"History is history," Durk,  so lets think of what that statue honors- the greatest disaster in American history, the attempt by rebels to destroy the USA in  order to preserve slavery-- the result was our greatest death count in history, some two thirds of a million Americans killed.
And lets think of the history of a more recent manifestation of a war caused by racism, started by Nazi Germany.  Looking at the photos of the brawl between the Left and Right in Charlottesville reminds us of the Brownshirts and the Left fighting before Hitler achieved control.
And that brings me to the fantastic  German movie  "Thirteen Minutes" currently showing at the Downtown Metro based  on the heroic life of  Georg Elser, whose bomb just missed killing Hitler. For those struggling to understand how an educated, democratic society could be taken over by a racist, militaristic, authoritarian, Nationalist dictatorship, this movie is a must see-- if you can stand the horror of  this actual history.