Recently, quite a few cities have opted to remove statues and memorials of Confederate leaders, citing reasoning that could somewhat paraphrased as, "These represent a racist time with racist people, and thus these statues shouldn't exist." Consequently, many critics have come out against the removal of these statues. The most popular argument against the removal of these statues is that we are in a way 'erasing history' and that in removing these statues, people will forget about the past. This argument is wrong. We won't forget.
Around the fall of the Soviet Union, Romania and Uzbekistan didn't keep their statues of Lenin as a reminder of those times, they did the opposite and toppled those statues. Germany has no monuments to Nazi's, and yet everyone knows about Hitler and the atrocities initiated by his regime. Monuments and Statues are not necessary to remember history. Because of Public Education and Mass Media, American Society knows what happened in the Civil War, and everyone knows what Slavery is and America's involvement with it. An equally important point in this debate is the remark made by the Mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu which is "... [W]hy there are no slave ship monuments, no prominent markers on public land to remember the lynchings ... nothing to remember this long chapter of our lives of pain, of shame...".
The removal of these statues are necessary now, especially with the emboldened movements of white supremacy and neo-Nazism becoming prominent in American politics and society. These Confederate statues are celebratory monuments to their worldview and ideas about race. Essentially, they are heroes to them because of the racist symbolism these statues have. In a way, having these statues could mean an implicit (or arguably explicit) acceptance of white supremacy to white supremacists. Taking down these statues is symbolic of progression towards a better society, and an intolerance of racism, and there is no good reason as to why we shouldn't.