Since Charlottesville, the debate about Confederate statues has been an ongoing story. John Carlson argues (Aug. 30) for preserving Confederate statues on grounds that doing so is educational for current and future generations. Citing Santayana, he says, “Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.”
But what’s truly educational is not the statues themselves but how they’re labeled. In New Orleans, for example, a Battle of Liberty Place monument was erected during the Jim Crow era (in 1932) with the inscription, “United States troops took over the state government . . . but the national election of November 1876 recognized white supremacy in the South and gave us our state.”
In 1974, however, the city added a plaque that reads: “Although the Battle of Liberty Place and this monument are important parts of New Orleans history, the sentiments in favor of white supremacy expressed thereon are contrary to the philosophy and beliefs of present-day New Orleans.”
That’s educational.
Tom Huckin
Salt Lake City