We must confront our past, not whitewash it. Because we know, through statistics, video evidence and story after story, that the people who are most hurt by those symbols of hatred are falling at disproportionate rates across the country. Many municipalities in the United States have removed monuments and memorials on public property dedicated to the Confederate States of America (CSA), and some, such as Silent Sam in North Carolina, have been torn down by protestors. We do not build war memorials to celebrate war, but as a … “I remember that for so many of us, this felt like a defining moment,” she recalled on her Instagram page in a post that appeared a few days before George Floyd’s death. Ten years after his arrest, he still isn’t fully free. More: Charlottesville unmasks Trump. If so, this is exactly why they should remain. I have been invited into homes with little to no furniture. The following is a list of Confederate monuments and memorials that were established as public displays and symbols of the Confederate States of America (CSA), Confederate leaders, or Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. Dismissing Trump’s most ridiculous claim is relatively easy. Legal filings for that case argue, according to reporting by my colleagues, that the state promised in the 130-year-old deed to “faithfully guard” and “affectionately protect” the statue. Suit to Keep Confederate Statues Returns to Georgia Court A lawsuit attempting to prevent the removal of two Confederate statues from downtown Macon is back in a state courtroom. There is no telling what will happen in court, but those legal claims are revealing. The Confederate statues were put up when they were put up [not just after the war but largely during periods of Civil Rights tension in the 20th century], to send a message about white supremacy, and to sentimentalize people who had actively fought to preserve the system of slavery. Zyahna Bryant, a 19-year-old University of Virginia student, had started a petition seeking the statue’s removal when she was a 16-year-old high school student. Americans find it difficult to deal with such questions in part because we are not ready to own the full weight of our history — much of which is noble and beautiful, but some of which is sickeningly ugly. You knew that before George Floyd died calling out for his mother. To build Confederate statues, says Dailey, in public spaces, near government buildings, and especially in front of court houses, was a "power play" … … Charlottesville unmasks Trump. TAZEWELL, Va. — Tazewell County voters have recommended leaving a Confederate statue where it is in front of the county courthouse. Why spend so much energy trying to topple statues, offensive and ugly as they might be, when the statues are not really the problem, and when their removal riles up so many people — some of whom are pathologically violent? ‘I don’t want them to die’: She was pregnant with twins. Seven years later, too many of us still haven’t really considered that question. Even so, most Americans seem unconvinced that their statues should be taken down. For while Trump is far from right, he is not totally wrong. So much graffiti has been scrawled on the Robert E. Lee statue that overlooks Monument Avenue in Richmond that letters and numbers overlap, creating a tangle of unrestrained curses, overdue demands and insightful sentiments. One hundred thirteen House Republicans voted on Wednesday to keep Confederate statues on display in the U.S. Capitol building. It makes a joke of the history Trump supposedly wishes to rescue. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. "These individuals who are being celebrated... their sole purpose was to destroy the country. In illuminating how vulnerable Americans have long been to ugly racial appeals, and how willfully blind we have been to racial injustice, those statues could remind us of the catastrophic consequences of not putting bigotry aside. Richmond's Confederate monuments will have to find new homes after the City Council voted unanimously Monday to keep them down for good, initiating a … Before this year, local governments in Virginia were prohibited under state law from removing Confederate statues. The lawsuit, which was dropped Wednesday but could appear in a different court, follows another filed a week earlier on behalf of William C. Gregory, the great-grandson of a couple who were signatories to the deed for the land where the statue sits. Twenty percent of the county population is Asian […] You knew that before the statues started falling. The 11 sculptures standing watch over lawmakers in the … The claim led a Richmond Circuit judge to issue a temporary injunction, preventing the state from removing the statue, and Northam to vow to fight the decision. An “advisory referendum” was … On Tuesday, the Franklin County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to keep a Confederate soldier statue in front of the Franklin County Courthouse in Rocky Mount. Then a gunman opened fire. And that problem is much larger than President Trump and whether he ultimately repudiates groups he doesn’t want to repudiate. If we are prepared to face what those statues really are, perhaps we can more capably tackle the question of why appeals to prejudice still resonate so strongly, and why so many people eagerly voted for a presidential candidate of questionable competence who made bigotry the central plank of his campaign. I have walked through the halls of a high school, where a boy was stabbed in the heart, talking to a soft-spoken teenager who just wanted to graduate. … Most of those monuments did not go up in the wake of the Civil War but much later, “as Southerners put Jim Crow in place — and Northerners gave up on racial justice,” notes W. Fitzhugh Brundage, a historian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. We can pretend that the debate over Confederate symbols is about preserving or erasing history, but really, it’s about our values. That means she was in middle school when she first started asking, “How much more blood?”