On this day, when we traditionally celebrate American independence, I’m a little surprised that I’m having to revisit a post that I wrote in 2017 entitled, “Historical Statues: One Solution“. But yes, indeed, the controversy over whether or not to remove confederate statues has reared its ugly head yet again.
That 2017 blog post describes a brilliant solution that the people of Budapest, Hungary came up with to deal with their brutal communist era statues. It’s really quite fascinating, and I hope it’s an idea that can be adopted here. It would allow the statues to still exist, but in an educational context in a museum-like setting where those who don’t want to see them won’t have to. Please do read it and tell me what you think.
But for those of you who don’t click through, I leave you with a few points to ponder:
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Monuments are not history. They’re the glorification thereof.
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No child should have to grow up under the shadow of statues of people who thought they should be enslaved.
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Removing a statue won’t erase the history, and we can and should still learn from that history. Learn, but not deify.
It really is okay to become older and wiser as a society. I promise. We’ll be okay.
Happy Independence Day.
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The View from a Drawbridge 
Good idea! I had always thought a museum would be the way to go with those statues. They need not be destroyed but put in a place where, as you suggested, a person would only go if they chose to.
Exactly. And that would also give some opportunity for educating the public about their context in our nation’s history.
If the museum’s paid for with taxpayers money, that context will have to be brutally honest or we’ll be hearing objections from some of the descendants of those that were abused and oppressed. We’ll definitely be hearing objections from groups like this… https://www.keranews.org/post/voices-who-oppose-removal-confederate-statues-dallas
It might get complicated, but major change usually meets some resistance. May the fourth be with you.
And also with you! 😀