America is named after another European explorer, Amerigo Vespucci. Why don't we change the name?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, once the monuments are gone, then what? Or are we not thinking beyond that. Just take them down and then reassess how we feel.

Replace them with statues of actual important people.

Name some important people.

How about we let the populations affected by Columbus select the important people.

You seem to have the racist idea that all minorities think the same way and can all agree on who are the important people.

In Japan, they have swastikas EVERYWHERE, and still use big symbols for park maps to point out temples. No one gets offended. They still have WWII criminals enshrined in temples in Japan.

There is a massive 100+ foot statue of Ghengis Khan in Mongolia. They aren't tearing down Khan because he was a serial rapist and enslaved millions of people.

The pyramids still exist in Egypt and will never be torn down even though it was built with slave labor from Africa.

Tourists spend millions of dollars per year traveling all throughout South and Central America to visit ancient indigenous ruins that were built with slave labor and were used for human sacrifices of enslaved tribes that bigger civilizations like the Mayans ruled over.

The Great Wall of China was built with slave labor, you gonna tear down that World Heritage Site too?

Huge portions of the Roman Empire were built with slave labor or were entertained by slaves killing each other. Should we tear down the Colosseum because people got enjoyment of watching enslaved people kill each other in the ring?

Even Native American tribes would enslave conquered tribal people and mutilate/kill them during rituals. Let's rename all of the cities, towns, states, and even commercial products because the Native Americans owned slaves, enslaved people, and benefited economically from slaves.

Go back to your safety zones if you are going to be offended by history. History won't change for your fragile little minds, because it literally can't.

Anonymous wrote:Confederate monuments and statues are not actual relics of the time in which the Civil War was fought. They were still being constructed as late as the 1920s, by the “daughters of the confederacy.” Some of the statutes can go to museums, where they can be displayed in context. But why should Americans celebrate traitors to our country? It’s absurd that these things were built in the first place, and they were/are clearly a dog-whistle for white supremacists.

Statues honoring Columbus, etc. are less defined in my mind. Where is any given statue and in what context is one being displayed? But if there’s one in the town square and the city council votes to move it to a museum, I have no problem with that.

Mount Rushmore is in historic monument in its own right. If visitors need to understand it in better context, then adjust informational displays accordingly.

DP- I agree with your first paragraph, the problem is that it will not stop there. At some point, people will have to put their foot down and say enough is enough. I, as I am sure most people as well, enjoy walking through a town, see a monument and stop to read it. The monument tells a story of what happened in this area before it became a town. Explaining hardships, wars or whatever. Kind of gives you perspective of what was actually going on at the time. Now, I think we should be adding more monuments in parks and open areas that show what other Americans in those times, black, white, yellow, red brown, whatever, their accomplishments and what it did for that community. But this nit picking of, (this guy did not like gays, so take it down. This guy owned slaves, so take it down. This guy did not like fat women, take it down.). This mentality will not accomplish anything. Need to keep things in perspective. What were the norms and thinking of the times.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, once the monuments are gone, then what? Or are we not thinking beyond that. Just take them down and then reassess how we feel.

Replace them with statues of actual important people.

Name some important people.

How about we let the populations affected by Columbus select the important people.

You are afraid to name someone because you know you can't find a 100% pure historical character. Stop being a wimp. Name some important people.

The populations affected by Columbus did select the important people. The winners chose, the losers didn’t. That is life. A good winner will be empathetic to the losers but they still get to choose. This is how history has worked and will always work. It is thru struggle and conflict that progress is achieved. We will see how much blacks win over the next few months and years. I hope enough so that we can stop labeling and discriminating one way or the other and just be humans with equal rights. I hope citizens win over police brutality and that the purpose and culture and leadership of law enforcement is fundamentally altered to focus on protecting and serving all citizens not just those in power or with more money and influence. But, we shall see. The only chance you have is to fight smartly and with a purpose to win (not just random, senseless theft and destruction), hopefully peacefully and legally. Else you will lose again and again. Fight politically. Fight thru written words that make sense and aren’t exclusionary. Fight against all injustice not just injustice against “your” clan or race or religion. Fight for the human race, not just yourself.

