Will Removing Confederate Monuments End Racism?

KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports

KSLA reports that work has begun to remove the first of four Confederate monuments in New Orleans, Louisiana. To many, the monuments represent racism and intolerance. I see them as a reminder.

I'm not personally attached to the monuments, although I wonder what will take their place. However, I don't think their removal solves anything. Sure, it's a gesture by the local government, but racism and intolerance are in a person's heart and the presence of a monument won't change that. We can whitewash the past and pretend that slavery and the 'War between the States' didn't happen, but when we do that, are we ignoring where we've been and some would argue, how far we've come?

After all, George Santayana said it best in The Life of Reason in 1905. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

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