The removal of statues

[Bronzeage]

So this happened. In Virginia they're planning on removing a statue of a confederate general. There are protests.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40912509

I've a couple of problems with this.

1) It's history. It's good to be reminded that our history isn't all cuddly and nice. Symbols matter. Blackwashing the past is just showering after a rape to make the deed undone. It doesn't work. Swedish cities are full of statues of Swedish kings. Our kings have mostly been the utter scum of the Earth. Worse examples of human waste would be hard to find.

2) The confederates lost the war. I think it says a lot about a country that allows the losers of civil wars to keep statues of their leaders. Another example is Nelson Mandela's support for the Springbocks. An extremely strong symbol of white oppression in South Africa. But also a symbol of whites in general, and also South Africans in general. The confederates are part of black history to, for better or for worse.

3) Why not just put up a new statue next to it? A more contemporary one. Malcolm X or Martin Luther king jr, Obama or whoever symbol they prefer.

Historical revisionism has never sat well with me. The communists and the fascists did it. And that's what I think of when I see this.

Totally agree with you!.

Main reasons were to preserve slavery and some state rights. Why not preserve the history for future generations of these facts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War

It's always best to follow myth with truth.

The main reason(and no one yet has offered anything else of substance) was not the preservation of slavery, but the preservation of the slave trade. The slave trade was the economic life blood of depleted and unproductive east coast plantations. If slavery was suddenly ended, the moneyed class faced bankruptcy. Whatever mythology of chivalry they use to paint the Civil War as a noble cause, the root of it all was the fear of a relatively small group of men.

As a person who may have more Confederate heritage than this entire forum combined, the removal of Confederate Hero's statues doesn't bother me in the least. I've known the truth about the Confederacy for a very long time. It's a shame so many people whose ancestors had nothing to do with it, find it so important to their happiness and well being.

 

[ZiprHead]

Plenty of staues in the south commemorating the oppressors. Where's the statues honoring the oppressed?

 

[thebeave]

Well, i've gotten into trouble for referring to one circuit as a 'slave' to a controlling circuit.
I was told i was being racist.

To be honest, when i hear 'slave,' the first thing that comes to mind are white people in togas. Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. Up Pompeii! Asterix. Rome. It's been a fact of life for most of human history.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't see this as historical revisionism.
They're not wiping his name from the history books or saying the South never rose, or that there was never a civil war.
They're saying that right now, they do not want to honor his efforts to preserve the south and slavery.

Let's agree to disagree. I think you are wrong.

I think you're misusing terms.
Historical revisionism takes a lot more work than just tearing down a statue. In Texas, they're rewriting textbooks, and that, to me, qualifies.

Well, you should have told the guy that you're married to a black woman, but now that I think about it, these days if you try to show an SJW that you're not racist by mentioning you have a black friend or spouse, they say that pretty much proves you are racist....for some bizarre reason that I have yet to understand.

About 20 years ago, I was rebuilding the clutch hydraulics on my truck. I had a leaky "slave" cylinder, so I needed to go the local autoparts store and pick up a new one. I knew ahead of time there was a black guy working there, so in the back of my mind I was a little apprehensive about asking him for one. He wasn't the one who checked me out, but the situation did give me pause. Honestly, he was a pretty laid back cool dude so he probably would have got a chuckle out it.

 

[Keith&Co.]

I think you're wrong. It's chauvinism. The winners rubbing the losers nose in poop and laughing at them.

Yes. I believe the statues are chauvinism. But not winners' chauvinism.
Many of the statues were erected at the same time that several states added the Stars and Bars to their state flags, or flew the Confederate flag over their capitols.
It wasn't about the civil war as much as it was about the civil rights movement starting to gain traction.

When I see statues of Swedish kings in our public squares it's a reminder of how importance democracy is

Well, i don't need a statue to remind me of that.
I can just skim the Letters to the Editor page and see the spittle-flecking writing of the loudly insane and aggressively opinionated. And that includes movements and wars that haven't had time to have statues commissioned!

 

[Keith&Co.]

