There is a difference between statues of Abraham Lincoln and Confederate generals (opinion)

Editor’s Note: John Avlon is a senior political analyst at CNN. But as the nation confronts the ugliest aspects of its history, we need to recognize that there is a fundamental difference between statues of American presidents like Abraham Lincoln and statues of American traitors like Confederate President Jefferson Davis. In Oregon, a statue of George Washington was toppled and set afire, tagged with graffiti that called him a “genocidal colonialist.” People have defaced and petitioned for removal of statues of Christopher Columbus erected by Italian immigrants as a source of cultural pride — though some mayors, like Chicago’s Lori Lightfoot — have resisted the calls to topple Columbus. But if, in this moment of long-awaited change, we can’t distinguish between a statue of Abraham Lincoln and one of Jefferson Davis – let alone Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee – while debating the legacy of slavery, then we’re in real trouble. We are all imperfect people struggling to form a more perfect union but surely we can agree that there is a difference between statues of Jefferson Davis and Thomas Jefferson — let alone Abraham Lincoln and Confederate generals — in our civic spaces.