It was only erected as a monument to white supremacy, a reminder to blacks about who really was in charge... This was not a statue erected during or immediately after the civil war- it was erected in the 1920's, this was a malicious 'fuck you' to those the whites wanted to continue oppressing. The only history it represents is to remind us that white supremacists were willing to spend a lot of money on a mean-spirited gesture. Pouring salt on the wounds of the people they had ground under their heel for centuries.

It doesn't take a monument honoring the the traitors for us to remember the evil they fought for... we need only look around at the lingering scars that still disfigure our nation to this day... which is why the republicans, who defended the statue as valuable history, now attack the teaching of that history as anti-american. Every single right wing TV and radio program I have listened to the past few weeks has been harping non-stop about the evils of those teaching the history of racism in America...

so no... its not about history, its about conservatives covering up the scars with clown make-up so they can feel better about inflicting new wounds on those they consider inferior.

"Charlottesville's statues of Lee and Jackson were erected in the early 1920swith large ceremonies that included Confederate veteran reunions, parades and balls. At one event during the 1921 unveiling of the Jackson statue, children formed a living Confederate flag on the lawn of a school down the road from Vinegar Hill, a prominent Black neighborhood. The Jackson statue was placed on land that had once been another prosperous Black neighborhood."