One of the things I’d like to see in my lifetime is the removal of every single Confederate monument displayed on public land. These monuments are the ultimate in participation trophies.
The people these statues attempt to glorify took up arms against the United States of America. They were also resoundingly beaten. The Confederates were forced to surrender in defeat because they were beaten into submission on the battlefield.
The Confederates don’t deserve statues or monuments. They didn’t earn them. Statues and monuments are for winners. Statues and monuments are for those who fought for what was right and just.
The Confederates didn’t do that. They fought so people could continue to own other people. They fought for one of the most revolting and disgusting reasons people can fight other people for: the continuation of slavery.
Just because you participate in something doesn’t mean you deserve a trophy, or in the case of the Civil War, a monument.
Robert E. Lee was a traitor
Robert E. Lee doesn’t deserve a statue displayed on public land. He was a traitor. Lee resigned his commission in the United States Army and took up arms against the United States. He was personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans. Lee no more deserves a statue erected for memorialization than does Osama bin Laden.
Robert E. Lee and Osama bin Laden had a lot in common. They both sent other men to kill Americans. Osama bin Laden killed Americans in the name of Islam. Robert E. Lee killed Americans in the name of extending the institution of slavery.
I’d like to see each and every Confederate statue gathered up and dumped in the middle of the ocean. It’s what they did with Osama bin Laden’s corpse. It strikes me as a fitting end for all the Confederate participation trophies currently littering our country.