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When white people claim this is destroying or hiding history, I ask them how many statutes they can point to that are about the bad sides of history (e.g., depicting slavery or the genocide of American Indians or the rape and oppression of women). They can’t name any. It’s not that these statutes don’t exist, it’s that they aren’t featured in the same way as the heroic ones.

Most people visit the Washington and Lincoln memorials in DC. Very few people venture over and see the Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II (which is about the dignity of the internees).

Statues are, by their very nature, propaganda. They are different than memorial walls or other memorial works. Which statutes we center says a lot about our worldview.

The entire point of these Confederate statues was propaganda to make the men seem like heroes. To “set the narrative” as it were.

They are, at their core, a distorted version of history.

Even if they were not celebrating a horrid world view, including both slavery and treason, they would still be wrong b/c they would still present an incorrect view of history.

Every time I run into another white person (I’m white) who wants to keep them up b/c of history, I ask them why there are no statutes of Nat Turner because he’s part of the history of the South.

Stony silence.

Deep in their hearts they know that they are presenting a distorted view that “whitewashes” the deeds of their forefathers.

We all need to continue to challenge them on their bullshit.

Personally, I’d like to start with Confederate statues but not stop until we’ve completely re-examined all the tired old white men we venerate. Slaveholders, genocidal expansionist maniacs, abusers of women, bigots....they all need to be revisited and their statues retired.

One side effect of the Hamilton mania is a lot of people I know are really into the Founding Fathers now in a very dishonest way. They want to focus on the underdog narrative and ignore all the horrible things many of these men did.

All Americans - but especially white people - have a very distorted view of history.

Someone recently called Trump “the worst President ever” and another person in the room said it would be ok bc “we all survived Jackson.” Without thinking, I turned around and snapped “A lot of Cherokees didn’t.” Stony silence. You would have thought I jumped up on the table and took a dump.

The Civil War May Be Settled, but the Fight to Remove Confederate Symbols Rages On South Is STILL Full Of Traitors