Originally Posted by Sini
You *assert* that these are monuments to racism and poison the well by insisting that there is no other possible reason these exist but to celebrate racism. Since you have done this twice, and it is core of your argument, I want you to demonstrate that these monuments: a) are there to celebrate characters uniquely racist by standards of their own time and/or b) used today to promote racism and removing them will lead to direct reduction in racism.

Again, we are not talking about tearing down statues of robed grand wizard or statue of a burning cross, we are talking about tearing down statues of historical figures.


[Linked Image]

Many of these were erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. This is a white supremacist organization, which contemporaneously defended the KKK. The monuments romanticize the era of slavery and glorify those who fought to defend it. Whatever historical value they have is not balanced by the tacit approval of their symbolism through their prominence in public spaces. This contributes to an overall normalization of racist attitudes which directly contributes to racism. Moreover, their removal from public spaces does not equate to erasing history, and nobody is arguing that it should.

Your straw man about Obama misses the point because he did not literally fight in a war to protect his ownership of humans. I guess if he took a lot of money from the Beef lobby, and critically future cows become sentient, and in direct response Big BBQ puts up a giant Obama statue, then maybe you might have a point.

Last edited by rhaikh; 08/25/17 03:33 PM.

[Linked Image]