Is it wrong to remove Confederate statues?

Its not forgetting your past. Its about not glorifying people who do not deserve it.

You are a traitor to your country and endorse slavery? Sorry, no statue for you. Tearing down Civil War statues will not make us forget the civil war.

It's completely wrong and is completely self serving . Libs stir up racial unrest then point the blame at statutes of dead democrats . Revisionist history is a dangerous game .

I think kids need to be taught the TRUTH!!!!!!!!! What these statues represent is hatred,lies, dark times and the slaughter of millions of people...kids are never taught the truth about America's ugly, genocidal past..by your words...you probably ARE one of those kids the truth was withheld from

It's not about tearing them down to me. The place that most of them are located is wrong. These statues are of people who took up ares against their country and killed hundreds of thousands of their countrymen in rebellion. These folks shouldn't have statues in places of honor. Relocate the to more appropriate environments. Confederate museums, confederate graveyards, historical battle sites. That's where they belong.

This is probably the greatest mistake we can make. We are literally tearing down our history. Yes it was a terrible time. But those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

This terrible idea of political correctness is doing more to destroy our country then any race issue, any crime issue, or any political issue we have.

There is no danger of it being forgotten. And this is why we have museums and why history is supposed to be taught in our schools, anyway. Those statues were not erected to remind us of an evil, their purpose (as many appeared during the Civil Rights movement) was by segregationists attempting the reassertion of white supremacy---the same reason the marchers and alt-right groups are fighting to keep them up today.
The "white-washing" as you call it, is pretending that these were heroes who deserve statues and memorials, rather than traitors who didn't want to be a part of the U.S. if slavery was going to be abolished. Or, in the case of Columbus, someone who opened the door to genocide of an entire group of people.
Hitler is a part of history. But Germany at least has the decency not to still celebrate him.

It is a typical liberal type of thing to try and do. These people are part of history and as long as we teach our children the darker side as well as the courage of people like Co.umbus, why should we deny history?

DO YOU SEE ANY STATUES OF HITLER IN GERMANY? why dafuk is so hard to understand?

In what other society on earth, does a nation have a civil war and STILL ALLOW reminders to it's past in the form of MODERN DAY sculptures that only EMPHASIZE the fact that some folk CHOOSE not to move on ?

I focus less on right or wrong and more on the fact that it is costly and a waste of time. A statue cannot be "racist" as it's an inanimate object made of organic materials. As you said, erasing history solves nothing. Once they finish with the statues they will start burning books they deem "bad." Things are going bad wrong with people in general.

I'm the sort of person who likes to get to root issues. I don't believe symbols have fixed meanings. So I don't think it's inherently wrong to either preserve or destroy Confederate images. We can preserve every one of them, and there will still be an element of our society who feels white people culture is being eroded. And we can melt them down and there will still be an element of our society who experiences racial violence. It won't change anything. After WW2 every scrap of Nazi shit was destroyed and *poof* they are having issues with neo-Nazis.

Personally I think we've long forgotten our past. If we hadn't, I think we'd be having a very different conversation about these statues. Our dialog wouldn't be pegged at either "white pride" and "slavery" but a whole bunch of other issues. Namely that these statues come from a few decades after Reconstruction when the whole mechanism of Jim Crow was being put into place. We wouldn't be talking about these statues as being reminders of slavery. We'd be looking at them as reminders of Jim Crow, especially with angry when men standing under them with torches. Quite honestly, these statues made it through Jim Crow, a couple world wars, the civil rights movement, and now I don't think anybody would be paying attention of some random pricks weren't trying to co-opt them.

So that's my 0.02. I'd rather just deal with the issues.

Unbridled threats of destruction ... accompanied with excessive insults and unsubstantiable accusations about a large portion of American culture ... is wrong and harmful.

Those statues are cool ... the military genius of those generals is legendary.

The unthreatening nature of each .. is remarkable.

If the urban elite liberals want a fight.

They can have one ... let it start here!

It's silly to try to erase history, but it's even sillier, to pretend that the post re-construction, post Jim Crow laws, statues and monuments dedicated to the confederacy, are anything but wholesale attempts to re-introduce virtual slavery and discrimination against blacks, and have nothing to do with history. To remind them that even though they have official freedom, the Confederate "heroes" still control their lives.

The narrative that some people want to destroy history, or the attempt to create a false equivalency with the Taliban, should be real transparent.

I don't think tearing down a statue is tearing down the past. The events still occurred with or without the statue. They serve as a monument to what is being depicted...not a historical account. Does a confederate statue bother me when I walk past it? I really don't give it a second glance. Can't say I get worked up enough to think I need to try knocking a statue down. But I do believe it stands as a tribute to a part of history that just doesn't really need to be glorified. It takes on even more meaning when you research the times most of the confederate statues were erected. Most went up in the same period that Jim Crowe laws were passed and later when the Civil Rights Act was passed. I don't really see them as history but as more of a statement.

let me just resume this very quickly. THOSE STATUS ARE NOT MONUMENTS. learn their history. they were put up in the 60s during the civil right movements. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HISTORY OR CULTURE. it has just to do with hate and biggotry. so no it's not wrong. if you really comparing a columbus status to those ones then you should go back to school

hi Ridger
good to remember and understand the past - in a museum. Statues are on pedestals to show off and admire the ideals they represent. So put good things in their place and put historical statues in a park where history can be taught properly. This si what they do with Stalin and Lenin statues in exUSSR countries.
best wishes
:)

Next thing they will be removing us from the states. To let illegals have our houses. Ohh wait thats already happening

He treated the natives? I don't recall good ole CC having much to do with our fights with the Indians.

