(08-14-2017, 02:35 PM)rollerjag Wrote: The irony is most of those statues were erected as a push back to much needed social change, not as a spontaneous effort to honor heroes. Just like the Duval County schools which were named after Confederate generals following desegregation, they were petulant responses which never should have been erected in the first place.

General Lee was a traitor and a slave owner, a larger than life statue honoring him at a state university is not appropriate.

The KKK is a domestic terrorist organization with a long documented history of violence against their fellow citizens. How is it they are given a pass to openly rally?

I somewhat agree with you, but by the same token, these statues and monuments are also part of our history.  Instead of trying to remove them because they might be "offensive" to some people, why not use them as a teaching tool?  Explain to the younger generation (and quite frankly some of the older generation) exactly who General Lee was.  Explain how it was a different time in history and how their thinking was.

As far as the KKK, they haven't as an organization (to my knowledge) performed any terrorists acts in decades.  Do I agree with their message?  Of course not, however they do have every right to "openly rally" which is protected under the 1st Amendment.  They and the other extremest groups participating in the rally had a permit to do so.

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