By: Evan Mei

Ever since the death of George Floyd, everyone has lost their marbles over racism. Of course, the death of George Floyd is horrible. Nobody deserves to die the way he did, and the officers got what they deserved. However, now even the slightest, the most indirect mention of racism can spark a bonfire. There is no better example of this than the Confederate statues.

Statues exist to remember the good in a person, and we need to see it that way. Some people like Trump say that protesters are tearing down history. Others say that the statues represent racism. People are bickering because they refuse to see the other side, and hurl in disgust when someone tries to feed it to them. Only when we see both sides can we really come to agreement. People siding with Trump have to see the dark side of the statue, people on the protesting side must see the good side of the statue. And I’m aware that some people are evil, that some statues deserve to be taken down.

This is a very serious matter. If a statue is gone, it will most likely be gone forever. These statues provide everyone with knowledge, no matter which side a person stands on. We cannot just blindly pull statues and completely cancel someone because they did one little thing wrong. No matter what you are debating, you will inevitably cherry pick information and stick it in your eyeballs, refusing to see anything more.

So, no matter what side you stand on, no matter how firmly you stand on one side, take one day to explore the other half. You don’t have to agree, but at least you will get a glimpse, and that’s usually enough.

Sincerely,

Evan Mei