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[aeolist]

for people who want to make sure we don't forget the past, wouldn't it make more sense to put up something like the barbados emancipation monument rather than dashing statues glorifying slavers?

 

[Mahonay]

Actually in Germany they keep their history intact. To be able to never forget of a dark past.

They also didn't go around erecting statues of Hitler and Goebbels 80 years after the war. So, no, not remotely the same thing at all.

 

[| Praxis |]

Hopefully they remove them and put them in a museum storeroom somewhere.

While they celebrate something bad, they are still a part of the United States history.

This. I can't condone destroying these statues, I also can't condone having them as a public monument but they should be preserved.

 

[Mahonay]

This. I can't condone destroying these statues, I also can't condone having them as a public monument but they should be preserved.

They were erected mid-20th century to remind black people of their place.

No. Fuck these statues. Really.

 

[JettDash]

This. I can't condone destroying these statues, I also can't condone having them as a public monument but they should be preserved.

Again. These are crappy statues erected decades after the war to protest black people.

Fuck the statues. They can throw them in a dump for all I care.

ETA: beaten

 

[GET2DAACHOPPAAAA]

Looks like Stone Mountain in Georgia might be next

 

[Siegcram]

Actually in Germany they keep their history intact. To be able to never forget of a dark past.

You wanna guess how many commemorative nazi statues there are in Germany?

Historic literacy is 99% education and has fuck all to do with statues standing around.

So anyone bemoaning the loss of historic artifacts firstly look up the dates these abominations were built and then take a look in your children's history books. Because that's where the damage comes from that results in Tiki-wielding mobs of nazi scum.

 

[| Praxis |]

They were erected mid-20th century to remind black people of their place.

No. Fuck these statues. Really.

Then in a few hundred years they can be used to show how fucking backwards we still were in the mid 20th century. I just feel uneasy destroying statues and monuments considering those that have become infamous for it in the past and recent history. No matter what they represent.

I feel the same when it comes to Nazi artifacts as I do these.

 

[Khoryos]

They were erected mid-20th century to remind black people of their place.

No. Fuck these statues. Really.

To me, that is in and of itself a piece of your history that shouldn't be forgotten.

I mean, shit, look at how many people just in this thread weren't aware of that - they aren't civil war history, sure, but they are civil *rights* history.

 

[fester]

They were erected mid-20th century to remind black people of their place.

No. Fuck these statues. Really.

How many times does this need to be repeated until people get it into their fucking brains? The only "history" here is that white supremacists tried to rewrite it years after they lost a traitorous war fueled by racism.

 

[JettDash]

To me, that is in and of itself a piece of your history that shouldn't be forgotten.

I mean, shit, look at how many people just in this thread weren't aware of that - they aren't civil war history, sure, but they are civil *rights* history.

So keep around statues glorifying traitors who fought to keep slavery that were dedicated decades after the war just to remember that racist scum put them there.

Fuck that. Get rid of them.

 

[Mahonay]

Then in a few hundred years they can be used to show how fucking backwards we still were in the mid 20th century. I just feel uneasy destroying statues and monuments considering those that have become infamous for it in the past and recent history. No matter what they represent.

I feel the same when it comes to Nazi artifacts as I do these.

To me, that is in and of itself a piece of your history that shouldn't be forgotten.

I mean, shit, look at how many people just in this thread weren't aware of that - they aren't civil war history, sure, but they are civil *rights* history.

We have pictures and history books. Also practically an entire nation that has been practicing the oppression of black people.

I don't think the country is going to forget. People will choose to be willfully ignorant as well, these shitty statues existing sure as fuck isn't going to change that.

Also the Nazi artifact statement doesn't pertain to this at all. Germany didn't put up a bunch of statues of Nazi leaders. So just, no.

 

[aeolist]

Actually in Germany they keep their history intact. To be able to never forget of a dark past.

anyone who thinks the current state of confederate remembrance in the US isn't glorified and whitewashed is a fucking moron or a racist.

if you want us to remember our dark past, that is not what these statues do. statues of slaves, freedom fighters, and abolitionists would do that. replacing the plantation museums that talk about how well slaves were treated with historically accurate representations of our centuries-long rape of imported african people would do that. ensuring that our education system universally depicts the antebellum south and the confederacy as the monstrous institutions they were rather than the lost cause/states rights bullshit most kids currently hear would do that.

fight for those things if you want proper remembrance and reconciliation. not white supremacist propaganda.

 

[FreedomFighter]

for people who want to make sure we don't forget the past, wouldn't it make more sense to put up something like the barbados emancipation monument rather than dashing statues glorifying slavers?

