Symbol of racism should be removed and forgotten (LTTE)

Aug. 23, 2015 at 11:00 PM

Some may say the Confederate monument in Graham is not a symbol of racism, but let’s not forget that the monument was placed on Courthouse Square by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. These ladies travelled around the country, trying to portray the Confederacy in a sympathetic light. They placed monuments all over the South, many of which were directly funded by the Ku Klux Klan. In 1917, these ladies celebrated the 1865 founding of the KKK by placing a plaque upon the building where the KKK held their first meeting. This was just three years after they had placed the Confederate monument in Graham in 1914. If you read the United Daughters of the Confederacy’s official magazine, “The Southern Magazine,” you will find many, many articles which praised the KKK.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy continued on for decades longer, fighting to keep segregation and opposing civil rights for blacks, yet today, in the year 2015 — 150 years after the Civil War — their monument still towers defiantly over Courthouse Square, reminding blacks of their “place” in Alamance County — a racist symbol. But more fully, it’s a symbol of white supremacy and segregation which belongs in the distant past — maybe in a museum or cemetery, but definitely not beside our courthouse which purports to provide equal protection under the law for all citizens of this county, black and white alike. If the monument were removed today, before long, most whites would forget all about it, but if it stays, it will hurt black people each and every day until it is removed ...

http://www.thetimesnews.com/article/20150823/opinion/150829646