. We’re still talking about statues. Falling off the valued parts of the map because of the lack of affordable housing. They are tired of debating and discussing and waiting for people to show they are more invested in removing chains than honoring those figures who fought to keep others in them. The Argument to Keep Statues There are various positions held by those who support the existence of these monuments. Local columnist who previously wrote for the local enterprise team about poverty, race and people with disabilities. Why We Should Keep The Confederate Monuments Right Where They Are Tearing down Confederate statues, or any monuments from our history, will … And we certainly are loath to seriously contemplate how much that history still shapes who we are today. The question they are raising is a distraction from the one we should be asking. Keep them so that we can have a constructive dialogue at places like Montpelier (the home of … To submit a letter, comment or column, check our submission guidelines. Protesters are tearing them down across the country because they are fed up. Despite their historical value and their importance to many members of society, multiple states are removing monuments and statues that are perceived as associated with the former Confederate States of America. In order to make commemorating symbols of racial hatred and oppression palatable, champions of the Confederacy had to rewrite history. Gen. Robert E. Lee, who led a war that killed more than 600,000 Americans  for the patently immoral purpose of extending slavery, “became a convenient icon of reconciliation who was depicted as having reluctantly fought to protect his native state … and then after the war devoted himself to … binding the nation’s wounds,” Brundage writes. Falling victim to police brutality. [Northam vows to fight temporary injunction against removing Robert E. Lee statue]. I wish I could tell you what that person had experienced in the days and decades before they found themselves standing in the shadow of that Confederate general. Stop expecting him to denounce white supremacists. This week, six property owners along that infamous avenue in the former capital of the Confederacy filed a lawsuit aimed at keeping the 60-foot-tall tribute to Lee from being removed by Virginia Gov. “This was a moment that I can cite in my life as a time where I truly lost hope in the systems that continue to fail Black and Brown people.”, Bryant was 12 at the time. A statue of Christopher Columbus was also torn down and tossed into a lake. I’m curious how poll respondents would have answered if given more compelling reasons for statue removal than them offending people. Before that, they toppled a statue of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, and Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham. That image of Lee is false in every important aspect. The lawsuit argues, according to news accounts, that the landowners would see their property values reduced and suffer as a result of “the loss of a priceless work of art from their neighborhood and the degradation of the internationally recognized avenue on which they reside.”. Stop expecting him to denounce white supremacists. Also, there is likely a feeling among many Americans that, as Trump suggests, the statues do, in fact, tell us something important about our past — and that it might be better to keep them than to simply wash history away. Confederate statues are coming down across the country, but not inside the U.S. Capitol. Proof of that statement stood nearby. Keep the statues where they are so that people can explain history to their kids. Contrary to what the president and Ku Klux Klan sympathizers seem to believe, the Confederate monuments are not honoring great patriots or even great soldiering. Since the horrific church shooting in Charleston, S.C., two years ago, calls to remove Confederate flags and monuments have swept the South from Virginia to Texas. As a reporter, and now columnist, who writes often about social issues because of my own background as a Latina who grew up in a neighborhood filled with people who would now be considered “essential workers,” I have spent many days in some of the most neglected neighborhoods in the Washington region and New York. The Lee statue has remained standing because it is too large to dismantle without machinery and because, let’s be honest, lawmakers only recently began pushing in earnest for its removal. Under pressure to remove Woodrow Wilson’s name from certain structures on Princeton’s campus, the trustees named a committee that proposed the following: Keep Wilson’s name on the buildings, but publicly and widely acknowledge that Wilson “held and acted on racist views.” They resolved to recognize “Wilson’s failings and shortcomings as well as (his) visions and achievements.”