I looked up a public meeting time on the Aiken County website the other day and noticed that May 10 is marked as Confederate Memorial Day. Not only is it marked, but May 10 is also a holiday and Aiken County government offices are closed. I was shocked. Marking Confederate Memorial Day is something that seems completely out of step with today’s society. Without getting into states rights issues and the glaringly obvious evils of slavery, to honor the Confederacy is to honor failed ideas that led to the near annihilation of a new country ripe with God-given possibilities.
Holding on to the past seems to be an issue in Aiken County. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t remember the past. It is true — those that forget history are destined to repeat it. However, not everything from the past is honorable and worth saving.
Take for instance the idea that all old buildings in Aiken County are worth saving. Because of a very vocal minority and weak-willed myopic government officials, downtown Aiken is still anchored by a dangerously rundown cornerstone. Hotel Aiken has been romanticized by some as “historic.”
There is nothing historic about 8-foot ceilings and tiny bathrooms. George Washington did not sleep at this old Aiken inn. Instead, this insistence of holding on to all things old has left the taxpayer on the hook for repairs and with yet another burden to bear. The ever-optimistic merchants of downtown Aiken have earned the good riddance of this albatross.
Also romanticized is the building folks native to Aiken County call the old hospital. This structure is quite literally an entrance into the downtown City of Aiken. It is riddled with broken windows and graffiti. Its bones are bandaged with particle board. The brick is outdated, and the structure is nowhere near acceptable by today’s building codes. The only value to this structure is the property on which it sits, which is why it is time to introduce this building to a bulldozer. The land is crying out for a public park, a garden, a food truck venue, an outdoor music hall. Anything other than yet another dilapidated monument to the past.
There are those who will read this and remain adamant that all old buildings are worth saving. To those people, I say “OK. You buy it. You finance the building’s rehabilitation. Put your money where your mouth is.”
It is time to stop impeding Aiken County’s move into current times. This means it is time for Aiken County government to stop marking Confederate Memorial Day. Stop anchoring us to failed times and policies. Consider the picture of us you paint to outside areas. Are old times and dilapidated structures all we are worth? We deserve better. And, while we are at it, let’s stop calling the truly historic Highway 1 the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway. It’s time to move on.
Denise Fulmer
Graniteville
