"The monument wars are also alienating millions of ordinary citizens who think history should be left alone and don't want to see their statues trampled and torn down."

Says the white lady living in Canada.  There are millions of ordinary BLACK citizens in the United States who find these monuments offensive and repressive, especially given that they were erected during the Jim Crow era purely to intimidate and remind black Americans that their proper place for them is in bondage.  Robert E. Lee does not deserve a monument; the blacks freed from bondage do.

You can trivialize this issue all you want, but the fact remains that the legacy in the U.S. remains problematic--and it's not for people like you to decide their concerns aren't legitimate.