Good soapbox speech to avoid answering the questions and to beat around the bush while you pretend you're saying anything of substance. It's a simple request - give a list of people who deserve a statue. NAME SPECIFIC NAMES. No more soapbox speeches and trying to avoid answering the question. Give names.

Confederate monuments and statues are not actual relics of the time in which the Civil War was fought. They were still being constructed as late as the 1920s, by the “daughters of the confederacy.” Some of the statutes can go to museums, where they can be displayed in context. But why should Americans celebrate traitors to our country? It’s absurd that these things were built in the first place, and they were/are clearly a dog-whistle for white supremacists.

Statues honoring Columbus, etc. are less defined in my mind. Where is any given statue and in what context is one being displayed? But if there’s one in the town square and the city council votes to move it to a museum, I have no problem with that.

Mount Rushmore is in historic monument in its own right. If visitors need to understand it in better context, then adjust informational displays accordingly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, once the monuments are gone, then what? Or are we not thinking beyond that. Just take them down and then reassess how we feel.

Replace them with statues of actual important people.

Name some important people.

How about we let the populations affected by Columbus select the important people.

You are afraid to name someone because you know you can't find a 100% pure historical character. Stop being a wimp. Name some important people.

The populations affected by Columbus did select the important people. The winners chose, the losers didn’t. That is life. A good winner will be empathetic to the losers but they still get to choose. This is how history has worked and will always work. It is thru struggle and conflict that progress is achieved. We will see how much blacks win over the next few months and years. I hope enough so that we can stop labeling and discriminating one way or the other and just be humans with equal rights. I hope citizens win over police brutality and that the purpose and culture and leadership of law enforcement is fundamentally altered to focus on protecting and serving all citizens not just those in power or with more money and influence. But, we shall see. The only chance you have is to fight smartly and with a purpose to win (not just random, senseless theft and destruction), hopefully peacefully and legally. Else you will lose again and again. Fight politically. Fight thru written words that make sense and aren’t exclusionary. Fight against all injustice not just injustice against “your” clan or race or religion. Fight for the human race, not just yourself.

Let’s abolish all statues and all memorials to individuals. Let’s not reward or acknowledge achievements and innovations anymore for fear of something bad or immoral that the person may have done. Let’s also not leave our homes and be safe. If we stay home than no need for police either as no one will be out and about. We can get rid of roads and cars too and use drones and sanitized robots to deliver goods. We can actually stop exercising too and just live off computers. In fact, we can stop interacting with any other humans other than our families, which of course will die out after one generation. Eventually our species will cease and all problems will be solved. Sound good?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, once the monuments are gone, then what? Or are we not thinking beyond that. Just take them down and then reassess how we feel.

Replace them with statues of actual important people.

Name some important people.

How about we let the populations affected by Columbus select the important people.

You are afraid to name someone because you know you can't find a 100% pure historical character. Stop being a wimp. Name some important people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, once the monuments are gone, then what? Or are we not thinking beyond that. Just take them down and then reassess how we feel.

Replace them with statues of actual important people.

Name some important people.

How about we let the populations affected by Columbus select the important people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, once the monuments are gone, then what? Or are we not thinking beyond that. Just take them down and then reassess how we feel.

Replace them with statues of actual important people.

Name some important people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, once the monuments are gone, then what? Or are we not thinking beyond that. Just take them down and then reassess how we feel.

Replace them with statues of actual important people.

And, when the flaws of these "important people" are discovered?

Anonymous wrote:I mean, once the monuments are gone, then what? Or are we not thinking beyond that. Just take them down and then reassess how we feel.

Once the monuments are gone, the mobs will turn their fury to living people whom they consider less than deserving. It is the logical next step.

Anonymous wrote:I mean, once the monuments are gone, then what? Or are we not thinking beyond that. Just take them down and then reassess how we feel.

Replace them with statues of actual important people.

I mean, once the monuments are gone, then what? Or are we not thinking beyond that. Just take them down and then reassess how we feel.