Should historical monuments be removed if they offend some people? (Baltimore: attorney, school)

[Gcoxusa]

Should historical monuments be removed if they offend some people?

If not a National issue - this is certainly a question that every state will need to answer for themselves. This is not ONLY about Confederate soldiers. In Maryland the former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney statue was removed from the grounds of the State House, and he was definitely not a Confederate soldier... even the Christopher Columbus monument has been attacked.

[MrRational]

Should certain monuments have never been erected in the first place?

As to Taney... absent his obnoxious and scurrilous 1857 "judgment" the confederacy may have never happened.

[YourWakeUpCall]

Historical monuments dedicated to treasonous people whose actions resulted in the death of over 2% of the population to preserve a reprehensible practice should be taken down. Many such monuments should never have been erected in the first place.

In any case, to answer the OP's overly broad (thereby, almost forcing the "no" answer they're looking for), is - it depends. It really needs to be done on a case by case basis and shouldn't be based solely on someone being offended - especially these days, when everyone is offended by everything all of the time.

[Gcoxusa]

A distinction should be made between the Confederate cause and the Confederate soldier because sometimes great men find themselves fighting on the wrong team. We can see this in our own time. As a Vietnam Era veteran I saw good and honorable men going to fight in a war that many soldiers didn't believe in or understand. Still, they went to fight because their government compelled them to do so.

The removal of the Confederate Women's Monument was particularly egregious. The pedestal reads, "In difficulty and danger, regardless of self, they fed the hungry, clothed the needy, nursed the wounded and comforted the dying." If you view that as a symbol of hatred there is something wrong with your thinking.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Gcoxusa

A distinction should be made between the Confederate cause and the Confederate soldier...

Not so much. It's bad enough they got snookered into fighting...
but to then keep reminding them and their descendants of that? Nope.

Find something good that g-g-g-g-g-granddad did. Celebrate that.

...the Confederate Women's Monument

Nope. Just hiding it all behind the skirts of their women.

[Gcoxusa]

Originally Posted by YourWakeUpCall

In any case, to answer the OP's overly broad (thereby, almost forcing the "no" answer they're looking for), is - it depends. It really needs to be done on a case by case basis and shouldn't be based solely on someone being offended - especially these days, when everyone is offended by everything all of the time.

It appears that you may have misunderstood the intent of the poll by speculating on what I am looking for. So allow me to clarify. What I DO want is for citizens to have say in the monuments or memorials that are taken down or installed in their State. Otherwise, if we allow one person, or a small group to make those decisions it's like when Adolph Hitler marched into France and dismantled monuments that offended him. There should be a public transparent process, and as you indicated, a case-by-case basis would make sense.

[DubyaM]

If a monument offended me it would be my problem, wouldn't it?

[Gcoxusa]

Originally Posted by DubyaM

If a monument offended me it would be my problem, wouldn't it?

I agree with you and I suspect the courts might also because I see some parallels between the Washington Redskins football team trademark and certain Confederate monuments. Some people find all that offensive. However, regarding the Redskins the Washington Times reported in June 2017:
"The government cannot censor trademarks because some people find them offensive, the Supreme Court ruled ..."

I am surprised that Baltimore city did not find themselves on the wrong end of lawsuit as in Alabama. The Attorney General's Office sued the city of Birmingham for erecting plywood around a monument to Confederate sailors and soldiers. This action violated state law preserving historic structures.

The next time someone criticizes Robert E. Lee you should ask them what they actually know about the man. Seriously – try it. I guarantee their answer will be very short and sprinkled with inaccurate statements. That is hardly the basis for an intelligent decision. Robert E. Lee actually lived in Baltimore at one time, helped build a fort to defend Baltimore, served over 30 years in the U.S. Army and fought for the U.S against Mexico .... isn't that terrible?

If you take down a statue of a white man or woman and replace it with a statue of a black man (as councilman Scott suggested) - that has the same effect as removing the statue of a black man and replacing it with a white man. In other words, it smells like racism. To be sure, I can think of several African Americans who are candidates for a memorial. Put one on every street corner if that's what people want. But doing so should not require taking down any historic structure because that just sends the wrong message. A better message came from mayor Pugh herself ... “What should go in their place is a plaque of sorts that tells what was there and why it was removed,” Pugh said.

The Baltimore Office Of Promotion & The Arts is accepting creative suggestions for replacing Baltimore’s Confederate Monuments at the following link:
https://promotionandarts.submittable.com/submit/92573/monumental-sites-creative-responses-to-baltimores-confederate-monuments

[Quick Enough]

Originally Posted by Gcoxusa

Should historical monuments be removed if they offend some people?

If not a National issue - this is certainly a question that every state will need to answer for themselves. This is not ONLY about Confederate soldiers. In Maryland the former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney statue was removed from the grounds of the State House, and he was definitely not a Confederate soldier... even the Christopher Columbus monument has been attacked.

If we cow tow to "some" people we would never get anywhere.

In school I was taught that we acted in way "for the better good of MOST people".

"Some" will always be offended by something.

[DaveinMtAiry]

Gee wonder how Infinite Heights feels on the topic.