The American civil war seems almost unique in first its deadliness and second how forgiving the winning side was.
In a country with a population of around 31 million between 600,000 and 700,000 died and many others were maimed. That's abut 5% of the population and considering the fact that it was primarily men who died, we are seeing horrendous impacts.
More died from disease than battle injuries but the dead are still dead.
You would think that this would result in a significant amount of retribution but in general the soldiers all just went home and the nation adjusted to the new realities.
While the North returned to business as usual, the South had the freed former slaves and the requirements of reconstruction to deal with.
Some of the South, particularly parts of Georgia and Virginia suffered serious damage from the war, most of it was relatively unscathed. When the old white establishment regained control, it did a number of things. One it created a mythology that explained the war as a fight for States rights when all the pre war records show it was to preserve slavery.
Second they started to erect monuments to their "heroes".
These monuments and other recognition celebrated these traitors as symbols of the lost cause of the South.
This mythology of the lost cause grew and the symbols of the confederacy became popular as a sign of rebellion over the years.
These monuments and symbols were simply symbols of oppression and slavery and erecting them was insulting to the ex-slaves and their descendants.
Removing them is a symbolic gesture but so was erecting them.
One is a symbol gesture of equality and freedom.
The first symbolized oppression and death.
Gestures do matter and its time to correct injustice.
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