re: The tide has turned - Galvez statue on horse being reinstalled on Canal Street

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I have wondered about statues that weren’t timely or very relevant. I can’t get all that worked up about those.

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For me, I differentiate based upon whether the statue has a particular tie to the place. Taking statues down because someone who lived before 1865 was a slave owner is ridiculous. Everyone of means before 1865 was a slave owner. But if the statue was erected with the express purpose of making a white supremacy statement, with no particular tie to the place, I have a hard time concluding that the white supremacy statement should endure forever because someone paid to put it up on a monument in public.

If I pay to put up a public statue of a toilet with the inscription "Trump is a moron," does that have to stay on public display forever because it becomes "history" after I have died of old age? Of course not. The same can be said for a marble column that says "white supremacy." Why does that get permanent display?

The white supremacy monuments aren't "history" that we have to protect and display forever. They were confrontational statements when they were made that were designed to intimidate black citizens. There is nothing to preserve and venerate there. Those can be rotated out of public display.