OK, Ake, think deep now. Look above to comments about Washington and Jefferson. No person is perfect, and every person is a product of his/her age. But on the balance, Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln stood for what's right.

I'd also say that Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee were certainly remarkable, and certainly weren't all bad. Indeed, there are many stories that point to the integrity of Robert E. Lee. But they are symbols of a very racist Confederacy that sought to preserve slavery.

But you need to listen closely to the words of Landrieu, a thoroughly Southern mayor. Those statues weren't meant to honor and mourn Davis and Jackson and Lee. They were erected in the early 20th century and meant to celebrate the rebirth of white supremacy and to redefine the Confederacy as some sort of lost, heroic ideal. They were erected as symbols of the domination of whites over blacks. They were erected in the heyday of eugenics, when people tried to come up with "scientific proof" that whites were superior to blacks.

They are racist symbols. And they need to be destroyed.

Why are you so intent on supporting the cause of racism and bigotry?

-Joe Offer-