A graphic published by the Southern Poverty Law Center is telling – it documents when Confederate monuments were built around the country.  Interestingly, there are two spikes in the placement of monuments; the Jim Crow era and the civil rights era.  Confederate named schools were especially popular during the time of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.  One can draw only one conclusion here – these monuments were erected to “honor our heritage”, they were erected in a fleeting attempt to hang on to a by gone era where whites held dominion over African Americans.  Have a look (click the little one to get the big one):

Any reasonable educated American supports removing Confederate monuments that celebrate one of the darkest chapters in our history.  Only bigots support status quo because…you know, heritage; but in 2015, everything changed when the mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston by a white supremacists shook the nation, and the monuments started coming down.  The riots in Charlottesville Virginia this weekend that resulted in the deaths of one counter-protestor and two state troopers were propagated by the announcement of the removal of the statute of Robert E. Lee in a city park.  You know, that statue was really important to our “heritage” and it’s just natural to just start beating and running over people with cars if someone wants to take it down, right?  Of course.

The backlash of this weekend’s  violence has been swift and loud.  White supremacist demonstrators are being outed by activists and some fired by their employers for being racist assholes.  Trump has once again been humiliated for being, you know, a racist asshole.  Frustrated human rights advocates have taken matters into their own hands, and today toppled a confederate statue in Durham North Carolina:

Among some of my circle of friends, though they would like to see monuments like this gone from our city parks and streets, they disagree that they should be toppled by activists.  I’ll admit I’m torn and wonder what others might think about this issue.  Before you answer, look at these images:

The first image was taken in Berlin after it fell to the allies in WWII.  Today, Berlin has been scrubbed clean of all Nazi monuments and even doing the Nazi salute is illegal.  The second image is the famous photo of Saddam’s statue glorifying himself being destroyed after US troops entered Bagdad. I don’t think anyone would disagree with either of these actions.  Why would destruction of monuments that glorify the oppressors of millions of human beings be treated any differently?

It’s not an easy question, and I have to say there was a certain satisfaction in watching that stature being pulled over on its head today by ordinary Americans.  Do you agree?

Yes?  No?