Question

In the South, activists have called for the removal of Confederate monuments and statues which pay honor and respect to the Confederacy. (The Confederates voted to leave the United States and fought with the North to create their own country. This war was known as the United States Civil War 1861-1865.)

The State of Mississippi approved a plan to remove the Confederate symbol from its flag. Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the South, authorized the removal of a statue for General Stonewall Jackson.

The Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians have agreed to examine their team names, with an eye towards changing their names. American Indians fought to change these names for years and they believe these names to be derogatory.

Should we remove statues and monuments, if they do not reflect our current values? Why has this movement succeeded when there have been calls for over 60 years to remove controversial monuments and statues? Are activists wrong for the calling of any removal of statues? Please help me, I will like and give good feedback

Answer 1

The statutes and idols established in any society represent the value and cultural norms of that society. This also indicates what kind of thinking process the citizens of that country or community are having. If we look at the current moment of rooting out the  Confederate monuments and statues, this indicates that the long-lasting values that were prevailing in the country have been replaced and substituted by a more accommodating and respecting social values. The reason why these  Confederate monuments and statues were there so long was that there was an undercurrent that needed a spark to become the wildfire and this happened due to the recent demonstration against the racism.

If the value system of a country has changed, it should also change the statutes and other symbols. This can be seen all over the world when Hitler was dethroned, Saddam Husain was uprooted, such an incident was quite evident in the respective countries as people do not believe in their ideology anymore. Thus it is justifiable to remove statues and monuments if they do not reflect our current values.

There is no harm in calling of the removal of status as it will hurt the sentiments and values of the current society and in order to show the current status of social values and thinking, these statutes should be replaced with the ones which represent the existing value system, for instance, the status of Martin Luther King.