Of Statues and Such

With the discussion of the removal of Confederate markers and such a hot topic in the news, I offer the following few links of online stories and opinions that are out there.

• Al Sharpton: Let’s Abandon The Jefferson Monument Because He Owned Slaves -- "...activist Al Sharpton called for the federal government to cease maintaining the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC."
• Alabama moves to protect Confederate monuments -- "Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey...signed legislation that will preempt cities and counties from removing monuments to the Confederacy from public property..."
• Commentary: Why just Confederates? Many through history committed atrocities -- "And Abraham Lincoln cannot be given a pass, as he authorized the 1862 Pacific Railway Act, instigating a systematic program of either extermination or relocation of the Plains Indians, precipitating the Plains Indian Wars."
• Confederate Monuments and Controversy -- "Wrestling with our history, particularly in the case of the Confederacy and slavery, is painful precisely because the monuments attempt to give meaning to that sad chapter of our story, but there’s also so much left unsaid."
• Fallen Statues and the Arrogance of Moral Superiority -- "I am far less concerned with the statues than I am intrigued by how those statues have revealed a strain of moral arrogance within the American populace."
• Former Bucs head coach Tony Dungy joins effort to move Tampa Confederate statue -- "Hillsborough County, Florida had reached an agreement last month to move Memoria in Aeterna, a statue commemorating the Confederacy, from its current location in downtown Tampa to a family cemetery in Brandon, Florida."
• Fremont, Seattle: Story of the Statue of Lenin -- "Lewis Carpenter found the sculpture lying face down after it was toppled...Carpenter mortgaged his house to acquire the sculpture..."
• "Hamilton" star: Maybe Washington, Jefferson Statues Should Come Down -- "Leslie Odom Jr...thinks removing George Washington and Thomas Jefferson statues is worthy of discussion."
• Here's what Robert E. Lee thought about Confederate monuments -- "Lee believed countries that erased visible signs of civil war recovered from conflicts quicker."
• New Orleans Southern Baptists: Take Those Confederate Monuments Down -- "Two prominent New Orleans Southern Baptist pastors...support the removal of monuments and statues commemorating the Confederacy and white supremacy."
• Seven arrested in toppling of Confederate statue in North Carolina -- "The Confederate Soldiers Monument was pulled down during a Monday protest at the old Durham County Courthouse to show solidarity with anti-racist activists after last weekend's deadly clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia."
• Small group calls for removal of Fremont's Lenin statue -- "On Wednesday afternoon, a small group had gathered in front of the monument in Fremont calling for its removal."
• Take the Statues Down -- "A multi-ethnic democracy requires grappling honestly with the past—and recognizing the symbols of the Confederacy for what they are."
• The Battle Over Confederate Monuments in New Orleans -- "... there is a valid, if lesser, risk in removing the Confederate monuments: the possibility that their absence is too neatly exculpatory..."
• The Stubborn Persistence of Confederate Monuments -- "A new report identifies some 1,500 memorials to the Civil War’s losing cause, from schools to state holidays, ranging from the Deep South to the Pacific Northwest."
• Where Do Confederate Statues Go After They’re Removed? -- "The mayor has suggested the statues be relocated to Confederate cemeteries in other states."
• Where Will the Removal of Confederate Monuments Stop? -- "An eminent historian explains why taking down Civil War statues doesn’t erase history—and why statues to slaveholding Founding Fathers aren’t next."