It's utterly baffling that we're living in the post-post-post-modern future of 2017 and somehow, Nazis are dominating our national conversation. On Friday, a plague of khaki-clad white nationalist scum descended on Charlottesville, VA with Polynesian tiki torches they bought from Home Depot. We all know what happened on Saturday, when people marching with swastika flags and weaponry clashed with counter-protesters that didn't take too kindly to racist bigots trying to take back their power, leading to a death and several savage beatings.
Obviously, white nationalism is the huge topic right now, and many states have been making the wise decision to remove monuments to the Confederacy. The far right will cry, "It's heritage, not hate!" What is that heritage? A war fought over slavery. The far right will then say, "The Civil War was fought over state's rights." Sure, primarily the right to own human beings. Apparently, America has monuments to its ugly racist history for the same reason that Germany has all those famous statues of Adolf Hitler everywhere, right?
And although Oklahoma wasn't even an actual state during the Civil War, there are still several monuments around the state memorializing the soldiers who died defending the rights of people to own African-Americans as property. It's important to remember this history, which is why it's all in books and museums. Marble slabs and plaques that commemorate and glamorize those who fought on the wrong side of history are unnecessary now. Here are 5 of them that no one should shed a tear about should they come down:
Bryan County Courthouse