Well, you should have told the guy that you're married to a black woman, but now that I think about it, these days if you try to show an SJW that you're not racist by mentioning you have a black friend or spouse, they say that pretty much proves you are racist....for some bizarre reason that I have yet to understand.

Well, that would be me playing the Race Card, when i wasn't actually dealt the Race Card to begin with. I'm playing the card they dealt HER.
I mean, i don't automatically accept anyone's claim that THEIR race insulates them from charges of racism. It doesn't work, either, to claim your associations insulate you.
Saying 'my wife is black' is just an intense form of 'some of my best friends are black.'

Honestly, he was a pretty laid back cool dude so he probably would have got a chuckle out it.

Chances are good. One of my coworkers insists on using 'slave' to describe certain circuits, because the control signals 'are not suggestions!'
He just happens to be black, i doubt that his opinion would change much if he wasn't...

 

[laughing dog]

And speaking of NAACP and the plastic arts, they wanted to get rid of the Stone Mountain carving a couple of years ago.
NAACP: Banish Confederate symbols from Stone Mountain in Georgia

This is the carving in question, for people who might not be familiar with it.

Hard to imagine why the NAACP is upset about a "memorial" to the Confederacy built on the site of the 20th revival of the KKK.

 

[DrZoidberg]

I think you're wrong. It's chauvinism. The winners rubbing the losers nose in poop and laughing at them. There was a civil war. I hope you are aware of that a lot of the belligerents still supported secession even after they lost the war? The way to keep a nation together after a war, and even more so in a civil war, is to venerate the leaders of the losing side, afterwards. It's extremely important. Allowing the South to erect statues of confederate generals after the war was really smart, and a testament to what USA is supposed to be, a symbol of democracy and freedom.

The Union was also incredibly racist and treated blacks appallingly. With your logic the American flag today, as well as union generals, is an insult to blacks and a symbol to remind who's really in charge. Still somehow that is a symbol that has endured and been allowed to be updated. Why is that? Could it possibly be that winners write our history?

When I see statues of Swedish kings in our public squares it's a reminder of how importance democracy is and that we should never let autocrats ever rule Sweden again. Statues can serve many purposes. But mostly they're just pretty to look at.

And finally, to quote Annie Sprinkle "I look around our cities and I see statues of great generals. Men who have fought in wars. Where are the statues of people who have had great orgasms?"

There's something inherently absurd about statues to begin with. They're a big clue to wtf is wrong with the culture that put them up. This is important information. Cleaning away historical symbols is losing our history. It will turn us more stupid. Something Americans really don't need any more help with.

The entire reason most of these statues were even put up to begin with was to make a statement of power and oppression to the newly freed blacks.

A statue is a symbol first and "a piece of culture" second. The fact that people are ready to start tearing them down is symbolic of their readiness to move on and we should let them. This isn't even to say we should destroy them, and your claim that it is revisionist rings hollow if the statue is merely moved from one location to another. I think you'd agree the context one gets if they saw this statue in a museum is far different than the context of keeping it out in the open air, as if to suggest "We stand by this monument and what it was built to represent."

But these protestors? Do they look ready to move on to you? Hrrrrm I dunno! Something about marching with nazi flags and confederate battle standards suggests that they aren't. Hell, most of them probably didn't even know it was there beforehand, it's nothing to them, but they see its removal as a symbol that "The niggers are replacing us!" even though the people who voted to remove it were all white to the best of my knowledge.

Tell me, are you against denazification in Germany on principle? Should Germany have kept its surviving nazi eagles on its public buildings because "Oh it's just part of our history." yeah probably not!

I stand by my point. If they're so important then put them in a museum. They do not belong on public ground. If you HAVE to replace it with something, how about a monument to its removal? A reminder that we once made a mistake and then rectified it. Makes for a much better story.

So I guess you're all for ISIS tearing down Palmyra or Al Qaeda demolishing the Bamiyan Buddhas? If we insist on constantly redecorating based on current political whims we will get a really boring world.

We live in a world saturated with powerful symbols all around us, (advertising). The amount of symbols erected that's trying to sell us shit, is not a lot. Specially in USA with it's extremely short history. They don't have a lot of history to begin with.