. Wherever such monuments remain, we should put plaques and other material in place that point out that these men were traitors, not American heroes, and that their ugly legacy haunts us still. Remember Neli Latson, the black teen with autism who seemed ‘suspicious’ sitting outside a library? These individuals often suggest that to remove the statues would be an attempt to disguise America’s past and erase a significant aspect of … More: Other countries have healed, and so will we: Ellis Cose. Woman fights to keep a Confederate statue out of her communityFile name: Groveland Four Memorial Photo taken by: Rosa Flores, CNN Caption: A … Ralph Northam (D). (Aug. 16). They show what they are trying to hold onto: A work of art. He's author of The End of Anger, The Rage of a Privileged Class and other books. Even so, I understand why so many Americans of all races might be fine with keeping Confederate figures in place. The first time Bryant organized a rally was in 2013, after Trayvon Martin’s death. Mostly, though, I wish we could discuss that question without first having to step back to address one that should have been answered long ago: Should these Confederate statues fall or remain standing? More: The reality of racism America continues to deny, POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media. Many people have observed that Confederate memorials were mainly erected in defiance of progress towards civil rights for liberated slaves and their descendants. The public display in the United States of Confederate monuments, memorials and symbols has been and continues to be controversial. … Falling behind in schools because of educational inequity. The removal of these statues is not about history, it’s about futures. They show what is motivating, at least in part, the people who are defending one of the most well-known Confederate statues in the nation, a towering tribute to slavery and hate that has sat at the center of past clashes and recent protests. The Confederate States was formed just before the beginning of the American Civil War -- which took place over 150 years ago. Nonetheless, Trump’s claim that destroying Confederate monuments somehow crosses a line, that it somehow rips apart the nation’s culture and history, takes a bit more reflection. Mississippi county board votes to keep Oxford Square's Confederate statue One supervisor said voters may ultimately decide the statue's fate in a referendum In an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll released last week that asked Americans whether the monuments should “remain as a historical symbol” or “be removed because they are offensive to some people,” 67% of white respondents thought they should stay, as did 75% of whites who were not college graduates; 65% of Latinos were fine with keeping the statues, as were 44% of blacks. I don’t have to tell you the race of any of those people, because you know it. The statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in the center of Emancipation Park the day after the Unite the Right rally led to violence on August 13, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Property values. An officer’s response to a pregnant woman was ‘demeaning and offensive.’ Why her race matters. Discussion of news topics with a point of view, including narratives by individuals regarding their own experiences, Northam vows to fight temporary injunction against removing Robert E. Lee statue, a soft-spoken teenager who just wanted to graduate. A crowd gathers at the statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis after it was pulled down off of its pedestal on Monument Avenue in Richmond, VA., on June 10, 2020. It’s about whether we care more about statues standing than people falling. People are still fighting to keep Confederate statues standing. Confederate monuments are falling, but hundreds still stand. WEATHERFORD, Texas - Parker County Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to keep a statue of a Confederate soldier that is outside the Parker County Courthouse in Weatherford. A mob with torches, spoiling for a fight, shouting, “Jews will not replace us,” is simply not in the same moral universe as terrified protesters, arms linked, trying to fend off vicious attacks. Just after 11 p.m., they pulled the figure from a monument intended to honor an artillery unit that served in the Civil War. But that is only true if we can be honest about why those monuments exist and what they were meant to promote, which is racial oppression. Suit to keep Confederate statues returns to Georgia court November 29, 2020 MACON, Ga. (AP) — A lawsuit in Georgia attempting to prevent the removal of two Confederate statues from downtown Macon is back in a state courtroom. Thank God the deadly violence did not carry over to the demonstrations in Boston on Saturday. Virginia Mercury In six rural Virginia counties, residents vote overwhelmingly to keep Confederate monuments A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. … Other countries have healed, and so will we: Ellis Cose, The reality of racism America continues to deny, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. His reason matters. As statues of people who represent discrimination come down, residents of Montgomery County are reflecting on what that means to us. The death of George Floyd is leading to the removal -- by protesters in some cases and city leaders in others -- of contentious statues that have riled some residents for decades, if not longer. Keep Confederate monuments, but put their horrific history on center stage While Trump is far from right, he is not totally wrong. What other useful purpose could those monuments to evil possibly serve? The statues are a painful reminder of past and present institutionalized racism in the United States. Lawsuit to keep 2 Confederate statues in Georgia returns to court A lawsuit in Georgia attempting to prevent the removal of two Confederate statues from downtown Macon is back in a state courtroom. I could tell you all you need to know about Confederate heroes the... 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