蜜桃传媒

The 鈥淯nite the Right鈥� rally is attracting leaders and members of the country鈥檚 largest group, along with those of many other hate groups, such as the . It comes after a in July over the same statue and a (including , who popularized the term 鈥渁lt-right鈥�).

This time, protesters are ostensibly to defend 鈥渇ree speech and our heritage.鈥� But, as we鈥檝e written before, just they will be acknowledging is painfully clear. Certainly it will not be the heritage of the nearly and brought to North America prior to the Civil War or the millions of African-Americans oppressed during slavery and the seven decades of Jim Crow segregation that followed Reconstruction, when .

In Alabama, another town has been wrestling with the past. A 2016 car crash that stood in the town square in Demopolis. That meant residents were faced not with the question of whether to take the Confederate monument down 鈥� but whether to put it back up.

鈥淎n accident occurs and you start to hear all this stuff about somebody wanted to destroy their 鈥榟istory,鈥欌�� Reginald Gracie David Montgomery for The Washington Post. 鈥淎ll these years you say this should be a model city as far as race relations are concerned, but you want to erect the one thing that keeps us divided?鈥�

Other black residents were just as stunned that their white neighbors would want to erect a monument to such a painful era.

鈥淚 realized what it represented to them, and then I realized what it represented to me,鈥� Annye Braxton Montgomery. 鈥淏igotry. If we are the City of the People, it represents an exclusion of my people. And if we are the City of the People, I think we should be included in the monument.鈥�

The Demopolis city council in April to replace the toppled statue with an inclusive monument to the fallen soldiers of all wars. But then state lawmakers got involved. Thanks to a signed by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, any public monument older than 39 years may not be altered, the council鈥檚 decision.

Meanwhile, in Charlottesville, the city council鈥檚 decision to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee has been by a court order, with efforts stalling in the nearby cities of and Leesburg as well. The effort to remove (or replace) Confederate monuments in all these cities is about more than symbolism. It鈥檚 about acknowledging the full history of our nation 鈥� and committing to address the injustices that continue today.

As always, thank you for your support,

The Editors

PS. Here are a few more reads worth your time.

• by Dawn Chan for The New Yorker
• by Wes Enzinna for Mother Jones
• by Tracy Jan for The Washington Post
• by Meredith Hobbs for Daily Report

蜜桃传媒鈥檚 Weekend Readings are a weekly summary of the most important news reporting and commentary from around the country on civil rights, economic and racial inequality, and hate and聽extremism.聽Sign up to receive Weekend Readings every Saturday morning.