National Trust for Historic Preservation Statement on Confederate Monuments

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"The National Trust for Historic Preservation has previously issued statements about the history and treatment of Confederate monuments, emphasizing that, although some were erected—like other monuments to war dead—for reasons of memorialization, most Confederate monuments were intended to serve as a celebration of Lost Cause mythology and to advance the ideas of white supremacy. Many of them still stand as symbols of those ideologies and sometimes serve as rallying points for bigotry and hate today. To many African Americans, they continue to serve as constant and painful reminders that racism is embedded in American society.

We believe it is past time for us, as a nation, to acknowledge that these symbols do not reflect, and are in fact abhorrent to, our values and to our foundational obligation to continue building a more perfect union that embodies equality and justice for all."

https://savingplaces.org/press-center/m ... vFfFJ5Kgb1
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some were erected—like other monuments to war dead—for reasons of memorialization, most Confederate monuments were intended to serve as a celebration of Lost Cause mythology and to advance the ideas of white supremacy.
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And this is why they should all be melted down for scrap metal!! They are monuments to bigotry and racism!
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I doubt that. The statue in Oregon that protesters tore down is near a statue of Lenin that was left standing.

The statue of a Man who fought slavery was torn down, and the statues of the man who literally formed America was torn down as well.


In the words of my neighbor- “ y’all just don’t know who you’re fightin’ “
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Frau Holle wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 11:12 am I doubt that. The statue in Oregon that protesters tore down is near a statue of Lenin that was left standing.

The statue of a Man who fought slavery was torn down, and the statues of the man who literally formed America was torn down as well.


In the words of my neighbor- “ y’all just don’t know who you’re fightin’ “
Doubt what? The majority of confederate statues in front of court houses and in town squares, predominantly in the south, were erected to "advance ideas of white supremacy". I do understand the rage and emotion that is causing people to want to tear them down but wish that they would wait and have individual municipalities legally take them down. I also understand that there have been some statues not related to the confederacy that have been destroyed and that is very unfortunate collateral damage.
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WellPreserved wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 11:19 am
Frau Holle wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 11:12 am I doubt that. The statue in Oregon that protesters tore down is near a statue of Lenin that was left standing.

The statue of a Man who fought slavery was torn down, and the statues of the man who literally formed America was torn down as well.


In the words of my neighbor- “ y’all just don’t know who you’re fightin’ “
Doubt what? The majority of confederate statues in front of court houses and in town squares, predominantly in the south, were erected to "advance ideas of white supremacy". I do understand the rage and emotion that is causing people to want to tear them down but wish that they would wait and have individual municipalities legally take them down. I also understand that there have been some statues not related to the confederacy that have been destroyed and that is very unfortunate collateral damage.
Collateral damage is a pretty abhorrent term.

That means that yes, we took out our anger on innocents but we don’t care because the larger cause is more important to us. We became the monsters we despise.



To be honest, places like New York and Alabama basically are different countries. They are as different as France and Germany but with a common language.


People today do not see this other country, the idea of the confederate states as an entity based on slavery. You do. They don’t.

They see it as the fight for their states rights to govern themselves, and it is not about slavery today. The fight continues over a huge deal of issues like Abortion, Gun Rights, Church rights , mining rights and the issues are typically split down the middle of north and south... that is why these things mean so much to people today.

Because their fight to govern themselves still continues.
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Frau Holle wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 11:55 am
WellPreserved wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 11:19 am
Frau Holle wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 11:12 am I doubt that. The statue in Oregon that protesters tore down is near a statue of Lenin that was left standing.

The statue of a Man who fought slavery was torn down, and the statues of the man who literally formed America was torn down as well.


In the words of my neighbor- “ y’all just don’t know who you’re fightin’ “
Doubt what? The majority of confederate statues in front of court houses and in town squares, predominantly in the south, were erected to "advance ideas of white supremacy". I do understand the rage and emotion that is causing people to want to tear them down but wish that they would wait and have individual municipalities legally take them down. I also understand that there have been some statues not related to the confederacy that have been destroyed and that is very unfortunate collateral damage.
Collateral damage is a pretty abhorrent term.

That means that yes, we took out our anger on innocents but we don’t care because the larger cause is more important to us. We became the monsters we despise.



To be honest, places like New York and Alabama basically are different countries. They are as different as France and Germany but with a common language.


