If you follow your proposal of removing all symbols of treason and racial oppression to a logical conclusion then to be consistent you would need to be willing to disassemble the Jefferson Memorial since Thomas Jefferson owned over 600 slaves. The Washington Monument would need to be taken down since George Washington held in excess of 800 slaves on both his Virginia plantation and his land holdings in Ohio. Monuments and National Monuments for the other nine US President who owned slaves, including Union General US Grant, would need to be removed. We could add to that list the Andrew Jackson monument at the court house in Independence, Missouri since he advocated the categorical removal and slaughter of Native Americans to make room for settlers. The Charles Lindberg memorial would have to go since Mr Lindberg, in spite of being a recognized as a national hero, nevertheless, expressed pro Nazi sentiments. The list goes on and on. There are three ideas I would like to express. 1) History is immutable. The events of history cannot be changed. Furthermore, to fully comprehend history it needs to be placed in the context of the times. To apply today’s standard to past events is to do an injustice to our understanding history. Secondly, The only way we can become more enlighted is through changing the internal thought process not by modifying the external cosmetic landscape. 3) Monuments that cause us pain can teach us lessons. While in Prague Czech Republic I visited a park that still has monuments of Lenin and Stalin. They have decided that by keeping these symbols of oppression in a place where people can see them rather than burying them serves as a reminder. So I feel that the removal of these symbols serves really only one purpose. The appeasement of our collective guilt. It does nothing to change history. It does nothing to change our internal conscience.