Civil War 2 Brewing?

Robert E. Lee Statue in Charlottesville, VA.
Source: Getty Images.

It appears that both sides overplaying their hand is going to get us all into Civil War 2.0 -- not the Second War Between the States, but everybody fighting each other like starving rats. This past weekend there was a show of intimidation Friday night by various white nationalists in Charlottesville, VA.

White Nationalists' march through the U of Va Campus Friday Night.
Source: dm.com.

White Nationalists surround counter-protestors at Jefferson's statue at the U of Va.
Source: Variety.com

Show of colors by White Nationalists Saturday in Charlottesville, VA.
Source: Slate.com.

White Nationalists confront Antifascists in Charlottesville, VA Saturday.
Source: CBSSports.com

This show was provoked by the city's misguided vote to simply remove equestrian statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson back in April. A judge had blocked the removal for six months in May, but somebody heard something through the grapevine and so white nationalists organised a rally for this past weekend to protest the incipient removal. Of course, the city revoked the Unite The Right rally that was supposed to take place yesterday -- apparently, it did -- because of the torchlight march Friday night and somebody was pissed off and now we have one killed and several injured because some disgruntled individual plowed his automobile into a crowd of counter-protestors.

Stonewall Jackson Statue in Charlottesville, VA.
Source: Getty Images.

Here are some facts about the statues:

1. The city council voted to remove the Lee and Jackson statues in April.
2. A State judge delayed the removal by six months so that the Virginia courts can decide or not to permanently block the removal.
3. The first torch-wielding protest march was back in May.
4. The R.E. Lee statue was commissioned in 1917 and completed in 1924.
5. The removal of both statues could cost the city upwards of $700.000.00.
6. There are over a thousand Confederate monuments in 31 states, twenty more than the eleven that actually seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.

There's got to be a solution other than just taking down these statues and the thousand-something others; they are a part of our history. Three Confederate monuments and one White Suprmacist monument got removed here in New Orleans this spring; our mayor said there should be "remembrance, not reverence." Judging by how the local removal proceeded and what the removers left behind and the condition they left the monuments' remnants in, it looks to me more like vandalism and forgetfulness. There's got to be a better solution: I say, leave the statues be, but put up some explanatory plaques that mention the mentality of the times when these statues were put up.

ON EDIT: PLEASE NOTE THAT IT WAS NOT THE ANTIFASCISTS WHO OVERPLAYED THEIR HAND THIS PAST WEEKEND AUGUST 11-12, 2017, ONLY THE WHITE NATIONALISTS. IF YOU DISAGREE, PLEASE POST LINKS TO PICS DEMONSTRATING INTIMIDATION AND VIOLENCE BY THE ANTIFASCISTS. THE ONLY OVERPLAYING OF HANDS BY THE LIBERAL SIDE IS IN DELIBERATED LEGAL ACTIONS AIMED AT ERASING HISTORY. LET'S HAVE AND KEEP ALL OUR HISTORY, WARTS AND ALL.