Almost every statue ever erected, even statues of peaceful symbols, were put up in order for a ruler to show off his power over a conquered people. But over time we forget the intended message, and instead project whatever onto them. It becomes something beautiful anybody can enjoy. A good example is Asian Buddha statues. Various ruling nations had their own style of Buddha statue. But today we just see a Buddha statue.

To me Confederate statues represent the fact that in a democracy people don't always agree. But it's always important to respect other people's views. Especially when they lose the political fight. The racists have lost. They've continually lost every fight since 1865. People who lose are often angry. They're going to continue to lose until we have racial equality, which will happen sooner or later. The statues represents how far we've come today.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Yes. I believe the statues are chauvinism. But not winners' chauvinism.
Many of the statues were erected at the same time that several states added the Stars and Bars to their state flags, or flew the Confederate flag over their capitols.
It wasn't about the civil war as much as it was about the civil rights movement starting to gain traction.

Which they lost. Symbols are very important to the losers. Letting them keep them is a benefit to everyone. All successful rulers have understood this.

When I see statues of Swedish kings in our public squares it's a reminder of how importance democracy is

Well, i don't need a statue to remind me of that.
I can just skim the Letters to the Editor page and see the spittle-flecking writing of the loudly insane and aggressively opinionated. And that includes movements and wars that haven't had time to have statues commissioned!

Americans obviously do, because they voted for a guy like Trump

 

[angelo]

Which they lost. Symbols are very important to the losers. Letting them keep them is a benefit to everyone. All successful rulers have understood this.

When I see statues of Swedish kings in our public squares it's a reminder of how importance democracy is

Well, i don't need a statue to remind me of that.
I can just skim the Letters to the Editor page and see the spittle-flecking writing of the loudly insane and aggressively opinionated. And that includes movements and wars that haven't had time to have statues commissioned!

Americans obviously do, because they voted for a guy like Trump

Yea, democracy sucks!

 

[DrZoidberg]

Which they lost. Symbols are very important to the losers. Letting them keep them is a benefit to everyone. All successful rulers have understood this.

When I see statues of Swedish kings in our public squares it's a reminder of how importance democracy is

Well, i don't need a statue to remind me of that.
I can just skim the Letters to the Editor page and see the spittle-flecking writing of the loudly insane and aggressively opinionated. And that includes movements and wars that haven't had time to have statues commissioned!

Americans obviously do, because they voted for a guy like Trump

Yea, democracy sucks!

Well... yes. Democracy is an awful form of government. It's pretty fucking far from perfect. What it has going for it is that all other forms of government are worse.

Just imagine the carnage if Trump had been a dictator

 

[LordKiran]

The entire reason most of these statues were even put up to begin with was to make a statement of power and oppression to the newly freed blacks.

A statue is a symbol first and "a piece of culture" second. The fact that people are ready to start tearing them down is symbolic of their readiness to move on and we should let them. This isn't even to say we should destroy them, and your claim that it is revisionist rings hollow if the statue is merely moved from one location to another. I think you'd agree the context one gets if they saw this statue in a museum is far different than the context of keeping it out in the open air, as if to suggest "We stand by this monument and what it was built to represent."

But these protestors? Do they look ready to move on to you? Hrrrrm I dunno! Something about marching with nazi flags and confederate battle standards suggests that they aren't. Hell, most of them probably didn't even know it was there beforehand, it's nothing to them, but they see its removal as a symbol that "The niggers are replacing us!" even though the people who voted to remove it were all white to the best of my knowledge.

Tell me, are you against denazification in Germany on principle? Should Germany have kept its surviving nazi eagles on its public buildings because "Oh it's just part of our history." yeah probably not!

I stand by my point. If they're so important then put them in a museum. They do not belong on public ground. If you HAVE to replace it with something, how about a monument to its removal? A reminder that we once made a mistake and then rectified it. Makes for a much better story.

So I guess you're all for ISIS tearing down Palmyra or Al Qaeda demolishing the Bamiyan Buddhas? If we insist on constantly redecorating based on current political whims we will get a really boring world.

