Tolerance and acceptance of bigotry only encourages it. Appeals to white identity--which are at the heart of the statues' meaning--are associated with segregation, lynching and nostalgia for slavery and secession, social structures that are EXACTLY what you say we should avoid: "one people telling another people how to live their lives."

Surely you can see this. Why would a republic seek to idolize this legacy of tyranny and oppression?