Cities across the US have torn down these controversial Confederate monuments

confederate protesters

This February marks six months since a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia turned violent. One counter-protester, Heather Heyer, died and dozens more sustained injuries after a driver plowed into a crowd.

Heyer's homicide reinvigorated a national conversation about the role of Confederate statues, memorials, and plaques in public spaces. According to a recent study by the Southern Poverty Law Center, over 1,500 symbols of the Confederacy stand in public places in the US.

Since the Charlottesville incident, more than two dozen cities have removed Civil War-era monuments from plazas, parks, and government buildings or are considering such proposals. Officials from these cities argue that Confederate iconography encourages a revisionist history of the Civil War, during which Confederate states fought for the right to maintain slavery.

The movement to rid streets of these monuments may be just starting. Here are 9 cities that have already done away with them.

SEE ALSO: There are hundreds of Confederate monuments across the US — here's when they were built

Annapolis, Maryland

The Confederate figure: Roger Taney, a Supreme Court Justice who passed the 1857 Dred Scott Decision, which ruled that black Americans should not be considered American citizens.

What happened: In August, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan called for the removal of a statue of Taney's statue, which was located on a perch in front of the State House, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Future plans: The eventual home of the monument, now sitting in storage, is uncertain.



New York, New York

The Confederate figures: Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

What happened: In August, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a "review of all symbols of hate on city property." A closed Episcopal church soon removed two plaques honoring Lee, and Bronx Community College took down busts of Lee and Jackson.

Future plans: Several more memorials remain, including a number of street names that pay tribute to the Confederacy. As The New Yorker notes, it can be hard to get rid of Confederate monuments in the city if they are on private property. There are also powerful organizations, like the United Daughters of the Confederacy, that lobby to preserve them.



Durham, North Carolina

The Confederate figures: Confederate General Robert E. Lee along with the Confederate Soldiers Monument (known as "The Boys Who Wore Gray"), which memorialized the soldiers from Durham County who fought for the Confederacy.

What happened: Duke University removed a Lee statue from Duke Chapel in August 2017. Five days prior, protesters also toppled the Confederate Soldiers Monument, and now, eight of them face misdemeanor charges. On Monday, the charged protesters will appear in court, according to The Independent Weekly.

Future plans: North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has proposed relocating three more Confederate monuments outside the State Capitol to the Bentonville Battlefield Historic Site, according to a local CBS station.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider


Contributer : Tech Insider http://ift.tt/2GokwnD
Cities across the US have torn down these controversial Confederate monuments Cities across the US have torn down these controversial Confederate monuments Reviewed by mimisabreena on Sunday, February 18, 2018 Rating: 5

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