The monuments in cemeteries and in battlefields don't have the "Southern Triumphalist" tone that is carried by the 20th-century equestrian statues of Confederate generals. On the battlefields, I think it helps that the statues are "bipartisan" - from both the Union and Confederate armies.

I generally think it's a good idea to remove Confederate statues from cities, but I'm not so sure about the cemeteries and battlefields.

Back in the 1980s, I went to the Deep South a number of times as a federal election observer under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. I developed theories about the Civil War memorials I saw in the South. Most notable were Mississippi and Alabama. In Mississippi, I got the impression that they fought the war and lost. In Alabama and South Carolina, I got the impression that the entire state still contended that they won the war - same with Georgia. Virginia and Louisiana and North Carolina seemed to be politely embarrassed that they had been involved in the whole mess - except that the Shenandoah Valley was rabidly pro-Confederacy. These are just my impressions, but I had fun trying to discern the varying attitudes about the Civil War in various states.

I was on the tail end of my agency's Voter Rights trips. In general, we were received very well and there seemed to be a lot of friendly interaction between blacks and whites at the polls - in many places, it was far more friendly than I'd seen in black-white relationships in the North. But there always seemed to be one incident that made me think it was good that we were there to help keep the elections honest and fair.

I think it's a travesty that the Supreme Court more-or-less abolished hte Voting Rights Act. There are still many places in the South where people work hard to deprive African-Americans of their right to vote. I keep wondering what trick they're going to come up with next. The Department of Justice can no longer take preventative action in the South. They have to wait until the election is over, and then they can prosecute - after the damage has been done.

-Joe-