I grew up in Richmond Va and at one time I live near Monument Avenue. I had some black friends growing up and did see things from their point of view. It was odd to see a statue of Arthur Ashe being installed not far from the Confederate statues. To me it was just history, to my friends it was a painful reminder of a time when their race was treated like property.
I would tell them that words had no power until you give it power over you and to ignore racism etc. It's easy for me to say. I could give examples one after another to share what I saw happen to my black friends throughout the years but I don't think it would help you understand what it's like living in your country that doesn't understand what it's like being black. I do see the crime, social services abuse and the other statistics whites point to. I can tell that a black child isn't born that way.

At some point our country has to take some crazy measures to try and fix what's going on. I don't have the answers but if getting rid of symbols that upset the black race and addressing racism openly helps get some healing then I'm all for it.

I'm not a historian or statistician so my opinions are not coming from an expert.