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Baltimore removes Confederate Monuments overnight

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bplewis24

Neo Member
Hopefully they remove them and put them in a museum storeroom somewhere.

While they celebrate something bad, they are still a part of the United States history.

There's no need to keep them anywhere. You can read about them in history books and see information in museums. There is no need for a monument or statue to glorify them.
 

Garlador

Member
The "but what about history" arguments are getting really, really tired and a little suspicious, tbh.

To which I'm just going "do you even know when the statues were built?"

Or, my personal favorite...
"I think it wiser, moreover, not to keep open the sores of war, but to follow the example of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, and to commit to oblivion the feelings it engendered." - Robert E. Lee on War Monuments to the Civil War
 

DrArchon

Member
Props on Baltimore for doing this fast and in the dead of night. No time for shitheads to protest and cause chaos.

Hopefully they remove them and put them in a museum storeroom somewhere.

While they celebrate something bad, they are still a part of the United States history.

There's more than enough pictures of these statues (and of many of the people they're honoring). We don't need to keep the statues around as well. There's a difference between remembering and glorifying.

Recycle them and make things that are actually worthwhile. Like statues of civil rights leaders.
 

Aikidoka

Member
If these statues help with learning history, why are so many southerners so profoundly ignorant about the causes and aftermath of the civil war?
Maybe some of the statues taken down in response to Charlottesville could be put in an interesting exhibit about the current flash of white nationalism but they are only interesting because they were actually taken down.
 
Hopefully they remove them and put them in a museum storeroom somewhere.

While they celebrate something bad, they are still a part of the United States history.

Oh for God sakes there's like 6000 of these dinky things.

They're not part of US history they're part of erasing US history
 

jph139

Member
The fact that Confederate statues were erected in MARYLAND in the 20th century is, itself, a mark of history and the deeply embedded racism that blossomed in post-reconstruction America. Take photos. Keep records. Maybe save a head or two.

We don't really need to keep them standing, though. The national destruction of Confederate statues in response to the rising tide of white supremacy will also, in time, be a mark of the history we're living right now.
 

psyfi

Banned
Yessss, this is beautiful. It's amazing to finally see the country care about this more. Thank you to all the amazing activists and people of color who've fought for this.
 

ag-my001

Member
In addition to what people said above, Maryland was a slave state with heavy pro-Confederate sympathies. There was a Baltimore mob that attacked Union troops early on in the war, the governor had the secession vote done in a pro-Union town instead of the state capital, Lincoln was rushed through Baltimore on the way to his inauguration because they were positive someone was going to try to assassinate him there, and the federal government declared martial law in Baltimore and actually aimed guns at the city at one point.

When you hear "brother vs brother" for the Civil War, Maryland really is a great example. There was a spot on Culp's Hill in Gettysburg where the 1st Maryland regiment (Union) defended against the 1st Maryland regiment (Confederate). Here's a link to a battlefield monument that describes the battle between them: http://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/confederate-monuments/confederate-unit-monuments/2nd-maryland/
 

Slayven

Member
"Keep the statues" put you on the side of trump and nazis.


Amazing people rather have order then justice and respect for minorities
 
Statues should be erected for heroes - for people who did good for the world.

Robert E. Lee was personally responsible for thousands of deaths. All because he wanted to reserve his "god-given" right to own and beat black people. He routinely partook in the practice of separating slave families. He's one of the most cruel white supremacists who ever lived.

His statue should be torched and incinerated until not even a single ash remains.
 

FyreWulff

Member
Guys, I'm going to put a giant turd statue in front of your house. You should never take it down, because if you take my turd statue down, it won't serve as a reminder of what happens when you let people put up turd statues. So it should remain, to remind you that I want you to know I can keep my shit on a pedestal.
 

daveo42

Banned
Good.

Stuff related to the confederacy should be in a museum as a reminder of our dark past and division in the country and not praised as "southern heritage" or "states rights" or government-sponsored racism.
 
I mean taking down these statues is fine and all I just don't like the conversation now shifts (in the media not this thread) to discussing and debating removing the statues instead of discussion about the fact there's a not insignificant amount of people willing to openly celebrate and participate in groups with stated goals of committing acts of mass genocide.

So take em down but let's not forget they were out up by people that wanted to celebrate people wanting to own other people. And that sentiment of wanting to dominate is still with some folks. Sad state of affairs.
 

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
TIL that Maryland was on both side during the civil war.

We probably would have joined the Confederacy but Lincoln suspended Habeous Corpus and essentially dissolved the state legislature for the duration of the war.

Also ironically Baltimore was a huge hotbed for Anti-Federal sentiment.
 
Oh for God sakes there's like 6000 of these dinky things.

They're not part of US history they're part of erasing US history

The storage for these things is making me laugh, considering these are mass produced cheap statues.