People today do not see this other country, the idea of the confederate states as an entity based on slavery. You do. They don’t.

They see it as the fight for their states rights to govern themselves, and it is not about slavery today. The fight continues over a huge deal of issues like Abortion, Gun Rights, Church rights , mining rights and the issues are typically split down the middle of north and south... that is why these things mean so much to people today.

Because their fight to govern themselves still continues.
I don't place guilt or innocence on inanimate objects but I do apologize if the term offended you.

As a Virginian who comes from a long line of Virginians, I would never refer to myself as part of the confederacy except in an historical context. The confederacy was an unrecognized republic which was in existence for less than 5 years and yes, it was formed to protect the right to own humans.

With migrations of people from rural to urban, urban to rural, east coast to west coast and all the areas in between, and with the influx of immigration the last 100 years, I think states are unilaterally becoming more culturally diverse as well as politically diverse and would argue your "different countries" analogy.

The "fight" you speak of is a political one. Looking at a basic political map which defines states as either all red or all blue, I can understand why you would think this was split between "north" and "south" with midwest thrown into the "south" and west coast thrown into the "north". If you look at a more detailed political map, you would see that it is more of a divide between rural and urban/suburban.
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WellPreserved wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 1:58 pm
Frau Holle wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 11:55 am
WellPreserved wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 11:19 am

Doubt what? The majority of confederate statues in front of court houses and in town squares, predominantly in the south, were erected to "advance ideas of white supremacy". I do understand the rage and emotion that is causing people to want to tear them down but wish that they would wait and have individual municipalities legally take them down. I also understand that there have been some statues not related to the confederacy that have been destroyed and that is very unfortunate collateral damage.
Collateral damage is a pretty abhorrent term.

That means that yes, we took out our anger on innocents but we don’t care because the larger cause is more important to us. We became the monsters we despise.



To be honest, places like New York and Alabama basically are different countries. They are as different as France and Germany but with a common language.


People today do not see this other country, the idea of the confederate states as an entity based on slavery. You do. They don’t.

They see it as the fight for their states rights to govern themselves, and it is not about slavery today. The fight continues over a huge deal of issues like Abortion, Gun Rights, Church rights , mining rights and the issues are typically split down the middle of north and south... that is why these things mean so much to people today.

Because their fight to govern themselves still continues.
I don't place guilt or innocence on inanimate objects but I do apologize if the term offended you.

As a Virginian who comes from a long line of Virginians, I would never refer to myself as part of the confederacy except in an historical context. The confederacy was an unrecognized republic which was in existence for less than 5 years and yes, it was formed to protect the right to own humans.

With migrations of people from rural to urban, urban to rural, east coast to west coast and all the areas in between, and with the influx of immigration the last 100 years, I think states are unilaterally becoming more culturally diverse as well as politically diverse and would argue your "different countries" analogy.

The "fight" you speak of is a political one. Looking at a basic political map which defines states as either all red or all blue, I can understand why you would think this was split between "north" and "south" with midwest thrown into the "south" and west coast thrown into the "north". If you look at a more detailed political map, you would see that it is more of a divide between rural and urban/suburban.
I don’t think anyone places innocent or guilt on inanimate objects, they place those labels on the human beings that the statues depict.

Your experience as a Virginian is relevant, but not at all a testimony of what those who want to preserve these statues would say.

The fight I speak of is exactly a political one, with both sides continually saying the other side’s opinion doesn’t matter, and keeping a refusal to accurately recount their issue with the destruction of what they see as important.
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Frau Holle wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 3:11 pm
WellPreserved wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 1:58 pm
Frau Holle wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 11:55 am

Collateral damage is a pretty abhorrent term.

That means that yes, we took out our anger on innocents but we don’t care because the larger cause is more important to us. We became the monsters we despise.



To be honest, places like New York and Alabama basically are different countries. They are as different as France and Germany but with a common language.


People today do not see this other country, the idea of the confederate states as an entity based on slavery. You do. They don’t.

They see it as the fight for their states rights to govern themselves, and it is not about slavery today. The fight continues over a huge deal of issues like Abortion, Gun Rights, Church rights , mining rights and the issues are typically split down the middle of north and south... that is why these things mean so much to people today.

Because their fight to govern themselves still continues.
I don't place guilt or innocence on inanimate objects but I do apologize if the term offended you.

