Commentary: Monumental Disappointments in Our Public Spaces

Monuments and memorials by nature long have stood, quite literally, in the public square. But within a few short years, radicalized Americans have turned on these taciturn forebears like Moses on the golden calf.

The year 2020 witnessed great anguish on this subject among part of the U.S. population. Realizing that our nation was dotted with monuments commemorating sinful men rather than angels, it was imperative for these iconoclasts that the likenesses of bronze and marble be cast down from their pedestals.

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Trump Says He’ll Issue Executive Order to Protect Monuments

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he’ll issue an executive order to protect monuments that are coming under new scrutiny as America wrestles with racism during the unrest sparked by the police killing of George Floyd.

Trump has been clear that he opposes the removal of monuments of leaders of the Confederacy or other distasteful aspects of American history.

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DFL Lawmaker Wants Portrait of Lincoln Removed from Minnesota House Chamber

A DFL lawmaker revealed on Twitter this week that she’s “tried a bunch of times” to get a portrait of President Abraham Lincoln removed from the Minnesota House chamber.

State Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein (DFL-New Brighton) said it’s “hard to look at” House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) when she’s “standing in front of Lincoln.”

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Confederate ‘Cleansing:’ Louisiana’s East Feliciana Parish Could Be the Next Place to Remove Its Civil War Monuments

Confederate monument

The statue of the unnamed Confederate soldier has stood since 1909 in front of the courthouse in Louisiana’s East Feliciana Parish, hands resting on his rifle looking down on the flow of lawyers, jurors and defendants going into the white columned building. Ronnie Anderson, an African-American man charged with possession…

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