We live in a world saturated with powerful symbols all around us, (advertising). The amount of symbols erected that's trying to sell us shit, is not a lot. Specially in USA with it's extremely short history. They don't have a lot of history to begin with.

Almost every statue ever erected, even statues of peaceful symbols, were put up in order for a ruler to show off his power over a conquered people. But over time we forget the intended message, and instead project whatever onto them. It becomes something beautiful anybody can enjoy. A good example is Asian Buddha statues. Various ruling nations had their own style of Buddha statue. But today we just see a Buddha statue.

To me Confederate statues represent the fact that in a democracy people don't always agree. But it's always important to respect other people's views. Especially when they lose the political fight. The racists have lost. They've continually lost every fight since 1865. People who lose are often angry. They're going to continue to lose until we have racial equality, which will happen sooner or later. The statues represents how far we've come today.

ISIS kills heretics and sells their children into slavery. The tearing down of historical sites is the least of their damage. Even so? No, it doesn't bother me, because nothing lasts forever anyway, so no point in getting overly attached. It's just a piece of stone at the end of the day, far more important are what pieces of stone represent. Yes, it is unfortunate that works of historical significance are damaged and lost, even so my feelings are based on my partiality for works of historical significance rather than any inherent value of said pieces of stone.


Further, I looked it up, this particular statue was erected in 1924, around the same time the KKK was seeing its resurgence nationwide. You cannot possibly be naive enough to think these two things are unrelated. This isn't some Buddhist statue that was built 2000 years ago that lost its original symbolism to time. This thing was built less than a century ago, with very clearly recognizable symbolism glorifying the confederacy. Imagine being a black man living in charlottesville when this thing was put up. I wonder how that must have felt. Try putting yourself in those shoes.

Also something worth considering is that symbols never really die. Nothing to stop them from being rebuilt later if people want. The fact that the stones are different doesn't diminish what they represent. So settle down.

 

[Sarpedon]

Huh, I'd never actually seen a picture of that stone mountain carving in context. I'd only seen close ups before. Am I the only one who thinks it looks half assed and ugly? Like they defaced a beautiful cliffside with cheap and childish graffitti?

 

[DrZoidberg]

So I guess you're all for ISIS tearing down Palmyra or Al Qaeda demolishing the Bamiyan Buddhas? If we insist on constantly redecorating based on current political whims we will get a really boring world.

We live in a world saturated with powerful symbols all around us, (advertising). The amount of symbols erected that's trying to sell us shit, is not a lot. Specially in USA with it's extremely short history. They don't have a lot of history to begin with.

Almost every statue ever erected, even statues of peaceful symbols, were put up in order for a ruler to show off his power over a conquered people. But over time we forget the intended message, and instead project whatever onto them. It becomes something beautiful anybody can enjoy. A good example is Asian Buddha statues. Various ruling nations had their own style of Buddha statue. But today we just see a Buddha statue.

To me Confederate statues represent the fact that in a democracy people don't always agree. But it's always important to respect other people's views. Especially when they lose the political fight. The racists have lost. They've continually lost every fight since 1865. People who lose are often angry. They're going to continue to lose until we have racial equality, which will happen sooner or later. The statues represents how far we've come today.

ISIS kills heretics and sells their children into slavery. The tearing down of historical sites is the least of their damage. Even so? No, it doesn't bother me, because nothing lasts forever anyway, so no point in getting overly attached. It's just a piece of stone at the end of the day, far more important are what pieces of stone represent. Yes, it is unfortunate that works of historical significance are damaged and lost, even so my feelings are based on my partiality for works of historical significance rather than any inherent value of said pieces of stone.


Further, I looked it up, this particular statue was erected in 1924, around the same time the KKK was seeing its resurgence nationwide. You cannot possibly be naive enough to think these two things are unrelated. This isn't some Buddhist statue that was built 2000 years ago that lost its original symbolism to time. This thing was built less than a century ago, with very clearly recognizable symbolism glorifying the confederacy. Imagine being a black man living in charlottesville when this thing was put up. I wonder how that must have felt. Try putting yourself in those shoes.

