Tennessee lawmakers punish city of Memphis for removing Confederate statues

[onesBronson]

Taking down statues that symbolized a hateful past, and their response is to cut funding? They should be paying us for that.

[PACOX]

We did enough apologizing. We could bend over backwards for years and it would never be enough. I see no reason to bother if they continue to ask for more.

You're a lousy historian if you think ceasimgthe glorification Confederate traitors as well as the 100 years of institutionalized racism after the Civil War is the same as teaching history and bending over backwards.

[Noxx79]

I despise these leftist cowards and everything they stand for, I'm pro-statue because it teaches history and how important it is not to let these monsters return.

A living history that burns and hurts is the best way to prevent that evil from ever returning

That being said, they did everything legally and I fully support their right to remove the statue because they did it THE RIGHT WAY.

And that’s why there’s a HUGE statue of bin-Ladin outside the 9/11 memorial.

[PACOX]

Gotta love a country removing any and all reminders of its past, so the current generations do not have to be reminded of and will never learn of what their predecessors did.. History is slowly being erased so as to placate the current generations so the don't get hurt feelings over it..

Wonder how long it will be till the faces of the Presidents on Mount Rushmore are removed because reasons..

I missed the part where the Civil War was stricken from all textbooks. Good catch.

[TexasRules]

Berlin gets by fine without putting up statues that celebrate Hitler and Goebbels et al.

Unless the statue is putting CSA leaders in a negative light, by showing them as the surrendering traitors they were, it's misrepresenting the history you're claiming they represent. These men were not anyone that should be celebrated or respected.

But they leave up the concentration camps. As a reminder of what did happen. You can' change history, taking down statues does not change what happened, nor does renaming a school. The problem most people in the south have is that it is only now a porblem for people. It is only now that people are "triggered" because they didn't have that word for upset whiners who get mad at everything.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Good. If you remove parts of history, you don't get parts of the funding for the Bicentennial celebration. Makes sense.

The only reason there can even be a bicentennial celebration is because those people those statues were made for lost.

[breadisfunny]

I missed the part where the Civil War was stricken from all textbooks. Good catch.

don't forget the part where they took down all of abraham lincoln's statues and burned all the 5 and 50$ bills with abrahama's and grant's faces on them.

[pathora44]

Gotta love a country removing any and all reminders of its past, so the current generations do not have to be reminded of what their predecessors did.. History is slowly being erased so the current generations won't have to be reminded of their past and get hurt feelings over it..

Wonder how long it will be till the faces of the Presidents on Mount Rushmore are removed because reasons..

Again that is what history books are for. Putting up statues is honoring those you made statues of. You don't see statues of Hitler and the Nazi's in Germany but we/they clearly remember them. Sane people are calling for them to be removed from public land like parks and government buildings and put into museums. The biggest problem with your defense or anyone's defense of these statues is that these statues tell a false history. The South permeates this lie called "The Lost Cause of the South" saying the South fought for honor and state rights and the Civil War was a war of aggression by the North when the South fired the first shots at Ft. Sumter. The South, no matter how much people try to dress it up, fought for slavery and to keep it. Go and read the official declaration of succession from pretty much every Southern state and you will see slavery was their main reason for fighting. Also if you look into when the VAST majority of these statues were put up you will see they fall within two distinct time periods the height of Jim Crow Laws and the Civil Rights Movement. Two major historical events in our history where Southerners were trying to reassert their dominance over black people. Putting up statues of the men who both owned and fought to keep you as property is a real good tool to tell black people that they are lesser people and white people are still in power.

[grexly75]

I missed the part where the Civil War was stricken from all textbooks. Good catch.

Maybe not yet but don't be surprised if they try to do that.

[breadisfunny]

But they leave up the concentration camps. As a reminder of what did happen. You can' change history, taking down statues does not change what happened, nor does renaming a school. The problem most people in the south have is that it is only now a porblem for people. It is only now that people are "triggered" because they didn't have that word for upset whiners who get mad at everything.

he didn't say anything about removing the concentration camps. he was mentioning putting up statues of goebbels and hitler. there is only ONE reason those statues exist. TO CELEBRATE THOSE LEADERS. WHO ALSO OWNED SLAVES. SO NO THEY SHOULD NOT BE CELEBRATED.

[PACOX]

But they leave up the concentration camps. As a reminder of what did happen. You can' change history, taking down statues does not change what happened, nor does renaming a school. The problem most people in the south have is that it is only now a porblem for people. It is only now that people are "triggered" because they didn't have that word for upset whiners who get mad at everything.

...The equivalent of leaving up concentration camps would be preserving battlefields and historic building. Not erecting statues glorifying traitors.

[breadisfunny]

Maybe not yet but don't be surprised if they try to do that.

oh ffs your paranoia levels are off the charts.

[Themius]

I despise these leftist cowards and everything they stand for, I'm pro-statue because it teaches history and how important it is not to let these monsters return.

A living history that burns and hurts is the best way to prevent that evil from ever returning

That being said, they did everything legally and I fully support their right to remove the statue because they did it THE RIGHT WAY.

the statues were put up typically by kkk people around the era of civil rights as a way to say "fuck you black people".... they weren't put up as a cautionary tale but they were put up to be celebrated...

[DSRilk]

The way I see it, if you don't live in the Southeast, you do not get to dictate or have an opinion regarding what should be, and what shouldn't be removed.

I would say if you're not from the city or county, then you do not get to dictate what should be removed. I'm not sure why you think a random person 500 miles away in Atlanta should get to tell someone who lives in Richmond, for example, what Richmond should be allowed to keep up or remove. I'm also not sure why you think anyone should be prohibited from having an opinion. Luckily, for purposes of this conversation, I'm from central Virginia and thus am allowed to have an opinion and dictate things.

[Ivanstone]

We did enough apologizing. We could bend over backwards for years and it would never be enough. I see no reason to bother if they continue to ask for more.

Jim Crow and KKK are apologies?

[breadisfunny]

Jim Crow and KKK are apologies?

they were more like non apologies. more like a "we're sorry you feel that way" type of 'apology'.

[Gorgodeus]

Nashville is just mad their BBQ sucks more than their country singers.

Man, Memphis does have the best damn BBQ.

[DSRilk]

Maybe not yet but don't be surprised if they try to do that.

You'd have to be beyond paranoid to think ANYONE wants to remove the Civil War from American history books. No one wants to forget that, and most of us don't want to repeat it.

[Tackhisis]

"No there is nothing racist or threatening about putting up statues of men who fought to keep black people as slaves.

They fought for their country, against the enemy who invaded and killed them.

[breadisfunny]

Man, Memphis does have the best damn BBQ.

psh everyone knows texas has the best bbq.