Paul Diamond Loc: Atlanta, GA, USA

I have life experience growing up on '2 worlds'. Born in Ohio, I attended an elementary school named after a famous President and General, Ulysses S. Grant. We moved to the Washington, DC metro area in the 60's at the time of the Poor People's March. And I graduated from Robert E Lee High School in Virginia.

I grew up learning about the Civil War and the War between the States. And I always lived in a multi-cultural, multi-racial environment.

I remember as a teenage boy feeling like I had come "home" when we moved to MD/VA/DC. I never knew exactly why I felt the bond to the land and the Chesapeake Bay waters so strongly at that time.

Only about 2 decades ago, I learned that my direct relatives came from England in 1632 and settled in the Chesapeake Bay area to start a new life here. This was my American 'ancestral home'.

I drove by Lee High School in 2016. Still had the same name on the building and signs at that time.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Bob Dylan, the Nobel Prize-winning Poet/music star, said it well in Times Are a-Changin'

"Come senators, congressmen, please head the call
Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt will be her that has stalled
There's a battle outside and it's ragin'
will soon shake your windows
And rattle your hall
For the times, they are a changing"

When standing in for an English Teacher, I introduced the 9th graders to Dylan years before he was awarded the Nobel Prize... To my supprise the 9th graders had never heard of him!!!

Bill 45

Never so true.

Paul Diamond Loc: Atlanta, GA, USA

Times are always changing. Sometimes with a backwards jaunt. I had felt that the country was going in a positive direction before the last 4 years of garbage and illness. Hopefully we will again believe in doing what helps all of us in the future, together.

machia Loc: NJ

The United States is failing because of political correctness. It’s consuming us.
This will change too.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I, for one, hope the name change never happens.

raypep

Let me get this straight. Some people want to keep names on schools and military base to honor t*****rs who fought against the US to defend s***ery. Did I get that right?

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

You got it. History is history--don’t deny it.

andesbill

I listened to a few versions of the song just now. Dylan’s of course was great, Odetta’s was interesting, but I loved Brandi Carlisle’s the most. She has a much better voice than Dylan (not hard), and it was full of rage.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

And why not? They were brave and gallant soldiers. The fact that they betrayed their country and lost the war they started shouldn't affect our undying admiration for them. I'm waiting for the town that has the guts to name it's buildings after the brave N**i leaders of the 1940s. Hitler High, Goebbels Theater, Goring Airport. And let's not forget the brave Japanese and Italian leaders who helped to k**l Americans. Don't they deserve the same honors as the Confederate leaders whose war k**led half a million Americans?

In case anyone has any doubt, I am not being serious. Even as a kid traveling in the south, I couldn't understand why they had statues of Confederate soldiers - enemies of the United States.

raypep

Oh yes history is history and t*****rs are t*****rs.

We need something named after Benedict Arnold.

neillaubenthal

As jaymatt said...history is history...and while s***ery was part of the reason for the Civil War...the actuality is a lot more nuanced than that as long as you can ignore the bias on both far sides of the issue. You call the southern leaders t*****rs...well guess what dude...George Washington was a t*****r too if you want to accept reality. He and the other founding fathers rebelled against their king and country...and would have hung if they lost.

Yet we have monuments and a capital city named after him...a proven t*****r.

Also, it might not be accurate to call them t*****rs. Whether a state can legally secede is unclear. The constitution is silent on but the 10th amendment reserves ALL other rights to the states...which can be argued includes leaving. Alternatively, the articles of confederation declared a perpetual union and the constitution declares a new and more perfect union...which could be interpreted as not allowing secession. It all depends on your political point of view...just like a lot of things in the constitution.

I am from the south...but my ancestors were from Ohio and fought on the Union side...so I can see both sides of the issue

khalidikram

You are right that one should not deny history. However, I don't think that anyone here wants to deny history. It is only that many of us do not want to celebrate those events in our history and draw the line at commemorating those events. I am sure you would not accept putting up statues of lynchers in our public squares; lynching too is part of our history. Study that history in the history books, and leave it there.

alexol

Very well said.

This has always bothered me. Why do we want statutes to glorify - well, basically - losers?

raypep

George Washington was a t*****r to England not to the US. I bet there are not many monuments named after him in Britain .

Washington was a hero for the US , a true patriot, and thus receives many honors .

We honor our patriots to be sure but I wonder if any other country honors its t*****rs.