Also something worth considering is that symbols never really die. Nothing to stop them from being rebuilt later if people want. The fact that the stones are different doesn't diminish what they represent. So settle down.

I don't think you understand what I'm saying. I definitely think that the statues erection and KKK popularity are linked. That's one reason why it should stay. That happened. The world we have today is a result of fighting that world. Sure, nothing lasts forever. But trying to stretch today's values into the past, is also a folly.

I disagree. The destruction of Palmyra and the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas is the worst things Al Qaeda and ISIS ever did. Every culture/nation/people have a golden age, a peak. This is all that remains from them. These cultures had the wealth and power to put up these magnificent buildings. Yet, they perished. Their existence is a reminder of the impermanence of everything. They are extremely valuable. It reminds us to keep fighting, to keep working for the world we want to have. If we destroy every trace of the past we'll only get a bland soup of boring. A brave new world.

Here's my favourite poem. It's shows what I mean better than I could explain it.

Ozymandias
BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

The statue exists. I travelled to Egypt and stood in front of the same statue and read the poem. Extremely powerful. I was grateful people had let it stay there. It made me feel humble. Which is good.

Here they are

 

[J842P]

To me Confederate statues represent the fact that in a democracy people don't always agree. But it's always important to respect other people's views. Especially when they lose the political fight. The racists have lost. They've continually lost every fight since 1865. People who lose are often angry. They're going to continue to lose until we have racial equality, which will happen sooner or later. The statues represents how far we've come today.

Nonsense. These aren't comparable at all. The tearing down of ancient ruins is in no-way comparable. Many of these statues are *relatively modern* additions - not even historically Confederate - raised in a direct response to the 1960's wave of civil rights, in an effort to reaffirm white supremacy in the South. It would be as idiotic as saying that German town could raise statues and flags of Nazi's in the 1990's in response to the reunification of Germany. It is *not impotant* to respect the views of Nazis or the KKK, and certainly, a town is under no obligation to host statues to their heroes.

 

[Sarpedon]

Its hard to have that perspective when so much remains undone today. I don't think it is worth today's injustices for some future smugness.

 

[J842P]

ISIS kills heretics and sells their children into slavery. The tearing down of historical sites is the least of their damage. Even so? No, it doesn't bother me, because nothing lasts forever anyway, so no point in getting overly attached. It's just a piece of stone at the end of the day, far more important are what pieces of stone represent. Yes, it is unfortunate that works of historical significance are damaged and lost, even so my feelings are based on my partiality for works of historical significance rather than any inherent value of said pieces of stone.


Further, I looked it up, this particular statue was erected in 1924, around the same time the KKK was seeing its resurgence nationwide. You cannot possibly be naive enough to think these two things are unrelated. This isn't some Buddhist statue that was built 2000 years ago that lost its original symbolism to time. This thing was built less than a century ago, with very clearly recognizable symbolism glorifying the confederacy. Imagine being a black man living in charlottesville when this thing was put up. I wonder how that must have felt. Try putting yourself in those shoes.

Also something worth considering is that symbols never really die. Nothing to stop them from being rebuilt later if people want. The fact that the stones are different doesn't diminish what they represent. So settle down.

I don't think you understand what I'm saying. I definitely think that the statues erection and KKK popularity are linked. That's one reason why it should stay. That happened. The world we have today is a result of fighting that world. Sure, nothing lasts forever. But trying to stretch today's values into the past, is also a folly.

I disagree. The destruction of Palmyra and the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas is the worst things Al Qaeda and ISIS ever did. Every culture/nation/people have a golden age, a peak. This is all that remains from them. These cultures had the wealth and power to put up these magnificent buildings. Yet, they perished. Their existence is a reminder of the impermanence of everything. They are extremely valuable. It reminds us to keep fighting, to keep working for the world we want to have. If we destroy every trace of the past we'll only get a bland soup of boring. A brave new world.

Here's my favourite poem. It's shows what I mean better than I could explain it.

Ozymandias
BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

The statue exists. I travelled to Egypt and stood in front of the same statue and read the poem. Extremely powerful. I was grateful people had let it stay there. It made me feel humble. Which is good.

