Abraham Lincoln reforged the union and granted amnesty 150 years ago. On June 2nd, 152 years ago, Lt. Gen. and future president Ulysses S. Grant accepted Confederate surrender, allowing soldiers to go home with their sidearms and horses. Reunification of all men, created equal, was the goal of the civil war.

Monuments meant to remember and memorials to never forget are scattered across the South, and are now the target of politicians and racial justice groups with accusations of promoting past institutions or new supremacist movements, while historical remembrance promoters and people fighting historical revisionists are charged with racism. 

The South, however, cannot be delegated so simply to blatant racism. A Richmond Times-Dispatch online poll showed that 55.3 percent of people wanted to keep the statues up, while a Louisiana State University poll showed that 88 percent of whites opposed removal, while 47 percent of blacks also opposed removal.

Mitch Henderson, the researcher who polled Louisiana, stated that it “is a socially conservative state, a Southern state.” 

Malcolm Suber with Take Em Down NOLA, believes that “The history we are taught is a Confederate history and glorification of all things Confederate is part of the history of this state.”

The Sons of Confederate Veterans in Louisiana head, Thomas Taylor, countered, saying, “[Confederate Statues] aren’t just monuments. These are works of art.”

The idea that public displays (like statues in the South) are the best way to fix racism is misguided. While the South was the traditional front for the civil rights movements over the past 150 years, it should no longer be the main concern. Black education in the South is 2 percent higher for high school than the national average, with a 4 percent lower disparity rate with white students.

Out of 103 colleges that graduate black students at a higher rate than white students, 45.6 percent can be found in previously confederated states, while out of colleges that have the worst black graduation rate only 7.2 percent sit in 11 states. Black women are graduating college at a higher rate than any other category, including white men. 8 of the 10 best cities for black business are in the South. The South isn’t done growing either, leading the United States in population growth according to the 2010 census.

These accomplishments should shadow social justice movements, but that would mean acknowledging that the majority of problems that plague minorities occur in non-confederate states. The high school graduation rate is 2.65 percent lower than the national average in the civil war Union States, with a 3 percent higher disparity, meaning 5.47 percent more black students graduate in the South than the North. There is a clear trend in education and business that shows that states where blacks are a clear minority are in the worst position for positive growth

The use of confederate statues in the South can be argued as an issue, but there are simply more important issues when it comes to the progression of legitimate equality in the country. Because of years of criticism in the South, it is one of the best places for blacks to live, whereas the North, never having faced any racial criticism, is undoubtedly the worst. Education is the cornerstone to any level of success, and I would believe that “To save man from the morass of propoganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education.”