaging terms.  We never really spoke about race; a non-starter, a non-issue.

And yet, when I was 10 years old, I made a racist comment while playing with a kid of color.  It did not dawn on me then that the comment was racist, but believe me it was.  Later, with some perspective, I realized it.  Ask me and I will tell you the story, but I don’t think it needs to be here.

My point being that no matter how much we believe we aren’t racist, race is an insidious thing.  It can and will insinuate itself in such a sly manner that we often don’t even realize it is happening.

It happened to me when I was 10 years old.  My family is not a racist family.  We do not harbor such feelings, and yet.  And yet, such a comment came out of my own mouth, not in a hateful way, but hurtful none-the-less.

To me, it was a simple thing once I realized it.  Take a look at yourself.  An honest look.  Not that kind of look where you spend a few minutes and don’t take it to heart. 

It’s time to put this evil behind us.  We need to openly show that incidents like the one in Charlottesville last weekend are not pervasive in our world, it’s not representative of our country.  We need to move from here, and get to a point where we accept one another as we are. A place where we realize that it’s all about respect: respect for ourselves and respect for each other.

It’s time to wake up America. It’s time to show the world what our country is really about.

The Problem with Peacocks

COLONIAL HEIGHTS—It looks like the city is continuing its battle against avian kind.  First, it was Buddy Waskey’s blue-birds-of-happiness, and now it appears that the city is rounding up the usual suspects to eliminate even more avian intruders—those dastardly peacocks.

Yes, I’m talking about the peacocks that have become almost common around the community. I believe some live in the gully behind my house. At night, I hear the peacocks singing, each to each.  And, yes, they apparently have to go.  They are not an indigenous species, they create a racket, and they are dangerous to things like cars, garbage trucks, and little children, I think.

Studies at at-least one other peacock infested area in central Florida has shown that these birds of pray (sic) are far more dangerous than the alien invasion of Canada geese, which have literally taken over the Southpark Mall area.  My God, I had to stop for all of 30 seconds one day as a gaggle of 10 of the black and white Christmas dinners waddled single file from Walmart to the Battery Barn.

Obviously, these pea fowl are much larger with their straggly NBC-tailfeathers dragging along the road, although they don’t seem to hang out in the local shopping areas.  Of course, there aren’t all that many shopping areas left in the city, and what with the Kroger flopping and the Publix still months away, we can probably assume those infidel geese will remain in the so-called shopping district, cluttering the area with their green Tootsie-Roll-like droppings.

But enough of that, really, because there is no way to control the geese.  They are far too numerous and, I believe, a protected species.  Protected for what?  Who knows?

Back to the pea fowl, or foul.  The problem with the peacocks is that they started with two, which became a mating pair.  They now estimate there are 10, a relatively small flock as those standards go.  The real argument, and at some level I like the peacocks, is that since they are apparently roaming freely throughout the city, there is no way to control their expanding numbers.  Two becomes, four, four become eight, eight become 16.  Sixteen become 32, see where this leads?

In Florida, Longboat Key, a barrier island off the mainland between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, they’re battling the exact problem the city is trying to avoid.  What then to do about their over-abundant peacocks?

Most people, well at least vacationers who may in fact be from Virginia, see the peacocks, or may be stopped as the birds cross the main road.  I am certain they think it quaint.  “Oh, look, isn’t that so cool!  They have peacocks!” the week-long beach-lovers from the great white North might say.

But it’s not the same for the people who live on the Island, or work on the Island, or visit the Island daily throughout the year.  To them, the peacock flocks have grown well beyond the cute and quaint stages, sort of the way puppies and kittens outgrow their cute-and-cuddly phase to become dogs and cats.

The fowl came into foul play in Colonial Heights because they are considered agriculture and there is no agriculture zoning in the city, with the possible exception of the retention pond next to Walmart—just kidding.  Yes, it probably is not agriculture, but it is the “home” of a preponderance of the city’s indigenous Canadian Geese population, and a veritable “no walk zone” for city residents.

In a recent story from the Bradenton Herald, the town of Longboat Key, in a put-up-or-shut-up move, anteed $25,000 to help rid themselves of about 100 peacocks living in the northern part of the island.  That’s not chicken feed.

LONGBOAT KEY -- About a hundred peacocks running around the village on the north end of Longboat Key are about to find new homes after at least 50 years on the island, thanks to about $25,000 from the town.

Which brings us back to The Heights and its potential peacock problem; which really is more of a nuisance at this point.  As much as I would like to think and write that the city may be wrong-headed in this endeavor, I have to concede they are right.

Two peacocks become 10 peacocks.  Ten peacocks are already creating issues for some in our burgh, but 10 will be 100 before you know it and then it will cost a great deal of money to take care of the problem.  The time to act is now.  What to do with them when you capture them is another problem; but no question this is and ought to be a growing concern for the city leaders.

I will miss them when they are gone; but gone is what they need to be.  Now let’s see what we can do about the geese.