Removing and Renaming Confederate Statues, Schools, Streets, etc: Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These statues are the OG Virtue Signaling

And nobody really knew about all of these statues until it became the latest pet project for the justice warriors.

This is untrue. They were on public property at government buildings, parks, etc.

Even worse, taxpayer money was used every year to protect and maintain the statues and monuments that sat on public land.

I don't think anyone thought about that because very few people knew the statues existed. Of course, residents living near the statues knew about them, but that's about it.

Actually quite a few people knew about them all along — from the Daughters of the Confederacy types that venerated them, and those of us who were repulsed by them.

Perhaps you could consider expanding your thinking— instead of projecting your personal limitations on the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia has a long history of being a southern state and has a deep history with southern culture and ties to the confederacy. Northern Virginia in particular, with the Arlington Cemetery’s connection with Robert E Lee, whom led the Army of Northern Virginia, and the wide spread usage of confederates like Stonewall Jackson High School in PWCS and Robert E Lee High School in FCPS seems to have continually played a part in modern Virginia history throughout the state. Not to mention highways and streets dedicated to Confederates and segregationists like Robert E Lee and Harry Byrd still remain.

This unique attatchment to our history seems to be most or entirely prevalent in Virginia as opposed to DC or Maryland, and has never been a problem for the past century to half a century, through progressive movements and such. However, ever since the slain of George Floyd and the riots in 2020, there seems to have been a new attempt to pit the blame on the “monuments” that apparently glorize these views, and to radically erase them from history and forget about them once and for all. I seem to check google maps and am seemingly forced to learn new road names Like Langston Blvd in Arlington on a weekly basis. From my perspective, being a native of Fauquier county in southern country Virginia and spending lots of time in rural Loudoun and Prince William county, it’s a great change to what I’m used to.

Why the call for action now? Are we really suppose the blame people whom lived in an era where slavery and segregation was an unarguable stance that was unanimous among all politicians? What good does it really do, as it seemingly hasn’t seen a decrease in any sort of statistic that they intended to target. Do you support such action against these historical landmarks? Would love to know what the general consensus is, especially from other Virginians.

It’s always been a problem, OP. Just not for people like you.

DP: I’m not going to search for this screed, but I’m addressing this to the lengthy comments about Virginia that the PP is replying to.

I do want to point out that slavery and segregation have never been “an unarguable stance that was unanimous amount all politicians “. Never. If you’ve never heard of the abolitionist movements or even made a cursory study of the events that led up to the Civil War, you’d know that — even if you limit your focus solely to the state of Virginia. Have you even heard of West Virginia PPP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These statues are the OG Virtue Signaling

And nobody really knew about all of these statues until it became the latest pet project for the justice warriors.

This is untrue. They were on public property at government buildings, parks, etc.

Even worse, taxpayer money was used every year to protect and maintain the statues and monuments that sat on public land.

I don't think anyone thought about that because very few people knew the statues existed. Of course, residents living near the statues knew about them, but that's about it.

Actually quite a few people knew about them all along — from the Daughters of the Confederacy types that venerated them, and those of us who were repulsed by them.

Perhaps you could consider expanding your thinking— instead of projecting your personal limitations on the rest of us.

+1

I was disgusted when I first moved down here and saw statues of these POSs. And streets named after them. WTAF?

It’s about damn time that these streets names were changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want to view those statues and artifacts with proper context, visit a museum. No one should have to walk by and look at monuments that glorify segregation and hate when they conduct personal business such as visiting a court house or a post office.

No one should have to drive down “Lee Highway” or “Jeff Davis Highway”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile in Florida…

Thats super weird

Makes sense really. These monuments were put up by bigots and bigots want them back.

Exactly

[Anonymous]

The Confederacy lasted 4 years, that’s hardly a deep routed history. It’s all about glorifying the old southern white lifestyle built on the backs of salves. Also according to the news this morning the streets in Alexandria that are named after confederate leaders were named in the 1950’s. What was the purpose of that? Go back to the previous names like Water Street etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Confederacy lasted 4 years, that’s hardly a deep routed history. It’s all about glorifying the old southern white lifestyle built on the backs of salves. Also according to the news this morning the streets in Alexandria that are named after confederate leaders were named in the 1950’s. What was the purpose of that? Go back to the previous names like Water Street etc.

