Contain the Confederacy

If confederate monuments are so bad then why are there so many of them? Why are people fighting to protect them and why now? All I know is that I wouldn’t want a nice statue proudly displayed of a serial killer, rapist or murderer. What is the problem in this decade anyway? White people no longer own slaves  was over so I thought. If things are to change we need Congress to pass litigation to put changes into law. Violent protests never solve anything.

There is no bigger monument to the Confederacy than a giant image etched in stone in the side of a mountain. Stone Mountain is just outside Atlanta. There you can see huge monuments to Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson   and   Robert   E. Lee. This monument is larger than Mt. Rushmore. Should we blow up the side of the mountain? There weren’t even any battles fought here but the place is a tourist attraction complete with a laser light show at night. The place is significant because it is the birthplace of the KKK who have had meetings there since 1915. Now there are petitions to remove or alter the monument.

Across the country more than 100 schools   and nearly 500 roads and highways bear the names of Confederates. There is an estimated 1,500 symbols to the Confederacy across America. Why so many? The only way to solve the problem is through legislation. Why is every Republican Congressman so silent on this issue? We know that Trump with his vague statements is just putting more fuel onto the fire. Our political leaders should have a sense   of responsibility because they have the power to make real changes.

We have three branches of government. We have Congress that can make real changes. Where is the oversight of the Justice Department? They are not investigating hate crimes. We need Congress to schedule oversight hearings of the Department of Justice and Homeland Security specifically to find out how much resources they are allocating to stop the hate. Jeff Sessions allocated funds on the issue of Sanctuary Cities, He allocated funds to end Affirmative Action. Hate Crimes and White Supremacy has never been investigated with an allocation of funds to explore the problems. Our Congress has the job to make sure the Justice Department should be prioritizing actual tangible issues involving these deadly violent protests among Americans.

Should our children be exposed to NAZI Flags, Homophobic slurs and racial slurs as part of accepted life? If people really care about our democracy especially when so much blood was shed throughout history to stop these horrible ways of thinking, we need to pass real laws now. We can’t stop Trump from saying whatever he wants to as he is activating hate groups and making them feel powerful. But what we can do is to litigate every case, local governments can pass their state laws and yes, the loved statues aare coming down because they are no longer a representation of history but with the hate groups they are being worshiped and that is wrong. The statues are of leaders who lst their war and lost for a very good reason. Freedom and liberty FOR ALL!