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“Remove all historical memory of the civil war.”
Is it possible for someone like you, even just once, to construct a sentence on this or any other topic without hyperbole? No one is attempting to do the thing you say here. It is pure, non-factual hyperbole.
As for the issue of states rights, what rights were they fighting for? The ‘right’ to keep slaves, and the ‘right’ to not be taxed at a higher rate on those slaves, among others.
I put it to people like yourself that there is plenty of room on this issue for hyperbole from all sides, but if you just stick to the historical facts you claim to be such a proponent of, they all lead back to slavery and a deep sense of entitled isolationism that still pervades much of the southern United States today. Neither of these things are worthy of your defense.
There are people in parts of New England who are, to say the least, provincial, but there are plenty of people throughout the southern United States who still, to this day, feel like they live in a separate country from the rest of us. I hope you’re not one of those people. Every Confederate soldier who fought and died in the Civil War was born an American, as were you, as were many of us. It’s our shared country, our shared history, and our shared responsibility for that history. As others have said, these symbols and statues belong in museums and history books, not displayed as monuments to the losing side of a societal struggle to come to grips with truly being a United States of America, a land of freedom for all people.
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You’re illogical and irrational blather is repugnant. My guess is you’re not very familiar with the facts and history of the matter, because that’s the typical M.O. of folks using your brand of straw man arguments.
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Next they’ll head to Germany, Italy, and Japan to erect the statues of Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito for their roles in WWII…free speech and all, ya’ know.
Good one, Ben Carson.
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That’s something you could certainly try. I’m sure there are some who would donate to that cause.
Awesome
A monument to Admiral Farragut would be a more appropriate choice if the intent is to honor wartime service.
If they can’t be moved then they need to be properly adorned with white hoods, shackles and big L’s on their foreheads.
If they want to honor history then they have to get it right.
Besides, when people think NOLA, they aren’t thinking about slavery and the civil war.
The city should honor a few jazz musicians and Cajun chefs, that would be more apropos.
Never gonna happen
The moment that the Civil War monuments became a sectional thing (Union statues being built in the south), any chance for a Farragut memorial outside of DC became a borderline ‘nope’.
Had he not surrendered Vicksburg, Pemberton had a better chance at getting a war memorial and he was a borderline competent commander.
Add to it Reconstruction and the period after, nope
“individuals and events critical to the outcome of the Civil War”
Uhhhh, okay. You do remember what the outcome was, right?
Don’t forget the obelisk to commemorate the site of the failed beer hall putsch.
Warning: This comment thread has a decidedly Yankee bent to it.
…a decidedly American–and factual–bent to it.
Ahh yes Hitlerputsch. Hey it’s just heritage not hate!
What’s really sad is, as bad a Nazism was it lasted only a short time compared to slavery, Jim Crow and even our current treatment of blacks vs whites in the US.
And yet it’s about a decision of the representatives elected by the citizens of New Orleans, not Yankees.
I’m white. Removing these statues of traitorous slave-owners doesn’t hurt MY feelings.
The article says the city put up the monuments. If they actually belong to a private group, they can pick them up at the curb before the garbage truck gets there. Monuments to the army of slavery have no place on public land,. The monument to the terrorist gang might, if it’s celebrating their defeat or mourning the people the terrorists killed.
Yes, there were “states’ rights” involved in the secession, and the various Confederate states’ declarations of independence from the Union were quite explicit about what rights - the right to own slaves, and to have slavery-based economies, and to be able to force other states to return escaped slaves.
Meanwhile, there are a bunch of pro-Confederates who are all offended about the plan to put up a Martin Luther King memorial on Stone Mountain Georgia.
True, and appropriately so. But other than learning from the missteps, I think it’s silly to deny one’s history. It’s part of the South’s history, just like the Constitution and the 3/5 count for slaves, is part of the nation’s. Thomas Jefferson had Sally Hemmings… should we demolish the Jefferson Memorial? I think it far better to have reminders of history, lest the mistakes be repeated. History gets mangled enough in the telling, but having big grand statues will at least make some kid look up and ask Hey, who was that guy? And I don’t buy equating the South w/ Nazi Germany, or any other foreign nation. The people who fought for the South were Americans - misguided, deluded and naive. Some people would argue much like many of them are today; but Americans, nonetheless.