Yes.

 

[gamz]

I didn't even realize we had so many of these damn statues?!?

Embarrassing and get rid of them.

 

[Siegcram]

I never realized so much of the US education system was statue-based.

 

[Carn82]

Actually in Germany they keep their history intact. To be able to never forget of a dark past.

Yes, but not with glorified statues. If you have been on the wrong side of history, you don't deserve a public statue, you deserve a thorough analysis showing people WHY it was wrong. For example, Munich has a really impressive museum about the (rise of) national socialism and the NSDAP party, its called Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism.
It's built on the same site as the old NSDAP (nazi) headquarters. I visit Munich often (have a friend living there) but never checked out the museum. Its horrifying; there are many parallels with the current era Trump-administration (not to mention the rise of Le Pen and Wilders and UKIP and that stuff in Europe). It made me double down on my already strong beliefs that fearmongering to the "white man" is just fucking sickening.

 

[Suburban Thug]

Then in a few hundred years they can be used to show how fucking backwards we still were in the mid 20th century. I just feel uneasy destroying statues and monuments considering those that have become infamous for it in the past and recent history. No matter what they represent.

I feel the same when it comes to Nazi artifacts as I do these.

I disagree. They have no historical value and we have plenty of audio/video recordings from the 20th century onward to remind us of how backwards the political climate is now. These statues should be obliterated.

 

[fester]

You don't keep monuments that were erected to perpetuate fake history - that only leads to confusion and to the real history repeating itself. (As is clearly evident in current events and this very thread.)

 

[123rl]

Not enough of a statement. They should have sprayed each monument with a thousand gallons of actual liquid shit, blew them up with dynamite, and then taken a photograph of it with a team of men and women of varying races flipping it off. Inflate the photo and turn it into a huge portrait to put in the place of the old statues

I know there’s a lot of tension and mixed meanings behind comments on these riots, so I want to be clear. Fuck everyone who supports or is defending any of the assholes responsible for what’s happened so far.

 

[Zips]

Melt them down if they have any salvageable metal in them. That's about the only use they have.

 

[Red]

We must never forget our horrid, racist past, or we are doomed to repeat it.

If anything, these statues prove that we in a horrid, racist present. They don't serve as a reminder of confederate transgressions. They serve as a reminder of what the southern US celebrates—the subjugation of black men.

The US didn't erect statues of George III to remember the Boston tea party. We don't have it in our history to "remember" our enemies by posturing them as heroes. How many victims of genocide erect statues to remember their oppressors?

 

[Carn82]

These statues should be obliterated.

Or move them to an open air museum.

All of the statues, therefore, were positioned according to the original sculptural and architectural plans. This park is not about the statues or the sculptors, but a critique of the ideology that used these statues as symbols of authority.

I realised that if I made this park with more direct, drastic and real tools, as many thought I should, I would create an anti-propaganda park from these propaganda statues and in doing this, I would be faithfully following the same recipe and mentality that we inherited from dictatorship."—Ákos Eleőd, Architect

 

[tonysidaway]

They don't do it by erecting statues of Nazis decades after the war.

Ditto dedicating schools. There is no Hauptschule Lionel Himmler, no Gymnasium Hermann Göring. The former secession states have nine high schools dedicated to Robert E. Lee alone. The latest was founded in 1992, the earliest in 1926.

 

[Mahonay]

If anything, these statues prove that we in a horrid, racist present. They don't serve as a reminder of confederate transgressions. They serve as a reminder of what the southern US celebrates—the subjugation of black men.

This.

THEY ARE NOT HISTORIC.

 

[SpaceCadetKeon]

But what are these fine people with their legally-obtained permits supposed to peacefully rally around once all the statues are gone? (((

 

[Red]

This.

THEY ARE NOT HISTORIC.

They are historic only for those who are no longer fighting.

 

[Mahonay]

They are historic only for those who are no longer fighting.

Man is that ever some fucking truth right there.

 

[ahoyhoy]

Ball Town stay good.

 

[JettDash]

Ditto dedicating schools. There is no Hauptschule Lionel Himmler, no Gymnasium Hermann Göring. The former secession states have nine high schools dedicated to Robert E. Lee alone. The latest was founded in 1992, the earliest in 1926.

Man I'm glad I didn't grow up in the South. I don't know how I would have dealt with going to Robert E. Lee High School.