"Here's rows 42B and 42C of our collection, they feature 35 identical statues produced in a factory in Virginia in the early 1900s. 42B-0012-0 is a particularly unique piece, as it has droppings from the now extinct Carolina Parakeet on it"

I just don't see the point in preserving them. They're not even particularly good or interesting statues, even without the hate and bigotry attached to them. They don't have stories or history about them. They just exist.
 

Rpgmonkey

Member
http://www.wcjb.com/content/news/Confederate-statue-removed-from-downtown-Gainesville-440391033.html

The Daughters of the Confederacy or whatever organizations are in some cases preemptively removing the statues so they aren't destroyed. I don't know about Baltimore, but this being done so quickly doesn't really seem like something most governments could pull off. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same thing.

It's possible, but in Baltimore's case the city's been working on removing these statues and renaming locations named after the Confederacy for a few years now. Public opinion was already turning against these monuments so it may be that they just went ahead and expedited the process after recent events.

Didn't know about that though, interesting stuff...
 

diunxx

Member
I don't get all the museum talk, these aren't monuments from an ancient civilization, just statues of cunts build like a 100 years ago by other cunts, blow them all up.
 

DrArchon

Member
I don't get all the museum talk, these aren't monuments from an ancient civilization, just statues of cunts build like a 100 years ago by other cunts, blow them all up.

Seriously. It makes sense to keep a Roman era statue around because it might be the only statue of that person in existence, but this? We've got statues of Jefferson Davis coming out of the ass!

Like I can get keeping one around in some museum, but ALL OF THEM? If nothing else, that's insane simply based on how much space they'd take up.
 
Baltimore has enough problems with their homicide rate. Getting this off their checklist just means one less reason for someone to start shooting.
 

Chmpocalypse

Blizzard
Hopefully they remove them and put them in a museum storeroom somewhere.

While they celebrate something bad, they are still a part of the United States history.

We've got plenty of pictures. Slag all of the fucking things and turn the metal into something useful.
 
This is fantastic to see. I don't know how many monuments can be taken down quickly without a city (or state) council vote -- I guess it depends on who put it up -- but the quicker, the better. The time for tolerating this stuff is over.
There was a vote in this case:

The statues were taken down by order of Mayor Catherine Pugh, after the City Council voted on Monday for their removal.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/...e-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
 

cyress8

Banned
History is written by the winners, yet we have plenty of these statues from the losing side erected and glorifying the losing side. Removing these statues are only the victors correcting mistakes in history. Get with the times, museum buffs.
 

Phu

Banned
We must never forget our horrid, racist past, or we are doomed to repeat it.

I'm usually the one here more or less saying this line. However, there's a difference when it comes to nearly all these Civil War statues. They were created after the fact to essentially rewrite the past to show the Confederacy in a positive light. The removal of these statues is a step to restore the history that's been altered and disfigured over the years. Keeping the statues up would be to 'forget our horrid, racist past'.

The statues are like if someone took a history book, whited-out the unsavory bits, and wrote in their own commentary.

Fake edit: Just think about how many people you've probably seen over the years claim something about 'southern heritage [but not the slavery parts]' or how the civil war wasn't fought over slavery but rather 'state rights'. These statues contribute to that exact smokescreen of bullshit.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
I'd watch that video. Gather up all the confederate statues in a pit and throw some TNT in there. Hell, let's make some fireworks go off at the same time.

I'd pay $20 to witness this in person. And $9.99 to watch it on a stream on my PC or phone.
 
I'm usually the one here more or less saying this line. However, there's a difference when it comes to nearly all these Civil War statues. They were created after the fact to essentially rewrite the past to show the Confederacy in a positive light. The removal of these statues is a step to restore the history that's been altered and disfigured over the years. Keeping the statues up would be to 'forget our horrid, racist past'.

The statues are like if someone took a history book, whited-out the unsavory bits, and wrote in their own commentary.

Fake edit: Just think about how many people you've probably seen over the years claim something about 'southern heritage [but not the slavery parts]' or how the civil war wasn't fought over slavery but rather 'state rights'. These statues contribute to that exact smokescreen of bullshit.

Quoted for truth. Where I live in NC the statues at the park by my place are propaganda pieces.
 
These statues and people's stance on them is further proof that we really need to work on educating this country...but it is damn hard to get through to people. Where I came from, a small town of 1000, we were surrounded by adults who buy into a lot of this bullshit about the "history" and "heritage" of the confederacy. And they pass it on to their children. And school doesn't oppose this view at all, until you get to college IF you take history classes that happen to focus on the civil war and the aftermath all the way into the 1900s. Where do you fit in an opposing viewpoint? Some of these people hear nothing to say otherwise of their beliefs until they're adults.

Just kind of rambling...
 
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