Director's Statement

Many of America's monuments tell half-truths - or in some cases - outright lies. I wasn't taught this in school. I learned the whole story of our country's past several years after graduating from college by reading books on American history.

Monuments - from the Latin monere, to remind - are made larger-than-life of long-lasting, solid materials such as granite and bronze for a reason: to represent an unquestionable truth about the past and to literally write a single-sided version of an event in stone so future generations won't change the storyline. This seemed such a contradiction in a country whose democracy is dependent on the free speech of multiple viewpoints. I was compelled to make this film because I was offended that, even as an adult, special interest groups were presenting this propaganda as fact - on public land for that matter.

In the film, I have attempted to present alternative perspectives so that viewers may begin to understand that history, like the people that make it, is complex. Issues aren't as simple as textbooks and monuments present them to be. In fact, many textbooks and monuments don't even attempt to describe the issue. They simply offer names, dates and places, an easy but unconstructive way of avoiding our sometimes-unpleasant past. Yet, many of the issues represented by statues and plaques are unresolved today. But you wouldn't know that by reading the text or inscriptions.

During the 3 1/2 years of making this film some people have accused me of being "un-American." I found it a paradox to be called un-American for adding back to history the voices of those who have been intentionally censored out by ill-informed or non-objective "historians" and civic groups. Being un-American, I believe, is to do nothing to improve our country - to sit back and to criticize those who try to improve the lives of others by working for change. The founders of this country built into the Constitution a mechanism for institutionalizing change - the ability to add amendments.

The truth, hidden long enough, can be upsetting. It was for me. Paradoxically, the truth may even appear to be a lie because it contradicts the world that one has lived in all his life. But how can we resolve current social problems if we deny or ignore the decisions and events that created these problems ever occurred in the first place? When America's monuments remind us of our true, shared history - the good and the bad - they will force us, in author/sociologist James Loewen's words "to come face-to-face with the truth and then we can better deal with it and each other."

The film was inspired by the book Lies Across America by James W. Loewen. Mr. Loewen and historian Howard Zinn are interviewed in the film.

Sincerely,

Tom Trinley
Director