A Monumental Problem

A Monumental Problem

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The debate over Confederate monuments and memorials often boils down to history versus hate…and it’s heating up again. This week, a group of activists in Durham, North Carolina toppled a statue of a rebel soldier in a scene reminiscent of Baghdad in April of 2003. It was part of a nationwide response to the violence that unfolded at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last week where many Confederate flags flew alongside swastikas and racist signs carried by white nationalists, neo-Nazis and other hate groups. Is there a way to deal with Confederate imagery without forgetting the lessons of the past? Our guests are Jillian Johnson, at-large member of the Durham, N.C. City Council; Jonathan Horn, author of “The Man Who Would Not Be Washington”; Derek Alderman, professor of cultural geography at the University of Tennessee; Phil Wilayto, editor of the Virginia Defender; and Thomas Strain, Jr., commander-in-chief of Sons of Confederate Veterans.