OK, I'll say it... we are too sensitive

I’m comparing Nola & Atlanta to the south in general. For instance, most of Louisiana is still very negatively stereotypical southern compared to Nola.

LOL I have met a lot of people from New Orleans. Are they "stereotypical" southern? No but then most southerners are not. But they are very much southern.

BTW, stereotypes aren't any more flattering to a southern person than they are to anyone else of any race or religion.
 
Publicly discuss. As far as I know, it was the first (somewhat major city) to take them down.
I think you're confusing what I'm talking about. I'm talking about statues and monuments in general that to some represent things in our past. What does major city have to do with it? A statue is a statue whether it's in a major city or not. I'm still confident that you cannot know that your area is the first to discuss even publicaly (which simply means openly and with citizens of X area) regarding confederate statues. There are many things that go on that we never get to hear about.

Putting the above completely aside my earlier point still stands IMO we are on average unwilling to have these discussions OR the monument or statue gets vandalized or destroyed prior to the actual discussion to be had.
 

/
Well, it was racist 80 years ago also. Sadly, racism was accepted behavior then.
 
LOL I have met a lot of people from New Orleans. Are they "stereotypical" southern? No but then most southerners are not. But they are very much southern.

BTW, stereotypes aren't any more flattering to a southern person than they are to anyone else of any race or religion.
It’s not my original thought. It’s often said that New Orleans is not a typical southern city although it’s in the south. I can understand where that comes from since I have grown up here, but lived in Baton Rouge for several years. They are vastly different although they're both in the south, in the same state & only 60 miles apart.
 
You make some very good points. As I said before, I think most would have to be looked at and dealt with individually. And certainly NEVER getting rid of "Gone With the Wind". It may not be an accurate representation of slavery at the time, but it certainly doesn't make it look pretty. Me personally, I am in favor of getting rid of the statues that are of people connected to slavery. The point of a statue is to honor someone, those people should not be honored. (My opinion :))


All of the important aspects of this country's history simply cannot be taught in schools. There isn't enough time. How it is decided what will be taught and what will be left out is, I think, determined at the state level. Unfortunately I guess it falls on the parents to supplement with what they want their children to know. Statues aren't going to fill that void.


So many on here keep speaking of finding the good in people. Well I see the good in those that knew, even in the 30's, that racism was wrong.


Edited to add: I remember a story from when I was a kid. My father was a racist. At a very young age I knew he didn't like black people (or Jewish people). At 4 (1967) I started kindergarten and my bus driver was a very sweet black man. I really loved him. I remember giving him hugs. I knew my father was wrong - I didn't have to be told he was wrong, even at 4/5 years old. Were there other outside forces that influenced me way back then? I don't know, maybe. But I remember very clearly knowing that he was wrong. That's all- just sharing a story.

That's great that you loved a black man when you were 4. Maybe Kate Smith did too. :confused3 She sang a song and used terms that were acceptable to use in her day. But maybe she didn't stand for people being treated poorly and had lots of black friends that she loved. People are complex.

I write novels and there is a group of historical authors that find it SO annoying when the heroine in some historical novel has the values and morals and attitudes of a contemporary woman. It's false. It's phoney and ridiculous. But, in order to make them acceptable characters for today's readers you have to make them more relatable. The fact is the times were different, people were different. And that didn't and doesn't necessarily make them bad people. And those that are smug about how superior they are today, have no way of really knowing what they would have been like had they actually lived in previous times and cultures. And I don't mean that their fully formed 2019 selves are plopped down like in time travel, I mean actually born and raised and steeped in a completely different world.

I am mixed race, 50/50. The common term used to be mulatto. Now I hear that is supposed to be offensive. It makes no difference to me though. If some 90 year old lady uses that term because that is what she grew up with and feels comfortable with that is fine by me. Just because some 21 year old has been taught all the "correct" words, doesn't necessarily make them any better of a person. If 60 years in the future the term African American falls out of favour, I am sure there are going to be lots of the older generation still use it because sometimes it's hard to change. But that wouldn't make them wham bam suddenly racist if they hadn't been before.
 
