Correcting, not erasing

If you’re afraid your history is being erased every time a Confederate statue comes down, I suggest you read a book. In your local library or bookstore are plenty of well-researched histories and biographies, often containing documentation of the actual thoughts and words of the participants of the time. These will give you a much more nuanced and detailed picture of the past than a piece of carved stone or fashioned metal.

As for those who think they are losing their heritage, a shameful heritage is not something to be commemorated, celebrated or enshrined. Most of the people depicted in these memorials were probably neither demons nor saints, just creatures of their time who sadly made one bad decision — to betray their country for an unworthy cause —that overshadowed everything else they did in their lives. And that is the lesson to be learned from these dubious icons that must come down: Do not become enslaved by your heritage.

This story was originally published September 8, 2017 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Correcting, not erasing."