gillymor - I agree leaving them in place is too problematic for many reasons..
But I can't accept willful destruction either...

earlier in this thread I commented:

"I'd suggest a national park gallery of withdrawn contentious statues,
with a multi media educative program spotlighting each statue in it's historic and cultural context...
Also, online and in person outreach work tied in with schools, colleges, and universities."

As an ex art gallery education outreach worker [a very long time ago...]
that to me at least, seems like a reasonable and positively constructive compromise proposal..???