Having grown up in Washington, D.C. I was always surrounded by monuments and memorials to a variety of historical figures, many relatively unknown. I have also been a fan of the Civil War and have visited many places where monuments and statues commemorate certain victories, battles, or heroes both large and small. I also recognize that many cities, towns and schools in this vast country of ours are named for certain historical figures: Columbus, Jackson, Lee, Washington, Lincoln, Adams, and the list goes on to former presidents.
They are time capsules. But many are not standing the test of time or changed attitudes - especially after the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in June, just as states began dealing with the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic that shuttered our country.
All of these events have brought hundreds of years of American history bubbling to the surface and have brought demands for a more honest accounting of that history. Across the country, monuments criticized as symbols of historical oppression have been defaced and brought down at warp speed, beginning as symbols of oppression against blacks and exploding into a wider cultural moment, forcing a reckoning over the issues of European colonization and the oppression of Native Americans.
The debate over how to represent the uncomfortable parts of American history raises new questions about whether it will result in a fundamental shift in how history is taught to new generations of Americans.
The focus on removing statues has revealed deep civil divisions far outside the Black Lives Matter movement that are hundreds of years in the making. It has spurred a backlash among Italian-Americans who have long regarded Columbus as a point of pride, and also among some Hispanics in New Mexico, who celebrate an era when Anglos did not dominate public life.
Symbols of the Confederacy and its legacy of slavery have long been at the center of the reckoning over historic racism in this country.
Columbus statues rose to prominence in the late 1800s as a symbol of Italians' contribution to history at a time when discrimination was rampant. But, his arrival also signaled the beginning of a violent European colonization that resulted in a cross-Atlantic slave trade and the genocide and displacement of many Indigenous people.
In New Mexico, it was a statue of Juan de Oñate y Salazar in Albuquerque that sparked debate before its removal. The 16th century former governor was exiled from New Mexico for his cruel treatment of members of Acoma Pueblo. And, statues of Thomas Jefferson, who once owned 600 slaves, have also come under attack recently.
When statues were first erected honoring Confederate generals or notable slave-owning citizens, the white population in the southern states would, by and large, have nodded with approval. After all, their heroes may not have prevailed in that awful Civil War that gave them status, but they were revered all the same.
For the "freed" black population. the building of monuments to men who sought to keep them in chains would have been anathema. But, they did not have a say. Now, their descendants and their supporters do want them gone, and some were not willing to wait. It is a battle that has been ongoing since 2009 and has gained momentum in recent years following various mass shootings across the country targeting black Americans.
But, it is not just the Confederate luminaries being toppled. And, it is not just happening in America, as statues have been toppled in Paris, Rome, London and Africa: statues dedicated to colonial power and conquering heroes. It has led to the removal of the names of founding fathers and former presidents from universities and pushing for the changes of sports team names. And, as part of the protests, the removal of Christopher Columbus from our federal city, with a pending name change for what could become our 51st state, as his statues have been attacked, decapitated and dumped in lakes and the ocean from Maryland to California.
Why? In school, many of us were taught that Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Americas. But, what you probably did not learn is that he never actually reached the shores of North America (only making it as far as Hispaniola, only technically part of North America) and was also known for selling Native women and girls into sexual slavery.
But, it is the Confederate symbols that have been attracting the most attention. The debate over whether to keep or remove Confederate statues has simmered long before the current protests.
But, what about the Civil War and its monuments is grounded in racism? Many argue the war was about the rights of states to secede, but that idea is not found in the Constitution. The Confederacy was founded on the "great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man," as stated by vice president Alexander Stephens in Savannah, Georgia in 1861, during his "Cornerstone Speech".
But, this time, the vandalism of these sites - including messages to "stop white supremacy" - has brought the issue into sharp focus. Some people argue that statues represent our history and removing them erases our past and the lessons we should learn.
But, many Confederate monuments in America were built long after the Civil War ended in 1865. Many were erected during the early 1900s and the rest during the 1950s and 1960s.
So, exactly what was happening during these periods of time?
In the early 1900s, some states were passing Jim Crow laws, which disenfranchised black people and enforced segregation. In the middle of the 20th century, the civil rights movement was formed, in part, to remove those legal instruments of suppression. In other words, the statues were erected as symbols of the perpetuation of white supremacy.
But while some people want them to stay because they cling to those ideas of white dominance, others feel removing them takes away a piece of real history - however ugly.
Instead of having them in pride of place towering over public squares and parks they could be reassembled in museums where the context of their histories can be properly explained. Some people may not want the monuments they have grown up with and become comfortable with taken away - despite their controversial history.
But, for many, driven to the streets to demand a new America free of racism, a direct line is seen between the horrors of slavery and the inequalities of today. And symbolizing that continuity of repression are the men on horses, standing tall over hundreds of American public spaces.
As these objects have been torn down in recent days, rebuilding a fairer nation built on genuine equality will remain a herculean task that could take decades.
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