America has its limits to undoing its mixed history with the Civil War.
In the latest YouGov poll, the nation is split 40%-40% on offering an apology for slavery but is ready to embrace a spike in hiring blacks by a 52%-24% margin.
But there remains a substantial gap on the issues of paying reparations to African Americans and just what the statues to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and top rebel Gen. Robert E. Lee mean.
Activists have been covering a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Va., with graffiti and posing for photos.
“The standing in front of it, the dancing — it symbolizes a level of freedom that black people have never had before,” said one man.https://t.co/5BOFA3bsy1
— NPR (@NPR) June 15, 2020
One thing is for sure: Blacks and whites don’t agree on most Civil War issues.
Take reparations, revived by Black Entertainment Television co-founder Robert Johnson. He has called for a $14 trillion payout.
BREAKING: The Jefferson Davis statue on Monument Ave. has been pulled down tonight, this video is from a person in the area who tells me police are now on scene. @8NEWS
(Explicit language warning) pic.twitter.com/maZ2YxklLk— Nick Conigliaro 8News (@NConigliaroNews) June 11, 2020
The survey said Americans, by a 55%-23% margin, oppose reparations. But among blacks, 55% support reparation, and for whites, the support drops to 16%.
On the Confederate monuments, 45% believe they represent “Southern pride,” and 34% said they represent racism.
Again, blacks and whites are divided. Some 62% of blacks said the statues represent racism, and 53% of whites said they represent pride.
