Confederate Monuments Research Paper

After the violence that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12; several cities have stepped up to remove confederate monuments across the US. Ever since that day, there has been a lot of discussion on what confederate symbols represent and whether they should be removed. I believe that confederate symbols deserve no place in public spaces and should be removed. To begin with, let us revise what the Civil War was about. It was about the southern state’s rights, which they felt where being encroached by the northern united states. Specifically, their rights to own slaves. End discussion. After the Civil War, things where supposed to return to normal in what was known as the Reconstruction Era. The newly emancipated slaves were

So, the slave owners were now back in power with an official pardon from the president himself, allowing them to do as they wished. The south became the same as it had been before the war. Black Codes and Jim Crow laws were created as loopholes these pardoned men created in order to keep the black population under their control by means of fraud and intimidation. During this time, confederate monuments began to spring up in schools, courthouses and parks, in order to serve as reminders to the emancipated slaves who was controlling their states. Thus, these statues where created as a means of oppression against the black population, and would continue to be built under similar circumstances for years to come such as the civil rights movement, the voting rights act and more. States, like Arizona, were never even a part of the civil war, began erecting monuments during the 60s as

As New York Govender Andrew Cuomo said regarding the removal of Rebert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson busts said: “New York stands against racism. There are many great Americans, many of them New Yorkers worthy of a spot on this great hall, these two confederates are not among them.” If they are not openly rejected, these hate groups will continue to increase their violence because if you are in the neutral, then you are supporting these fascists by essentially saying you cannot differentiate between a group of people who want to be respected and to live without fear of oppression, and a group whose members have actively stated several times that they want to see these people dead. It should not be a difficult decision. In conclusion, I have stated he facts behind the monuments and the flag and continue to believe these symbols of hatred have no place in our modern-day society. We are an embarrassing nation filled with hatred and racists in positions of power. We may never get better from here on out, but at least some of these monuments to oppression will continue to be taken down; whether it by their local government or by the hand weary citizens who want to make a change in this rapidly hellhole of a