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House Committee Considering Bills To Remove Confederate Statues From National Park System

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A trio of bills dealing with Confederate monuments are to be debated by a House subcommittee on Tuesday.

A trio of bills dealing with Confederate monuments are to be debated by a House subcommittee on Tuesday.

Two measures calling for removal of statues on federal properties, including the National Park System, that memorialize the Confederacy are scheduled to be discussed Tuesday by the House of Representatives' subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands. A third measure asks for an inventory of "Confederate commemorative works" on federal lands.

One of the measures, introduced by U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-District of Columbia, calls for removal of the Albert Pike statue erected near Judiciary Square in the District of Columbia. Pike was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army and supporter of slavery. The statue was toppled by protesters this past June.

Another measure, introduced by U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Maryland, calls for removal of the monument to Robert E. Lee at the Antietam National Battlefield. The statue was vandalized last week, with graffiti sprayed on the statue calling Lee a racist and calling for "Death to Slavery."

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. EST and will be live-streamed at this page.

Comments

At the battlefields that are part of the National Park System, please leave alone all the statues both Union and Confederate.  They are all part of history as is.  I would not support the erection of any new statues to Confederate officers on any public land.


ALL historical statues should be left standing.  They're a threat to no one.


What might be appropriate and educational would be to establish a park to house these type of statues in a museum setting.  The Museum of Socialist Art in Sofia, Bulgaria, is a prime example, displaying statues from their communist era.


Just get rid of all the narcissistic memorabilia; none of it serves any wholesome purpose.  At the end of WWII, all commemorations, statuary or otherwise, of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and any other of the monsters who caused so much diabolical damage during that era were destroyed and outlawed for decades following that war.  As a result, Europe enjoyed many years of enlightened progress.  It was only after many of those laws expired that the current crop of maniacal scum started to crawl back out, as rightwing populist parties in England, France, Hungary, and other areas of Europe and as the Tea Party, Proud Boys, militias, and Freedom Caucus branches of the GOP in the US.  None of these commemorations are anything other than childish celebrations of evil and stupidity.  Use the battlefields as open space and wildlife habitat; let the names of the villains of the past be forgotten; and let the young descendants of the victims, whether at our Civil War battlefields or at the ruins of the concentration camps in Europe, encounter these sites without the stench of those crimes being shoved up their noses.  Never forget the history, but stop celebrating the villains or the political followers who they left for us to deal with.


So you want to remove monuments to confederate states at Gettysburg, antietam and others but somehow still teach the history of what happened there - how do you do that when you erase the memory of one side and can only show one side?


Guess what?  We already have those parks established!!!  Gettysburg, Antietam, Vicksburg, Shiloh, .........  Completely appropriate and educational.


It is rediculous to remove statues and markers from any national park and historic sites.  Both sides need to be told to help understand the why and wherefore of what happenned there.  The NPS did the research so what was writen was correct.  The American Civil War was a terrible time in American history,  there is a great deal of information to learn to truly understand all that it was about and know all that happenned.  To remove any statues, markers and informational tablets is doing a great disservice to those of both sides who took part in those battles and actions.  To remove any of these things from our national parks and historic sites to appease a noisey few, is an abomination to our countries history.  History is not rainbows and unicorns, it can be dirty and messy and sometimes offensive.  It also can be very uplifting and wonderful what came from struggle and pain.  That is the history of the US, from Jamestown to today.  Our story needs to be told as best we can, warts and all and if some don't like it-oh well.


I have a degree in history. I learned absolutely zero history from statues.

 

Have any of you ever heard of books? 


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