Protesting the removal of a statue commemorating Robert e Lee is fundamentally racist, Trump defending this is racist. Equivocating it with Washington is an absurd statement that lacks any historical context or nuance.
And again Trump the thinking that it’s okay to protest and give support to Neo nazis by protesting with them, is a racist incredibly privileged stance to take. How do you watch this speech and come away thinking Trump is not racist here?
I will fully agree that tearing down a statue of Ulysses Grant is ridiculous. But Robert E Lee was a man who was willing to lead a nation into a civil war for the right to own black people. And Trump thinks the people who want a statue to this man to commemorate him are very fine people?
Some people believe that over time symbols can come to mean different things than they meant when that symbol was created.
When people tour Dachau they are not exhibiting support for Nazis.
When I was growing up in the South and all my black friends and schoolmates were wearing "No Fear" brand shirts with confederate flags on them, I doubt they were supporting slavery.
I can easily explain both of those examples and why they’re left standing. I find it interesting that you do not explain why the Robert Lee statue is important to remain standing. And why “very fine people” think it’s so important that it’s worth protesting with neo nazis and members of the kkk. Which again, if you protest with members of the kkk, people carrying nazi flags and people chanting blood and soil, you’re not a good person.
To your other argument, Dachau was never a monument to the Nazis. It was left standing as a testament to the horror of the Nazi regime and is a historical place.
The Robert Lee statue was erected sixty years after the end of the civil war. And this statue was erected as part of the historical revisionist “lost cause” movement, that has tried to frame the south’s decision to secede from the union as just. So, the origin of the statue is racism, the man the statue represents is also racism. And this is entirely consistent with the kkk and Nazis protesting the statues removal.
To compare this to a person of color who has reclaimed a symbol of hate, such as the confederate flag. Makes no sense. In order to make your argument you need to explain what the statue means to these people. And how that can possibly be worth it, given what this statue represents to people of color and the fact that they’re supporting Nazis and the kkk while protesting this.
All we have to do is read the letters of secession from the slave holding states. They tell us why they seceded, and it was over slavery. We can read the Constitution of the Confederate States, and find slavery mentioned ten times, enshrining it in the highest law of that land.
The "lost cause" is an uncivil demand to remain an infant, and an uncivil demand that others shoulder a disproportionate burden of coming to terms with the sins of this country.
Here's a really simplified response that once I say it will probably seem obvious. People can be both stupid and/or insensitive without being racist. In fact, I would argue most people are stupid and insensitive regardless of whether they are racist.
This is my last time I’m going to respond, but feel free to reply again and get the last word.
Being stupid and insensitive is when you complain you’re not sure how to spend your bonus to your cash strapped friend. Protesting with Nazis and the kkk to defend a statue of the leader of the confederate army, is a blatant act of white supremacy. I see there’s a fundamental disagreement here, where you think this act is not racist and I do. I don’t think either of us are going to be convinced by the other ones argument.
To add some more color here anyway. These people marching through Charlottesville were also chanting “Jews will not replace us”, again I don’t see how a very fine person hears people around them chanting that, sees people carrying nazi flags, sees members of the kkk and continues to protest with them. This is not stupid and insensitive, this is white supremacy.
You're over-estimating people. I would bet money that at least a few people at that rally had no idea who Robert E. Lee is, but thought the statue was pretty.
White nationalists do not typically advertise themselves as such. They recruit by gentle indoctrination. If you look at the posters for the event, they seem pretty innocuous if you weren't already woke to the names of the speakers. You're taking information you know after the fact and assuming that everyone there had that information at the time they showed up.
There were more than two groups there. It was a public event. While there were Nazis there, it wasn't advertised as a Nazi event. Nazi flags doesn't make everyone there bad in exactly the same way Hammer and Sickle flags and some Che Guevara shirts don't make everyone at a left wing rally bad.
Protesting the removal of a statue commemorating Robert e Lee is fundamentally racist, Trump defending this is racist. Equivocating it with Washington is an absurd statement that lacks any historical context or nuance.
And again Trump the thinking that it’s okay to protest and give support to Neo nazis by protesting with them, is a racist incredibly privileged stance to take. How do you watch this speech and come away thinking Trump is not racist here?
I will fully agree that tearing down a statue of Ulysses Grant is ridiculous. But Robert E Lee was a man who was willing to lead a nation into a civil war for the right to own black people. And Trump thinks the people who want a statue to this man to commemorate him are very fine people?