Should all Confederate Statues be removed from display?

The family of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, one of the most famous of all confederate generals.

"Confederate monuments like the Jackson statue were never intended as benign symbols," wrote two of Jackson's great-great grandsons.

"Rather, they were the clearly articulated artwork of white supremacy."

In an open letter to the mayor of Richmond, Virginia - where they live - they called for the removal of statues celebrating their ancestor.

"While we are not ashamed of our great-great-grandfather, we are ashamed to benefit from white supremacy while our black family and friends suffer. We are ashamed of the monument," they wrote.

"As two of the closest living relatives to Stonewall, we are writing today to ask for the removal of his statue, as well as the removal of all Confederate statues from Monument Avenue. They are overt symbols of racism and white supremacy, and the time is long overdue for them to depart from public display."

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NCCindy · 36-40, F

At the risk of being blocked or trashed by a bunch of people.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and several other of our first presidents were also slave owners ... Should we get rid of their statues too ... where do we draw the line !!!

bijouxbroussard · F

@NCCindy But they weren't fighting against the established United States. Arguably, [b]that's[/b] where one can logically draw that line.

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NCCindy · 36-40, F

@bijouxbroussard That's fair ... I can agree with that !!!

vetguy1991 · 51-55, M

There were a few generals that fought for the union that were slave owners

NCCindy · 36-40, F

@vetguy1991 My main point is that if we decide to wipe away anyone who had anything to do with slavery from our history, there won't be much left. Every society has things it would like to forget, but forgetting our history makes it a lot more likely that history will repeat itself. We need to remember all aspects of our history, the good points and the bad ones. Folks like the Chinese go through great effort to hide the black marks on their history ... we shouldn't follow them.

vetguy1991 · 51-55, M

@NCCindy agreed

bijouxbroussard · F

@NCCindy Then put them in a [b]Museum[/b]. That's where they belong---unless you agree with celebrating racism---because that's [b]why[/b] the Confederacy existed at its core. If you read the Statements of Secession you will see, from their own words, that it was prompted by a desire to maintain their economy and way of life, based upon slave labor.

bijouxbroussard · F

@vetguy1991 Nonetheless, they were fighting to preserve the U.S., not to preserve slavery as an institution, as the Confederacy was.

vetguy1991 · 51-55, M

@bijouxbroussard but they were preserving a union that was allowing slavery

bijouxbroussard · F

@vetguy1991 If you read the Secession statements you will see that the reason given by each state that chose to secede was the concern that slavery, on which their economy was based, would be abolished, as it was being in other states.