Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Earp
Actually, who cares when The Statues were built? They were built to HONOR MEN WHO FOUGHT IN WAR and died!
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That's the point, Tom. When they were built sheds light on what the motives for erecting them were.
The majority of them were built after Reconstruction—between, say, 1895 or so and the early 1930s—as whites were asserting supremacy and enacting and enforcing Jim Crow laws. They were, in part, about honoring the dead, but they were also about honoring the society they fought for—a society in which whites were masters and blacks were subservient. They were intended to send a message that whites were still in charge, that things would not change. Often, the speeches made when the monuments were dedicated made that very clear.
That's why people care when the statues were erected, Tom, or why they should. Because the romantic myths of the Old South notwithstanding, the actual history matters.
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