YAY!! Gov. Northam: Taking down the statue of Robert E. Lee

[BComplex]

About the civil war and slavery: "It was wrong then, and it's wrong now!"

“It’s time to put an end to the lost cause; Richmond is no longer the capital of the Confederacy,” said Mayor Levar Stoney.

I don't know how to post the video, but it's at the link.

https://www.wmbfnews.com/2020/06/03/virginia-governor-announce-removal-lee-statue/

[genxlib]

1. Just to be clear

Northam is in favor of taking it down.

The text in the OP title and the subsequent quote in the OP title make it sound like he is against taking it down.

These monuments should have never been allowed to be erected. It is long past time for them to go.

[BComplex]

2. Sorry! You're right about that!

I'll fix it.

[gratuitous]

3. The time is always right to correct a mistake, to right a wrong

Philadelphia is at long last taking down the statue of Mayor Frank Rizzo, and some folks were fretting that in today's charged atmosphere, it might not be the right time to take down the statue of a racist authoritarian who consistently oppressed Philadelphia's poor and minorities. According to bigots, it's never the right time to condemn bigotry. We really need to stop listening to them.

[BComplex]

5. ...

I'm hoping this whole country will correct the mistakes we've made for way too long.

[essme]

4. Bittersweet in some Southern families- including mine

First, I do think it's time for them to go--- past time. That said--- please understand some of the old folks are going to take it hard. Before you say, "Screw them!" remember that older people in the South, and I am talking about my father- people in their 80s that were raised in Richmond-- remember the last of the Civil War veterans. Hell, my stories of the war were only second hand, and I was born in 64. My grandfather talked fondly of members of the family that he knew that fought in the war.

History down here was revisionist. I was raised to be able to look at that statue, and name his horse (Traveler). We were taught that Sherman marched through, burned everything down, 600,000 young folks dead, starvation, etc. "Gone with the Wind" was one of the first adult chapter books I read, and I truly believed Scarlett surely to god looked just like Vivien Leigh.

I grew up, and majored in history- so, obviously, clearly I outgrew those childhood notions. My parents are strong Democrats; my mother is a feminist.

But, there was a point where I was praying those statues would stay until Dad died-- selfish, I know. I was hoping he could drive down Monument Ave. one more time and feel some pride in his ancestors who believed they were doing the right thing.

History waits for no one. So, I will listen to him mourn the passing of his beliefs, and hope that someone thinks to dig up Jefferson Davis, cremate whatever is left in that coffin, and bury those ashes underneath a magnolia tree.

[Aristus]

6. It's still not inappropriate to say 'Screw them'.

I was born and raised in the South. I have slaveowners in my ancestry. Every ancestor I have who fought in the Civil War fought for the Confederacy.

That doesn't mean I have to get dewy eyed watching the statue of a traitor and a vicious slaveowner come down. Nothing has been lost, and everything has been gained by calling these people what they were, and ending the ludicrous fantasy that they were gallant knights upholding all that is true and glorious.

They were squalid, tawdry people who should never have been celebrated, even by other squalid, tawdry people.

[essme]

7. Thank you for your thoughtful

response.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

8. We already have a national monument to Robert E. Lee

It's Arlington National Cemetery. Look it up.