Confederate Statues and Memorials Being Removed After Incident in Charlottesville
I chose this topic because I have been hearing about it recently and it interests be greatly. Also, I would like to learn more about this topic and want to know my classmates stance on this topic.
This topic would create a good class discussion as well!
As you may have heard or seen lately, the memorials and statues in Charlottesville are being removed one by one. The Confederacy is commemorated with statues, monuments, and historical markers were created and built more than 150 years after the Civil War ended. The controversy of these statues has been a upcoming issue lately. Some view the statues as honor heritage and history while others view them as racist symbols of America's legacy of slavery. The removal of the memorials started with the issue that had a breakthrough in 2015, when Dylann Roof killed nine African-Americans in Charleston, SC. This action he did was taken to start a "race war".
This situation was brought back to light recently when white nationalists were in Charlottesville protesting city's plan to remove a statue of Robert E Lee, and counterdemonstrators were there to oppose them. This lead to many people injured and one killed. This event is rallied up by those who feel that the statues are up to glorify the wrong things like racism and slavery. Slowly the monuments are coming down. Some people refuse to wait, like in Durham, North Carolina, people used a rope to pull down the statue of a solider holding a rifle, falling to the ground. This chaos occurring all over will certainly lead to further protests and issues. Tension between supremacists and nationalists will also rise.
This removal of statues started 2 years ago with a mass murder and is still going on today with the protesters and tearing down of the statues. This issue will only grow stronger if nothing is done. Below are links and videos to find out more information about this topic. These links will be helpful when discussing and writing your responses.
Here are links to find further information on this topic-
*Some Links Include Videos*
Discussion questions-
-What do you think should be happening with the statues and memorials? Should they be taken down or stay up?
-If the statues were continue to be taken down, what should happen to them and why?
-Do you agree with the protestors by what they statues stand for?
-What are the pros and cons to the removal of the statue? Which side do you agree with more?
-Would erasing the statues erase the history built behind it?
These memorials are a symbol of racism and slavery. This is easily shown just by the engravements that are on them such as "The Confederate States of America." These statues should be taken down due to their links to bigotry, racism, and slavery, all things that Americans should be strongly against. However, I don't agree that these statues should be broken. Instead they should be relocated to one of the National Civil War Museums to preserve the history built behind them. If they are simply destroyed, then there is definitely a possibility of people forgetting about the Confederate side of the war, which is still important to our history as a country.
ReplyDeleteThe question I will be answering based on this current event is, What are the pros and cons to the removal of the statue? Which side do you agree with more? To me the pro of removing the statue is that the statues represent a harsh, unequal time in America's history. To show that in present day America we no longer will support or lead racism and inequality. Therefore, taking it down will be like moving on from the past so America can grow more in the future. Another pro is that the removal of the statues may start to change the confederate ideology that some people have which hopefully will unite American by somewhat changing their ideology of race inequality. . However there are some cons to taking down these statues, for example the reason we learn about history in school or go to museums is so mistakes made in the past don't repeat themselves. Taking these statues down may cause people to forget how bad the Civil war was and how we as Americans can never go back to the division and inequality we were once faced. Even though there are some cons I strongly believe that the statues should be taken down. The main reason I believe that the statues should be taken down is that they represent slavery and racism so in my opinion no one in America should praise or look up to these statues. Partially because America no longer has slavery so praising the old American ideology is ludacris. But also for the fact that people need to understand America is no longer like it was during the Civil War. They need to change themselves with the idea that African Americans are equal to them and that the United States of America is a fair and unbiased place.
ReplyDeleteThe question I will be focusing on is if erasing the statues will erase the history behind them. I personally believe that taking down the statues would not erase history because there are already civil war museums and collector item for the civil war which remind people of the history and time of confederates. I agree with Matt on how these statues should be placed in museums or auctioned off to collectors who view these items as history. Even though these statues may be representing something horrible such as racism and slavery, they are still a huge part of our history and should be saved. That is why I would say that these statues should be taken down professionally for two reasons. First, it would cause the riots and arguments to simmer down a bit since the government would be taking care of it. However, this solution would not please both sides, it is very hard to please both sides of a dispute but I feel it would be better to remove them with professionals because it would allow the riots and violence to settle and be taken care of. Also, the statues would be able to be preserved to be put in civil war museums or auctioned off to the collectors as said before. Just because the statues would be "relocating" the history behind them would not be forgotten. The history of slavery and racism are such a big deal that even if the statues were not there, people would still remember what had happened, which may be a good thing so it doesn't happen again. Finally, I personally think that taking out the statues to be preserved to be put in museums would not only please civil war collectors, but would also cause these riots to come to a stop or at least less violent. Also, the history behind these statues no matter how horrible it might be, will not be forgotten because of how big racism is today which leads back to slavery and the confederates. The U.S. is built off of freedom and the civil war, confederates, racism, and slavery are all big factors to how much of a successful young country that we are today. It would be nice to keep our country as free as possible and keep on growing so again, getting rid of the statues to be put in a museum would be best to keep riots from happening and save our history.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the statues and memorials should be taken down, but they should not be destroyed or broken. These statues were made to represent part of the United States history and they should be preserved for future generations. Although they do stand for racism and slavery, this was a part of the creation of the united States of America and should be on display in The Civil War museum in Virginia and others like it. Even though slavery and racism is not something to be proud of, it should not be ignored or destroyed, but used to show how the united States has progressed. All in all the Civil War monuments and statues should be taken down and preserved in civil war museums.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is reasonable for the statues to be taken down, as they may embrace negative behaviors such as racism. However, these statues and memorials certainly should not be destroyed or forgotten about. They could be stored properly in museums that fit the meaning of each memorial. My reasoning for this is that although some may be offended by these statues, and for good reason, others value them and agree with the people they were built after, So, by placing these monuments in museums and other such places, it makes it possible for the people who want to see them, able to see them.
ReplyDeleteI do believe the statues should be taken down, but it will not erase the history behind them. We may not be able to erase what happened in the past, but we can definitely move forward from it. We all know about the racism that took place many years ago, and although removing these statues would erase some remains of those events, there are still other sources that remind us of the inhumanity. Children are taught about it as they grow up, whether it be in our judgmental world today or at school in order to teach them what is right and wrong. In recent years, our society has gone through too many racist tragedies. Overall, majority of people want to put these negative actions in the past, and people that are protesting against this are ignorant and need to recognize the racist acts of the people represented in these statues. This should not be something to be proud about.
ReplyDelete