Lots of great posts in this thread, but I just wanna spell it out crystal clear in case people aren't getting it.

There's a big difference between putting up a monument to honor someone despite their evil traits (Washington, Jefferson, you, me, etc.) and putting up a monument to honor someone because of their evil traits (Lee, Forrest, etc.). Every single statue in the latter category needs to come down yesterday.

And yes, there are some statues that are sorta in the middle. Some people (like Stephen D. Lee!) who did both horrendously evil things (traitor against our country, racist, fought to maintain slavery) and also did things which were positive (first pres. of MSU). In due time, as a nation we'll have to reckon with every single one of these gray cases on a case-by-case basis, considering the context in which we honor someone. Our country is gonna be just fine guys. We're having conversations we should have had 100 years ago.