I forget. Was he at Little Bighorn? Wounded Knee? The Seminole Wars? Did he push the Indians to their current reservations?

Can we keep the statues IF we toss the Indians a few more casinos to make hundreds of millions from?

Stupid ass party waste liberal mother fuckers.

The Kennedys are founded from dirty money. They've even got a couple murders on their hands. Do you think they should be on our money?

If you like being ignorant of the United States of America and its heritage and history then in my book go ahead and be a dumbass and not know your history of how you got to be where you are in AMERICA

Removing statues should be left to the communities. What I worry about is how far will this go? People are talking about Christopher Columbus, Mt. Rushmore. What's next? Banning books, the constitution, the American flag?
Even a white horse used as a mascot at USC, I believe is being called racist. Wait for the loony left to try to force conservative talk radio off the air, claiming that same lie.

I think these monuments should be left up as they are telling history.Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.

It is not wrong to take them down, but it is not wrong to leave them up either. I agree with you that hiding history won't change it or make things any better.

I imagine for the most part it does not matter, in places where they have taken them down it did not solve any problems if anything it widened divisions and created a platform for confrontation. The people who were unhappy with the statues were still unhappy.

It's an easy gesture and will make some people feel better, I suppose, but I don't think it will genuinely help with race relations or heal wounds.

I totally agree. You can’t erase the past, you can only learn from it for the future. It’s been like was 150+ years now? Let it go and move on already.

Yes..you are write.
We should not remove these statues.. They show us our past and our ancestors great explore places and many things.
We come to know all of our past things only with the help of these things..
I'm against the removal of such satues.

AMD i m happy that You think in this way..It's very rare nowadays to find person who really talk about our society and about our golden era of culture and monuments.It's really Mandatory to protect these things....👍👍👍

silly egotism.. stupid possessive habit that takes away from the real issues in our lives.

that's history.. that's it. here i'm a mestizo saying this.

so the fuck what.. to me it was just learning history of one portion of many other histories oh and a afternoon trek then lunch. somewhat one of many traditions.

just one of many. eh.

don't we got healthcare? social security? overspending and job cuts to worry about .. say for one tier of constant issues pillaging us to death?

the problems aren't the statues... the problems are these people who must make every freaking thing political and what for actually? will this resolve our equality issues?

fuck no.

but i guess ending up on news and partying it out fighting each other until someone gets murdered is better.

this sociopathy has always struck a blow in progress.

It makes less sense to have a statue of a Confederate Soldier up than it would to have a statue of Hitler up. Confederates were traitors to the country and the President was actually planning on charging him with treason had Grant not threatened to resign in protest.

This post is regurgitated nonsense.

I believe they all should stay

I think, "Where will all the madness end?" Sad days we live in. They can tear them down and destroy them, whatever they think they should do, but It WILL NEVER ERASE HISTORY! People have lost their minds! :(

I see this is an old topic so apologies if someone pointed this out but Christopher Columbus never stood foot in the US. Why you have a statue, day or anything else dedicated to someone with no connection to your nation is beyond me

I have an unpopular opinion about that and see no reason to ruin this lovely evening by fighting with folks again today...😁

Yeah! and the Witches here in Salem, MA are still pissed off at the statue of "Samantha" from Bewitched in the middle if town and want it taken down...for real. I'm with them

Interesting point. But really does anyone really look at a statue? I used to live in the d.c. area in the u.s.
Plenty of monuments to the presidents but other than a means of selling soveigneirs they are largely unnoticed.

what about the Ralph Cramden statue at the Port Authority? He threatened to hit Alice "To the moon".

By this time, many of them have been around so long as to become cultural artifacts. If they had been removed long ago it might be different, but that's not the case. I think the best solution would have been to place them in museums or in a monument park in order to preserve the value they've come to have, without leaving them in a myriad of public places where to many they are troublesome. Neither side seems to think that's an option though.

We should try not to measure the past with the present as it will never measure up

people get crazy about monuments like it was something religious

Historical record suggests Columbus treated EVERYONE terribly, even his crew! Written accounts describe him as "hot tempered and hard to work with" most people don't know this, but he marooned more crewmen than most pirates!

No, it’s not wrong.

Yes

Historical record sguests Columbus treated EVERYONE terribly. Even his crew! Most people don't know this, but he marooned more crewmen than most pirates!

If you want to remember the 'dark' past and want to keep the monuments up, should african americans get reparations for slavery?

Good morning 🌅