Sounds like "WE" means those of you with the sparkling white laundry...

I agree - if you are soooo "sensitive" that the replacement of a recorded song with racist lyrics makes you angry or feel like you even need to post about it on the internet, maybe you should just keep it to yourself.
 
I think you're confusing what I'm talking about. I'm talking about statues and monuments in general that to some represent things in our past. What does major city have to do with it? A statue is a statue whether it's in a major city or not. I'm still confident that you cannot know that your area is the first to discuss even publicaly (which simply means openly and with citizens of X area) regarding confederate statues. There are many things that go on that we never get to hear about.

Putting the above completely aside my earlier point still stands IMO we are on average unwilling to have these discussions OR the monument or statue gets vandalized or destroyed prior to the actual discussion to be had.
I mentioned Mayor city b/c I can’t know about every little small town along the way. How about this...as far as I know, it was one of the first places to get national attention for its public discussion of taking down the confederate monuments.

As far as the monuments being destroyed, I have seen that. Here, NOPD guarded the statues until they were actually removed even though it had been voted to take them down. So the decision came first.
 
Philly news last night reported that the NJ shore town of Cape May will also stop playing Kate Smith's God Bless America during their daily-in-summer flag lowering ritual. But the neighboring shore town of Wildwood intends to keep playing it, along with the National Anthem.

Edit: It wasn't the City of Cape May's decision. The ceremony is conducted by the owners of a gift shop on their private piece of property.

The mayor of Wildwood asked the Flyers to send the statue of Kate Smith to the city to be displayed there. I doubt the Flyers will agree.
 
Sounds like "WE" means those of you with the sparkling white laundry...

I agree - if you are soooo "sensitive" that the replacement of a recorded song with racist lyrics makes you angry or feel like you even need to post about it on the internet, maybe you should just keep it to yourself.
I think that’s the issue in a nutshell (for me). To say anyone is “too sensitive” about anything related to this type of issue is dismissive. If you have not lived on the other end of it, how dare anyone tell anyone how sensitive they should be.
 
I mentioned Mayor city b/c I can’t know about every little small town along the way. How about this...as far as I know, it was one of the first places to get national attention for its public discussion of taking down the confederate monuments.
Whoever is first (in your opinion and using specific parameters) is a strange thing to make a point of respectfully. I'm fairly certain people can and have had discussions over time. It's just not what people gravitate towards these days.

As far as the monuments being destroyed, I have seen that. Here, NOPD guarded the statues until they were actually removed even though it had been voted to take them down. So the decision came first.
That's nice of them to do that. Unfortunately that's not the case everywhere nor is it practical. It wouldn't be needed if people weren't so reactionary.
 
Whoever is first (in your opinion and using specific parameters) is a strange thing to make a point of respectfully. I'm fairly certain people can and have had discussions over time. It's just not what people gravitate towards these days.

That's nice of them to do that. Unfortunately that's not the case everywhere nor is it practical. It wouldn't be needed if people weren't so reactionary.
I don’t think it is. I think it speaks to the make-up of this city.
 
The first of the statues to come down here was put up in the 1900s by white supremacists.

It might have been I have no idea. I am just saying the statue of Robert E Lee that was in Lee Circle was not. It was put up in 1884.

Here is the thing, I don't really care that much about statues one way or the other. I DO care about what is next.

Some of the statues do not matter anyway, especially if they had nothing to do with the building or rebuilding of the city they are erected in. Some have more than one reason in some places of being put up. Its not just about what they did in the Civil War. But some do.

Its the wily nily taking them down because they served in the Confederate military that I object to. Take some down, leave some. Look closely at the person and decide.
 
Just saying, a lot of this "take down the statues and scrub the cultural record" talk seems like it comes from the Oceania Ministry of Truth:

But when the statue was funded and put up by a a private organization of racists in the early 1900's, is it, really?

Should we be keeping up monuments placed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who, at the time, believed in the romanticized Lost Cause narrative? And supported the KKK?

As someone said before, Germany doesn't want to erase all of its history (although swastikas are illegal). But it doesn't romanticize the Third Reich. It uses its history as a warning.
 
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