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A plaque for Swissholm? Not getting past these PC folk!
By Justin Byma
 Justin Byma --- Guest Column
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Although the controversy surrounding the Jane Grey Swisshelm plaque has somewhat passed, it is sure to come up again with the return of the student body from the summer break. That said, I couldn’t resist interjecting my own two cents.
I thought the protest – miniscule as it was – and the resulting euphorian commentary by the University Chronicle rather silly. The editorial board went to great lengths to credit Swisshelm’s work calling her a "champion of women’s rights." Yet, according to the editorial board this alone should not rate a plaque.
Regardless of Swisshelm’s achievements, her commentary regarding American Indians makes the editorial board angry enough to slap a puppy. You see the board is more concerned about diversity and the self-esteem of students than it is about the significance of American history. These fine young pundits have been entranced by a wrongly named progressivism that is epidemic on our campus. "Progressives" use a twisted philosophy of history that instead of looking at events and characters with the time period in mind, looks at history using today’s society as a template and rejects anything that does not fit the mold.
This Zinnian approach is used to erase the past and rewrite our nation’s story until it becomes a politically correct, progressive-endorsed dogma immune to question or dissent. I am certain that if Swisshelm were alive today she would not write about Native Americans with such disdain. But what does that matter?
I prefer to take a more optimistic approach in my own philosophy of history. Although there have been many injustices dealt to many peoples at the hand of The United States and her leading historical figures, time has shown that much more good has been rendered than ill. We must look to the good for inspiration and the ill for education lest we forget what makes America great.
Racism is a bloody wound that, though it is healing rapidly, may not soon go away. It is truly a disease, but it is curable. With the right mix of individualism, morality, and personal responsibility, equality can finally exist. That this pharmacy of economic and political empowerment can be achieved, is not the pressing question at hand, rather can we as today’s youth and tomorrow’s leaders bring the vaccine to others. It cannot be legislated. It can only come from the heart.
Unfortunately, however, the attitudes of the editorial board and protesters will not change until diversity means more than just diversity of skin color, and racism is no longer analyzed with the dichotomy of the oppressors and the oppressed.
After all, using progressive forms of logic, who among us cannot prove his or herself oppressed in some way?
If the plaque is removed, I shall congratulate the editorial board and protesters on their victory and encourage them to move on to ever-bigger historical monuments. Why not try the Liberty Bell or Mount Rushmore?
Go forth and be free, but don’t hurry back.
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