Last week, the Nottoway Plantation, the largest antebellum home in America, burned down. Despite the efforts of firefighters, the historic home in Louisiana was a total loss.
This loss is heartbreaking. As someone who loves history, the destruction of any historical site, landmark, or artifact is painful. The destruction of such a large and significant historical home should be saddening to every person.
Yet an enormous number of people have reacted in the exact opposite manner. Horrifyingly, thousands upon thousands of people have responded not with heartbreak, but with celebration and laughter. “Let it burn,” proclaim well-known political commentators. “What a waste of water,” social media commenters jeer. On posts by various news outlets, the “laughing face” reaction is either the most or the second most common reaction. Tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of sickening, gleeful reactions and comments contaminate every piece of content related to this tragic situation. I’ve tried as hard as I could not to read these comments, but I’ve glimpsed a few, and what I’ve seen has made me both sick to my stomach and overwhelmed with rage at the thought that thousands upon thousands of similar comments exist.
It must be made abundantly and unmistakably clear: these ways of reacting to the Nottoway Plantation fire are absolutely disgusting, despicable, and disgraceful. It is not okay to react in this manner. These emotional reactions are not valid, and they are not understandable. They are simply wrong. People who react in this way are bad people. Period. Full stop. No ifs, ands, or buts. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the “people” who react in this way are not even really people at all. They are lumps of flesh and bone with no consciousness, no mind, and no soul. It is impossible for a being with consciousness and thought to react in such a heartless, mean, cruel, and nasty manner. It is impossible for a being with consciousness and thought to demonstrate such a complete lack of empathy for those who see the world differently than they do. The people – or rather, excuses for people – who react with laughing faces and jeering comments accomplish nothing other than demonstrating their own abysmal character, their lack of capacity for rational thought, and their complete, utter, and abject moral bankruptcy.
Thinking about this situation, and seeing coverage of it, makes me feel angry and sick. My heart hurts. The trauma that I’ve experienced over the past five years is resurfacing painfully, and dark emotions are weighing heavily on me. It is the same toxic and mean-spirited ideology of black supremacism that has motivated both the statue genocide and these sickening reactions to the destruction of a historical site. I will write further about this gut-wrenching situation when the agony has receded to a manageable level and I am able to think more clearly. For now, it is enough to say that I condemn these celebratory and gleeful reactions fully, wholeheartedly, and as strongly as it is possible for a person to condemn something.