Confederate monuments must go immediately But removing them is not enough, just as denouncing neo-Nazis is not enough: Opposing view

Maria Svart | USA TODAY

Our strength as a people is our diversity and shared desire to build strong communities helping us thrive and live with dignity.

The violence we saw in Charlottesville, Va., is a terrible reminder that white supremacy is an ongoing and dangerous threat. Symbols of the Confederacy were erected mostly during two waves of white backlash in the 20th century to the historic expansion of black freedoms.

For that reason alone, they must go immediately. When local authorities refuse to take them down, we stand in solidarity with activists of color who feel compelled to do it themselves, as a group did Monday toppling a Confederate monument in Durham, N.C.

But removing them is not enough, just as denouncing neo-Nazis is not enough. We must confront the fact that we have a racially divided labor market, with a police and prison system that criminalizes poverty and fails to keep us safe while the billionaires profit. To prevent crime, we need services that improve all people’s lives.

The key problem with these monuments is that they sustain a racist narrative used to build support for economic violence through public policy.

OUR VIEW: Make removal decisions state by state, community by community, monument by monument

Remember President Reagan’s “welfare queens,” or the “super predators” of President Clinton? These racist myths subtly attack black people but actually harm us all. President Trump is merely the latest rich politician to pit us against each other, with his talk of Mexican “animals” out to rape, steal jobs and push opioids. The 1% uses these stories to explain why the 99% is working longer hours for low pay or suffering without health care. Blame “those others!”

When Trump talks about the “alt-left” or violence on “many sides,” he promotes a neo-fascist cancer on our democracy. Pundits denouncing it on the news won’t protect us. Instead, we must build a multiracial, working-class grassroots movement demanding local, state and national policy changes; demanding a voice on the job and a fair share of the fruits of our labor; and demanding an end to the isolation, hopelessness and division that come when we let the capitalist class control our lives.

Maria Svart is national director of the Democratic Socialists of America.