Here’s a thought…At the risk of angering everyone, how about we keep all the historical statues… Yeah. That’s right. Destroying them won’t change the reason they exist; which, by the way, is where this discussion must inevitably go.
So, take them out of the public places where they pay homage to some wrong minded once-upon-a-time misguided leader of some historical national tragedy and place them into our museums where they can be given context. Who where they? What was their historical role. Why was the statue created? By whom? Why was the statue placed where it was placed? What was the longer-term impact of memorializing this historical figure? What can we/should we learn as a nation from the history they represent?
We should never try to erase our history, but we must contextualize it. And in that, there is much more to explain then our ignominious history of slavery and the war between the states. Far more. True greatness is found by facing one’s past and learning from it to inform the future. Just a thought…
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