It was in direct response to the civil rights movement and Brown vs. Board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Confederacy lasted 4 years, that’s hardly a deep routed history. It’s all about glorifying the old southern white lifestyle built on the backs of salves. Also according to the news this morning the streets in Alexandria that are named after confederate leaders were named in the 1950’s. What was the purpose of that? Go back to the previous names like Water Street etc.

It was in direct response to the civil rights movement and Brown vs. Board.

It had more to do with the advancement and spread of Lost Cause mythology which predates the civil rights movement by several decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Confederacy lasted 4 years, that’s hardly a deep routed history. It’s all about glorifying the old southern white lifestyle built on the backs of salves. Also according to the news this morning the streets in Alexandria that are named after confederate leaders were named in the 1950’s. What was the purpose of that? Go back to the previous names like Water Street etc.

It was in direct response to the civil rights movement and Brown vs. Board.

It had more to do with the advancement and spread of Lost Cause mythology which predates the civil rights movement by several decades.

DP: Of course Civil Rights efforts didn’t just start in the ‘60s or with Brown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Confederacy lasted 4 years, that’s hardly a deep routed history. It’s all about glorifying the old southern white lifestyle built on the backs of salves. Also according to the news this morning the streets in Alexandria that are named after confederate leaders were named in the 1950’s. What was the purpose of that? Go back to the previous names like Water Street etc.

It was in direct response to the civil rights movement and Brown vs. Board.

It had more to do with the advancement and spread of Lost Cause mythology which predates the civil rights movement by several decades.

DP: Of course Civil Rights efforts didn’t just start in the ‘60s or with Brown.

The modern civil rights movement is generally thought to have begun in the late 40s with the return of Black GIs from WWII, among other things. Lost Cause dates back to the end of the Civil War and was spread by southern newspapers. It really began to take hold in earnest in the 1880s/90s with the establishment of neo-confederacy organizations and publication of academic scholarship. The outcome was that almost all of the confederate statues in Richmond were erected before 1930. So no, the erection of these statues was not a reaction to the civil rights movement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Confederacy lasted 4 years, that’s hardly a deep routed history. It’s all about glorifying the old southern white lifestyle built on the backs of salves. Also according to the news this morning the streets in Alexandria that are named after confederate leaders were named in the 1950’s. What was the purpose of that? Go back to the previous names like Water Street etc.

It was in direct response to the civil rights movement and Brown vs. Board.

It had more to do with the advancement and spread of Lost Cause mythology which predates the civil rights movement by several decades.

DP: Of course Civil Rights efforts didn’t just start in the ‘60s or with Brown.

The modern civil rights movement is generally thought to have begun in the late 40s with the return of Black GIs from WWII, among other things. Lost Cause dates back to the end of the Civil War and was spread by southern newspapers. It really began to take hold in earnest in the 1880s/90s with the establishment of neo-confederacy organizations and publication of academic scholarship. The outcome was that almost all of the confederate statues in Richmond were erected before 1930. So no, the erection of these statues was not a reaction to the civil rights movement.

Actually, the early 1900’s included quite a bit of work and even progress in the area of civil rights — to the point where Woodrow Wilson deliberately intensified segregation throughout the Federal government and in DC. At least some confederate statues were put up at this point — yes, before 1930, in response to earlier successful efforts to gain civil rights, some of which were related to the return of Black soldiers from WWI.

I can’t speak to the Lost Cause side of things, or your dating of the “modern” civil rights movement. I do think, though, that it’s fair to say that support for the statues was —and is — correlated with civil rights gains. Perhaps Richmond followed a different pattern?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Confederacy lasted 4 years, that’s hardly a deep routed history. It’s all about glorifying the old southern white lifestyle built on the backs of salves. Also according to the news this morning the streets in Alexandria that are named after confederate leaders were named in the 1950’s. What was the purpose of that? Go back to the previous names like Water Street etc.

Martin Lawrence's show "Martin" lasted longer than the Confederacy did. Will they be putting up statues of Martin Lawrence in 100 years? No. The neo-Confederates can shove off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Confederacy lasted 4 years, that’s hardly a deep routed history. It’s all about glorifying the old southern white lifestyle built on the backs of salves. Also according to the news this morning the streets in Alexandria that are named after confederate leaders were named in the 1950’s. What was the purpose of that? Go back to the previous names like Water Street etc.