Here they are

View attachment 12167

As much as I think the destruction of the historical treasures is deplorable, if you think this is "is the worst things Al Qaeda and ISIS ever did" then you are utterly morally confused.

 

[ZiprHead]

As much as I think the destruction of the historical treasures is deplorable, if you think this is "is the worst things Al Qaeda and ISIS ever did" then you are utterly morally confused.

I was kind of taken aback by that too. I think a guy whose head is in his lap would have a differing opinion if he could.

 

[DrZoidberg]

To me Confederate statues represent the fact that in a democracy people don't always agree. But it's always important to respect other people's views. Especially when they lose the political fight. The racists have lost. They've continually lost every fight since 1865. People who lose are often angry. They're going to continue to lose until we have racial equality, which will happen sooner or later. The statues represents how far we've come today.

Nonsense. These aren't comparable at all. The tearing down of ancient ruins is in no-way comparable. Many of these statues are *relatively modern* additions - not even historically Confederate - raised in a direct response to the 1960's wave of civil rights, in an effort to reaffirm white supremacy in the South. It would be as idiotic as saying that German town could raise statues and flags of Nazi's in the 1990's in response to the reunification of Germany. It is *not impotant* to respect the views of Nazis or the KKK, and certainly, a town is under no obligation to host statues to their heroes.

Isn't a better response to put up new statues? That way we get more statues = more prettiness. It's ok to be wrong. The racist statues are the wrong ones. Acknowledging their existence and letting them stay isn't to agree with the opinion.

East Berliners have been fighting tooth and nail to keep their communist monuments. The communist party didn't get any votes last election. It's not about opinions it's about keeping your history, for good or for bad.

 

[Treedbear]

...
I don't think you understand what I'm saying. I definitely think that the statues erection and KKK popularity are linked. That's one reason why it should stay. That happened. The world we have today is a result of fighting that world. Sure, nothing lasts forever. But trying to stretch today's values into the past, is also a folly.

I disagree. The destruction of Palmyra and the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas is the worst things Al Qaeda and ISIS ever did. Every culture/nation/people have a golden age, a peak. This is all that remains from them. These cultures had the wealth and power to put up these magnificent buildings. Yet, they perished. Their existence is a reminder of the impermanence of everything. They are extremely valuable. It reminds us to keep fighting, to keep working for the world we want to have. If we destroy every trace of the past we'll only get a bland soup of boring. A brave new world.
...

These confederate themed statues are not a reminder of history's lessons. They are symbols of a continuing battle. They are a negation of what lessons should have been learned from the war. And they have no particularly noteworthy use as a monument to the peak of southern civilization nor any artistic or archealogical value. They remind people of the glory of war and say nothing about the carnage. The confederates were traitors to their government and had as their founding principle the right to brutally subjugate an entire race of people. This sentiment festers to this day and we need to finally crush it. We pulled down the statues of Saddam Hussein for the benefit of the Iraqi people and we should do the same for the unfairly disadvantaged minority in own country. That's really the only issue. If the nation had come out of the civil war with blacks being given all the rights of citizenship and we now lived in that promised land of equality (more like your own country I'm sure) the statues would lose their negative significance. They'd be largely forgotten about like the civil war statues still found in parks and traffic circles in the northern states. In the meantime they are more than just a symptom of our nation's problems. There is still plenty of interest in all things having to do with the civil war and new perspectives are being discovered by historians constantly. There's a barrage of it every weekend on the C-Span networks. And we've preserved the battlefields. Mainly as memorials to the fallen but also as witnesses to history. But we shouldn't require that people live every day under their shadow in the public square.

 

[jab]

Totally agree with you!.

Main reasons were to preserve slavery and some state rights. Why not preserve the history for future generations of these facts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War

You mean like in a museum? A building who's sole purpose is to preserve historical iconography?

A good museum contextualizes what it displays with commentary, unlike most public monuments which tend to be simply laudatory. However, I think this statue would only belong in a Museum which had a least a gallery dedicated to critically commemorating the horrors of racist injustice.