When you try to be better about racism but decide you’re not really about that life: an American story.
In today’s chapter, we go to Franklin Township in Ohio. Now, if you consult your history books, you’ll find that Ohio was a Union state during the Civil War. Which makes the fact that the township installed a marker in 1927 honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee all the more peculiar.
And so it was until August, WKYC reports, when the neighboring town, Franklin, removed the monument after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., turned deadly.
According to WKYC, the marker was removed by a Franklin city crew, since they controlled the area where the marker was located.
But some Franklin Township residents got big mad about the removal. According to a USA Today article from August, residents blamed Black Lives Matter for the monument’s removal—even though the organization doesn’t have any presence in the town.
From USA Today:
Some say the monument should return because it has historic value. Some embrace President Donald Trump’s controversial comments after Charlottesville and say they’re sick of “political correctness.” And some say they simply don’t want outsiders, like those who signed the petition, telling them what to do.
“I think they should just leave things alone,” said Judy Vullen, who’s lived in Franklin for 45 years and didn’t know the monument existed until it was removed last weekend. “It’s wrong what they did.”
Because fools and their Confederate monuments are not soon parted, the Lee monument will be returned to be reinstalled and rededicated. The city of Franklin will also throw in $2,000 to pay for damages sustained during the removal of the marker’s plaque.
“In loving memory of Robert E. Lee,” the plaque reads. “And to mark the route of the Dixie Highway.”
Ah, the Dixie Highway. It’s never really far, is it?