To understand what the Americans need to reconcile about their past, they could look to Germany, and how their country has reconciled and recovered from WWII. There are no statues erected to past leaders; there are laws against racist and hate speech, which are followed; there are memorials of plaques to honour the 'victims' of war that are placed on streets ,almost invisible unless one pauses to look down. All those statues in the south were erected after a failed Civil War, just to help the 'white' folks remember and to remind the 'blacks' of slavery. There is very little dedicated to the 'victims ' of the Civil War. Are the children learning the meaning of these statues erected? Are we? They need to be put into a graveyard somewhere like The Russians are doing with their old statues, where if you wish, you may visit the place. Americans could learn a few things from other countries, instead of constantly destroying them for their kind of 'democracy.'