Does anyone else think Trump has a point?

Yes, I think that GGM2 and Tegan have made valid points.
Whilst agreeing that some of the nazi type thugs are always wrong, there are probably a lot of people who live in that town that think taking down the statue is trying to alter history.
There was a similar thing in Oxford (UK) when activists tried to force the College to take down a statue of Cecil
Rhodes (Rhodesia) the College declined to do so, it was part of history and a long association with the College.
We can go too far with this sort of thing.

bags I am not clear why that has antrhing to do with anything!!!

That fact is true of every indigenous person in the world who came against outside "bugs" for the first time.

The issue about the Rhodes statue was that a pressure group was trying to get this taken down ( rightly or wrongly). The decision in Charlottesville was taken by the democratically elected council who must understand the local sensibilities. If these nazi thugs don't like a democratic decision then they could stand for election and try and get the decision changed. However, Nazis are not exactly well known for their appreciation of democracy.

You don't alter history by taking down a statue - what you do is reappraise the respect with which the person commemorated by the statue is held. It's not a USSR move which air brushed people from photographs or de-stalinised over night.

Some southern state towns have relocated the statues to theirlocal museums - I think perhaps that's a good idea - you can put it in its historical context then through the curating.

I think that that was the intention with the Charlottesville statue as well mary

It does depend how much pressure was put on council members to make the decision.
If they understood local sensibilities all that well, then they must have expected a backlash, which is what they got.
There are some truly vile people in the Southern States who hardly need an excuse for violence, but others who are not at all like that but see meddling in their history as an annoyance.
It's just a point of view.

I expect we would have to be born and bred there to really understand their views, but I know they feel very strongly about their Southern heritage.

No one in their right mind would think White supremists or Nazi's should be allowed to spout vile racism ,we've seen it before and where it led and we need to get them under control.We cant risk it getting out of control like it did in the 1930's.

Under no circumstances can one justify their actions - heritage or not.

So southern heritage ok for whites - what about the blacks? What heritage are they allowed to defend?

I have recently looked into Robert E Lee's history and believe me, his family recognised that slavery was wrong - his FIL agreed with Lee that his slaves were to be freed within 5 years (they had a tobacco plantation which was almost bankrupt) but due to the Civil War things went wrong. Do you seriously think that the Donald wouldn't have been the first slave owner if he'd been around then? The man is a horror and the sooner they find a way to remove him from power, the better.

I have no idea how they reached their decision so can't comment. Other councils have already done this without the white backlash we saw at the weekend . I don't think those thugs saw removing the statue as an annoyance - they see the existence of black peope as a stain and affront to the their very existence. T hey only feel strongly about their heritage I'd guess because it is an expression of their utterly vile beliefs and gives what they believe is legitimacy to their views and as ww said, what about the black heritage?

There are two things here, one is the violence ( not acceptable from anybody) and the other, the taking down of a statue.
I expect that many men of the time were slave owners.....we will never know about Donald Trump. It's amazing that he became POTUS for a start.

Of course he is right. removing or rewriting history is the way that extremist groups operate, Hitler, ISIS, however dark history is, we need to remember and learn from it.

What next burning books?

We can only guess at the motivation of the people who were there but Trump, is correct in thinking that there are good and bad people and reasons on both sides.

Criminal damage is also an issue, here do we draw the line.

We have a similar hot topic in Bristol, where a well known hall is having its name changed, as the person it was funded by was a slave owner. I think it is ridiculous to ignore the past heritage which is testament to the slaves and all they endured, as much as to anyone who may have been part of that grizzly business.

BBC Article from December 2015 here - www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35161671 asking when is it right to remove a statue. On reading the points raised on this thread I immediately thought of the Bomber Harris statue here in London.

In my mind, I think the USA statue removal demonstration was seen as an opportunity for the far right to form a mob and take to the streets - check the video at the end of this article. www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/fascist-steve-bannon-donld-trump-fire-him?utm_campaign=Best+of+IrishCentral+-+2017-08-16&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Mailjet

Freedom of speech is to be applauded. When it's intention is to promote hate while dressed in combatant clothing and holding guns - that's terror.

Donald Trump is a dangerous man, I have many American friends (none of whom, it would appear voted for DT) and they are very, very angry.

Both the enslaving Nazis and Islamists think they are superior to the rest of us and we must continue to defeat them and their hateful ideology. Other groups share a sense of superiority over the rest of us. We don't defeat them by silencing them.

The Donald was elected to avoid electing Hillary. Unfortunately, those two celebs/politicos were the only choice the electoral system presented to the American people in the last election.

We are now seeing how the US constitution limits the power of the president to act without the support of the people.

All of us should continue our fight for democracy and we do that by engaging logically with people we don't like even when we may prefer to surround ourselves with people who agree with us..

radical Removing a statue does not equate to rewriting history. As for 'good and bad people and reasons on both sides' .. Well I don't know about you, but I can't imagine that any 'good' person would hold the views expressed by the KKK, White Supremists or neo-Nazis.

The "Alternate Right" is what they call themselves today. It's as though the American Civil War never really ended. The smoldering remnants of a defeated South continue to feed racism today and have given rise to new hate groups.

These hate groups only represent the reprehensible! "Alternate Right" or "Alternate Left" there can be no 'sides' to this debate! There is no justification of any sort, for someone to plow a speeding car into a crowd!

No he does not have a point. He is the President of the USA and should have the moral honesty and courage to speak against the violence and hatred expressed by the extreme right. Of course its difficult for him because he relied on their votes to gain his position. When the ex leader of the KKK praises the president's speech you know that something is badly wrong! Finally driving a car into a group of people and killing someone, where is his condemnation of that act???? How quickly he would have denounced it as an act of terrorism if the driver had been a muslim.

Absolutely right Oriel

If you have a mobile phone, lap top, eat chocolate, wear chap fashion clothes, you do so because slavery exists now.

It is rife even in this country.

I think a statue or two is the least of our problems.

Shout bigot at other people, it is a free world, but we are also part of the modern slavery problem.

Hang on Baggs I m BlueBelle and I haven't commented yet

The vile racism manifest in Charlottesville is characteristic of what is happening in the UK as well. Go onto the Leave Face Book page and read the triumphant remarks supporting Trump and the White supremacists.

Ok, so let's look at this another way. Just suppose there was a statue of Jimmy Saville in a kids ward at one of the hospitals where her abused patients. Would removing it erase history?

Same here, the statue is abhorrent to a group of individuals who live there. The decision has been taken to remove the statue. It won't re-write history as long as the topic is covered in schools / talked about.

Granted, this is in a country where some schools teach creationism....

I believe Trump mother and father were KKK members so I think we all know exactly how that vile individual thinks
I totally disagree with you Radiocalnan how you can equate good people with the far right I can't imagine there is NOTHING good about them absolutely NOTHING Good and Far right do not go in the same sentence as for rewriting history removing a statue does not rewrite history but it may show that that part of history isn't glorified