 

[Red]

It's not even a subtle or nuanced distinction to make. Imagine if German Jews were forced to look up at statues of Hitler every day. Imagine if they were forced to drive down streets named after SS leaders and death camp operators. Imagine their neighbors argued swatstika flags should be hung on government property. Imagine if they were disproportionately targeted by law enforcement and shot dead unarmed in the streets, with no consequences for the perpetrators. Imagine that. Would you say their fight was over? "We must keep these structures here, they are history, they are valuable." What does it say about the society who does this at the expense of the people who they claim to have liberated?

 

[balladofwindfishes]

This. I can't condone destroying these statues, I also can't condone having them as a public monument but they should be preserved.

These statues are mass produced symbols of hate. They have nothing to do with the Civil War.

A statue doesn't become significant just because it exists. If we have to save every single Jim Crow Confederate statue, we'd have to own mass warehouses to store hundreds of versions of essentially the same statue with essentially the same story.

 

[Mahonay]

These statues are mass produced symbols of hate. They have nothing to do with the Civil War.

A statue doesn't become significant just because it exists. If we have to save every single Jim Crow Confederate statue, we'd have to own mass warehouses to store hundreds of versions of essentially the same statue with essentially the same story.

It's not even a subtle or nuanced distinction to make. Imagine if German Jews were forced to look up at statues of Hitler every day. Imagine if they were forced to drive down streets named after SS leaders and death camp operators. Imagine their neighbors argued swatstika flags should be hung on government property. Imagine if they were disproportionately targeted by law enforcement and shot dead unarmed in the streets, with no consequences for the perpetrators. Imagine that. Would you say their fight was over?

But we might forget!!

I hope some of you realize just how absurd that argument is.

 

[Crimson-Death]

Destroy the statues of traitors to the nation. Do not honor their treason, they don't belong in the same league as statues of Washington, Jefferson, etc, those men were trying to build a nation, not tear it apart. The intent behind those Confederate Monuments is racist, not historic, and they need to go, and everything going on will highlight the fact. Good riddance.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Robert E. Who? Sorry, I can't remember who that guy is now that his statue is gone.

On a side note, I kinda feel like we should bring back slavery. I don't think it ever lead to something horrifying. If it had surely there would be statues celebrating the slave owners everywhere.

 

[LiK]

You'll never see them coming

Spoiler

down

.

 

[Red]

Robert E. Who? Sorry, I can't remember who that guy is now that his statue is gone.

On a side note, I kinda feel like we should bring back slavery. I don't think it ever lead to something horrifying. If it had surely there would be statues celebrating the slave owners everywhere.

Maybe we should get to whipping black folks so they remember what they got away from.

 

[tonysidaway]

Man I'm glad I didn't grow up in the South. I don't know how I would have dealt with going to Robert E. Lee High School.

How does Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi grab you as a postal address?

 

[IntelliHeath]

We must never forget our horrid, racist past, or we are doomed to repeat it.

Say it with me, these are not historical monuments

Like he said, and we still have several slavery museums to ensure that we wouldn't forget our past, like Whitney Plantation, Mount Vernon, and more. Those statues are essentially the reminders of white superiority rather than representation of the Civil War or dark chapter of America past.

If you want to support certain historical monuments then go to museum and give them the money so they can stay around longer as we could make it to happens.

 

[Marvie_3]

Awesome. Hopefully the rest are torn down soon.

 

[JettDash]

How does Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi grab you as a postal address?

Barf.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

In quite a lot of cases, the actual act of ripping the statue down is of more historical significance than the statue itself.

 

[The One and Done™]

Melt them down and turn them into statues of civil rights leaders.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Hopefully they remove them and put them in a museum storeroom somewhere.

While they celebrate something bad, they are still a part of the United States history.

I hope they collect dust and rot in the museum basement.

 

[LiK]

Am I the only one who finds it hilarious how the white racists rallying to save one statue caused more to be torn down?

 

[Red]

I for one look forward to the gleaming statue of Bashar Hafez al-Assad planted right in the heart of Aleppo.

 

[Kill Your Masters]

Actually in Germany they keep their history intact. To be able to never forget of a dark past.

Not with glorifying heroic Hitler statues in public spaces.

 

[FTF]

Awesome, this is great to see. Hopefully this causes a mass wave to remove all confederate statues and moneuments nationwide.

 

[Lightning_Roller]

Melt them down and turn them into statues of civil rights leaders.

That would really piss off the Nazis....it needs to happen.

 

[Shadybiz]

I didn't even realize we had so many of these damn statues?!?

Embarrassing and get rid of them.

Neither did I, frankly. I have no issue with seeing them all destroyed.