What Statues Should REMAIN? The Pain Inside REMOVAL

The painful legacy left by The Civil War is prominently displayed in the confederate statues being removed around The United States.

Dr. Harry Watson, Professor of History, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill & Dr. Jim Crawford, Commissioner in Chatham County, North Carolina discuss the multiple layers of controversy and history embedded within Confederate statues.

Dr. Watson presents detailed historical analysis and commentary about these statues as being part of our American narrative. Dr. Watson discussed the context and administrative decision making that went into the statues that were erected to Confederates in the Jim Crow era, clearly stating that these statues should be removed.

He further presents the position that the complexity of our early American history should be honestly displayed with respect to ALL who lived through this, to include statues to women, Blacks, and members of all races who founded this country.

He details the complicated and complex backgrounds of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, presenting what he feels should be done for each of these men respectively.

Dr. Jim Crawford (a former Professor of History) now Commissioner in Chatham County, North Carolina discussed the step by step process that was taken to remove the statue to the confederate soldier that stood in front of the County Courthouse in November of 2019.  

He provides great detail of the perspectives presented by both sides and the lengths to which attempts to compromise were made. At present, the controversy continues as a battle between confederate flag flying and a bill board to Black Lives Matter on private land just outside the area in which the statue once stood.

Dr. Crawford discussed the pain embedded within these statues and the lack of acknowledgment (thus far) of pain from either side of the perspective(s) of the other.