As a Virginian who comes from a long line of Virginians, I would never refer to myself as part of the confederacy except in an historical context. The confederacy was an unrecognized republic which was in existence for less than 5 years and yes, it was formed to protect the right to own humans.

With migrations of people from rural to urban, urban to rural, east coast to west coast and all the areas in between, and with the influx of immigration the last 100 years, I think states are unilaterally becoming more culturally diverse as well as politically diverse and would argue your "different countries" analogy.

The "fight" you speak of is a political one. Looking at a basic political map which defines states as either all red or all blue, I can understand why you would think this was split between "north" and "south" with midwest thrown into the "south" and west coast thrown into the "north". If you look at a more detailed political map, you would see that it is more of a divide between rural and urban/suburban.
I don’t think anyone places innocent or guilt on inanimate objects, they place those labels on the human beings that the statues depict.

Your experience as a Virginian is relevant, but not at all a testimony of what those who want to preserve these statues would say.

The fight I speak of is exactly a political one, with both sides continually saying the other side’s opinion doesn’t matter, and keeping a refusal to accurately recount their issue with the destruction of what they see as important.
I have zoomed in on several town council and county board of supervisor meetings in the last couple of weeks specifically devoted to discussion about our own local confederate statue, and our county wasn't even really part of the confederacy. As much as I'd like to see it gone, I don't want to see it arbitrarily torn down by protestors. I would like our community to come to an agreement to move the statue to our local cemetery where confederate soldiers, union soldiers, and deserters are all buried and I actually think that's going to happen. That is the discussion I would like to see in all municipalities that have these problematic statues.

But at the same time I think it's very important for the reason WHY these statues were erected in the first place to be discussed which was the point of this OP. I also think that we have to acknowledge the pain that these statues have caused. In the case of our statue in front of the courthouse in the center of town, it has caused our Black residents a tremendous amount of pain especially in light of the fact that they were not even allowed to enter our courthouse through the front door until the late 60s.
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WellPreserved wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 3:40 pm
Frau Holle wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 3:11 pm
WellPreserved wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 1:58 pm

I don't place guilt or innocence on inanimate objects but I do apologize if the term offended you.

As a Virginian who comes from a long line of Virginians, I would never refer to myself as part of the confederacy except in an historical context. The confederacy was an unrecognized republic which was in existence for less than 5 years and yes, it was formed to protect the right to own humans.

With migrations of people from rural to urban, urban to rural, east coast to west coast and all the areas in between, and with the influx of immigration the last 100 years, I think states are unilaterally becoming more culturally diverse as well as politically diverse and would argue your "different countries" analogy.

The "fight" you speak of is a political one. Looking at a basic political map which defines states as either all red or all blue, I can understand why you would think this was split between "north" and "south" with midwest thrown into the "south" and west coast thrown into the "north". If you look at a more detailed political map, you would see that it is more of a divide between rural and urban/suburban.
I don’t think anyone places innocent or guilt on inanimate objects, they place those labels on the human beings that the statues depict.

Your experience as a Virginian is relevant, but not at all a testimony of what those who want to preserve these statues would say.

The fight I speak of is exactly a political one, with both sides continually saying the other side’s opinion doesn’t matter, and keeping a refusal to accurately recount their issue with the destruction of what they see as important.
I have zoomed in on several town council and county board of supervisor meetings in the last couple of weeks specifically devoted to discussion about our own local confederate statue, and our county wasn't even really part of the confederacy. As much as I'd like to see it gone, I don't want to see it arbitrarily torn down by protestors. I would like our community to come to an agreement to move the statue to our local cemetery where confederate soldiers, union soldiers, and deserters are all buried and I actually think that's going to happen. That is the discussion I would like to see in all municipalities that have these problematic statues.

But at the same time I think it's very important for the reason WHY these statues were erected in the first place to be discussed which was the point of this OP. I also think that we have to acknowledge the pain that these statues have caused. In the case of our statue in front of the courthouse in the center of town, it has caused our Black residents a tremendous amount of pain especially in light of the fact that they were not even allowed to enter our courthouse through the front door until the late 60s.
I would personally think that was a great compromise, a cemetery where all these people are buried seems like a perfect place.


It’s completely needed to make sure everyone living in the town is comfortable, but we need to do more to actually hear each other’s words rather than continue to think the “other side“ is simply wrong and evil.
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