‘Let’s say goodbye to monuments, y’all’

I was brought up as a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and regularly attended meetings with my grandmother. We sang “Dixie” and Confederate fight songs while people dressed up in Confederate uniforms. I was constantly taught that the War Between The States was agriculture vs. industry and had nothing to do with slavery. For my 10th birthday, I received the biography of Robert E. Lee. I regularly cleaned Confederate cemeteries while hearing how terrible the government was for not paying for their upkeep.

I feel that I can speak from experience and from a unique perspective when I say that the Confederate monuments must be relegated to history and put in a place where they can be studied and learned from so that history will not be repeated. But they do not deserve prominent space in the public eye. They were almost all erected during the rise and height of the Jim Crow laws. They were intended to intimidate and keep “in place” people of color. Racism in the South (and other places I’m sure) is inherent and endemic, and we must constantly educate ourselves, our families and our communities and fight against it. We need to be progressive and inclusive. Great and exciting things are happening all over the South. Having these monuments around only serves people who want “better” times in Dixieland to not be forgotten.

Let’s celebrate the South in other ways — through food, music, hospitality — but let’s say goodbye to these monuments, y’all. SUSAN WIETSMA, DECATUR