Charlottesville has been at the center of a horrible set of events involving Confederate monuments. These monuments sparked a white nationalist protest, and counter-protestors descended on the city to run them off. Many people who identify as white nationalists have been doxxed and fired because of their support of racist and bigoted viewpoints, and the community showed up to the latest City Council meeting to fight against these statues standing in their city. The city council meeting got out of hand, and the result is not satisfactory to all.
Why does this matter?
The very statues that caused such a firestorm of controversy in the town are still there. They have been removed in other cities such as Baltimore, but the city of Charlottesville has not yet removed them. Robert E. Lee himself was not in favor of monuments, and his statue rides high over a town park. The people who came to the city to protest were advocating hate, and those who want to see the statues removed are pushing back against that hate. They want to see the statues gone so that the city may begin to heal, but the statues will be covered in black instead. This alone may make many people in the city upset.
Erasing history
Germans are ashamed of their own Nazi history, and it has been erased from their country in many ways.
They do not embrace hate as free speech, and the protestors who wish to see these statues removed want the US to mirror what they see in Germany. We would be right to take a look at what the country does to honor people known as war heroes, and we would be wise to be more sensitive to what others think. The black community must be heard because the Civil War was fought over slavery, and it would be hard to ignore that fact.
Erasing history in this instance allows the country to move forward to a more welcoming and open society.
The council meeting
The city council meeting that happened to address these statues was overtaken by protestors on both sides. The city council has decided to cover these statues in black, but that was after they listened to raucous exclamations from both sides of the debate.
The city council did not do anything to stop people spouting hate from being in the building, and they have shown that they are not all that comfortable with rejecting the heritage they have in the Civil War. Someone who comes through town will now see tapped statues that are still there, still a reminder, and still hateful.
