My grandparents emigrated from Germany in the 1890s. They were poor, working class people looking for a better life and to escape military conscription. They brought their own biases with them, i.e., anti-Semitism, anti-Slav, anti-non-white, etc.

The American civil war meant nothing to them. The confederate monuments had been around and were largely ignored. There was no issue to have them removed. The real issue is racism. We are not born racist, but are taught by older people how to hate. This has been going on for generation after generation. It must be confronted. Our children and their children must be taught the evils of racism. It will not go away during our lifetimes, but we can expedite its demise.

The monuments can stay or go, but their ignoble cause, racism, must go.