I got this email today from moveon.org. I have to confess that I have enjoyed seeing Confederate monuments on Civil War battlefields and in southern cities. To my mind, there's something good about honoring those who were on the losing side. But on the other side, history shows that many of these monuments were erected in the early 20th century, long after the Civil War; and it does seem that many of them were erected to create a myth of a noble Confederacy - an effort to promote white supremacy, perhaps? So, I dunno. Where do we draw the line on this? Will it be a good thing to "remove every Confederate symbol in America," as the petition demands?
I don't know the answer to that.
-Joe-

Here's the email:

Breaking: Just this morning, Donald Trump doubled down on his embrace of white supremacy, saying it's "foolish" and "sad" that cities are removing Confederate statues in the aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Calling these symbols of white supremacy "beautiful statues," he claimed that our culture is being "ripped apart."

Click here to sign the petition: Demand that our elected leaders remove every Confederate symbol in America.

We must take down the symbols of the Confederacy from any place of honor. Confederate statues must be rightfully recognized as a symbol of white supremacy and its current political power. White supremacist terrorists in Charlottesville were willing to kill in the name of these symbols. Take 'em ALL down!
Sign Rashad's petition

Dear MoveOn member,

Now is the time to intensify the pressure to remove confederate statues across America.

Baltimore, Maryland, and Los Angeles, California, have already removed monuments to the Confederacy. The mayor of Lexington, Kentucky, announced that his city would remove two statues. And New Jersey's Senator Cory Booker is introducing a measure to remove Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol.

But we can't be satisfied until all of these symbols are removed all across the country. Our campaign is gaining momentum and this is a critical moment to push for action against these monuments to white supremacy.

Will you add your name to our petition to demand that our elected leaders take 'em ALL down?

Last weekend, in Charlottesville, a white supremacist rammed a car into a group of peaceful protesters and killed one person. The night before, white nationalists marched through Charlottesville communities and the University of Virginia campus, rallying around a statue of the Confederacy and carrying torches evoking a history of violent racial terrorism. Emboldened by Trump, white supremacists are now acting to intimidate us from removing symbols of white supremacy.

But we won't stop working to remove every single Confederate symbol in America. And as each news cycle demonstrates, the movement to remove these symbols is gaining energy with elected officials and grassroots activists around the country!

Will you sign and share the petition to take 'em ALL down? Click here to join the campaign to remove every Confederate symbol in America.

Since Dylann Roof massacred churchgoers at Mother Emanuel AME, we have been organizing around the nation to remove symbols of the Confederacy from any place of honor in America. In response, white supremacists are rallying around Confederate statues and using them as a pretext to commit domestic terrorism and murder.

We cannot allow these white supremacist terrorists to intimidate us from confronting and working to dismantle systemic white supremacy.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

We must work to end the influence of today's white supremacists. Removing all Confederate statues would be the first step in sending the message that we are no longer honoring white supremacy at a societal level. We've already seen progress in Tampa, Florida, and New Orleans, Louisiana, where Confederate symbols are being removed by Black-led organizing in the face of sustained white supremacist opposition.

Sign the petition and tell elected officials: It's time to remove all Confederate statues in America.

Thanks.

—Rashad Robinson, Color of Change