Although shattering a stained glass window depicting slaves carrying bales of cotton is an effective way of fighting social injustice, there are less destructive alternatives to confront the inequality. As Corey Menafee, the man who committed the crime, says, “‘there’s always better ways of doing things like that than just destroying things.”’ The stained glass “‘wasn’t my property, and I had no right to [smash] it.”’ By smashing the window, Menafee caused glass to fall, “‘onto the street near a passerby, endangering her safety.”’ As a healthy alternative to breaking the glass, Mr. Menafee could have started a protest outside the dining hall, which one could argue would have been as effective. Moreover, history cannot be changed, and people need to understand that. Slavery will forever be ingrained in the history of the United States. However, current social injustices are malleable. The United States of America, as a nation, can learn from history and prevent it from repeating itself.
This is an interesting take on how social justice should be carried out. While an act of violence makes a strong point, a peaceful protest is more effective.
ReplyDeleteThis post briefly informed me about the crime of Corey Menafee, but did put the crime and the blog posts lesson into context. Harmful events that take place around the world certainly scare people from having them repeated, but learning from historical mistakes is complicated and difficult.
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