It was in direct response to the civil rights movement and Brown vs. Board.

It had more to do with the advancement and spread of Lost Cause mythology which predates the civil rights movement by several decades.

DP: Of course Civil Rights efforts didn’t just start in the ‘60s or with Brown.

The modern civil rights movement is generally thought to have begun in the late 40s with the return of Black GIs from WWII, among other things. Lost Cause dates back to the end of the Civil War and was spread by southern newspapers. It really began to take hold in earnest in the 1880s/90s with the establishment of neo-confederacy organizations and publication of academic scholarship. The outcome was that almost all of the confederate statues in Richmond were erected before 1930. So no, the erection of these statues was not a reaction to the civil rights movement.

Actually, the early 1900’s included quite a bit of work and even progress in the area of civil rights — to the point where Woodrow Wilson deliberately intensified segregation throughout the Federal government and in DC. At least some confederate statues were put up at this point — yes, before 1930, in response to earlier successful efforts to gain civil rights, some of which were related to the return of Black soldiers from WWI.

I can’t speak to the Lost Cause side of things, or your dating of the “modern” civil rights movement. I do think, though, that it’s fair to say that support for the statues was —and is — correlated with civil rights gains. Perhaps Richmond followed a different pattern?

A majority of confederate monuments were put up between 1900 and 1920, in connection with a big push to suppress blacks. They weren't about preserving history, they were about sending a message. Many of the confederate monuments were cheaply mass-produced, and many were erected in towns that didn't even have much of a meaningful connection to the Confederacy.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/confederate-statues/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Confederacy lasted 4 years, that’s hardly a deep routed history. It’s all about glorifying the old southern white lifestyle built on the backs of salves. Also according to the news this morning the streets in Alexandria that are named after confederate leaders were named in the 1950’s. What was the purpose of that? Go back to the previous names like Water Street etc.

It was in direct response to the civil rights movement and Brown vs. Board.

It had more to do with the advancement and spread of Lost Cause mythology which predates the civil rights movement by several decades.

DP: Of course Civil Rights efforts didn’t just start in the ‘60s or with Brown.

The modern civil rights movement is generally thought to have begun in the late 40s with the return of Black GIs from WWII, among other things. Lost Cause dates back to the end of the Civil War and was spread by southern newspapers. It really began to take hold in earnest in the 1880s/90s with the establishment of neo-confederacy organizations and publication of academic scholarship. The outcome was that almost all of the confederate statues in Richmond were erected before 1930. So no, the erection of these statues was not a reaction to the civil rights movement.

Actually, the early 1900’s included quite a bit of work and even progress in the area of civil rights — to the point where Woodrow Wilson deliberately intensified segregation throughout the Federal government and in DC. At least some confederate statues were put up at this point — yes, before 1930, in response to earlier successful efforts to gain civil rights, some of which were related to the return of Black soldiers from WWI.

I can’t speak to the Lost Cause side of things, or your dating of the “modern” civil rights movement. I do think, though, that it’s fair to say that support for the statues was —and is — correlated with civil rights gains. Perhaps Richmond followed a different pattern?

A majority of confederate monuments were put up between 1900 and 1920, in connection with a big push to suppress blacks. They weren't about preserving history, they were about sending a message. Many of the confederate monuments were cheaply mass-produced, and many were erected in towns that didn't even have much of a meaningful connection to the Confederacy.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/confederate-statues/

Sorry but while obviously they were racist and it was an era of lynching, the driving factor was Lost Cause mythology.
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2020/06/how-the-lost-cause-myth-led-to-confederate-monument-fever/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Confederacy lasted 4 years, that’s hardly a deep routed history. It’s all about glorifying the old southern white lifestyle built on the backs of salves. Also according to the news this morning the streets in Alexandria that are named after confederate leaders were named in the 1950’s. What was the purpose of that? Go back to the previous names like Water Street etc.

It was actually a law in the City of Alexandria that streets running in a certain direction through the City had to be named after Confederates. I am not sure when they repealed the law but it was definitely still on the books well into the 2000’s