- The video discusses the controversy surrounding Confederate symbols in the United States.
- It compares the removal of Confederate statues and symbols to the removal of statues and memorials dedicated to Jimmy Savile, a British entertainer who was later revealed to be a sex offender.
- The video highlights the prevalence of Confederate memorials in the United States, including statues, monuments, and military bases named after Confederate officers.
- It emphasizes that the Confederacy fought to preserve slavery, despite some people believing that the Civil War was mainly about states' rights.
- The video includes interviews with individuals who defend Confederate symbols based on their family history, but also features individuals who argue against celebrating the Confederacy due to the suffering and abuse caused by slavery.
- It concludes by stating that denying or distorting the painful history of slavery is harmful and can take various forms.

- Denial of painful history can take many forms, as seen in the show "Finding Your Roots" where Ben Affleck had references to his slave-owning ancestors removed.
- Anderson Cooper's reaction to learning about his ancestor's death by a rebellious slave shows the difficulty of confronting horrible information.
- Larry David's humorous response to learning about his great-grandfather fighting for the South in the Civil War highlights the fact that individuals are not responsible for their ancestors' actions.
- Confederate monuments were mainly erected long after the Civil War, with spikes in the early 1900s and during the Civil Rights Movement, symbolizing white Southern dominance and sending hostile messages to African-Americans.
- Some monuments were dedicated by KKK members, such as the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general and early KKK leader.
- The argument that removing statues obliterates history is refuted, as monuments do not record history, but rather glorify people.
- Robert E. Lee himself opposed the placement of memorials, making it easier to argue for their removal.
- Instead of ignoring or trying to fix the issue, statues should be placed in museums with historical context, and empty plinths should be an opportunity to honor deserving individuals.

- The video discusses the idea of erecting statues in different towns and cities.
- The first suggestion is to honor Bessie Coleman, the first African-American woman pilot, in her birthplace.
- The second suggestion is to have a statue of an alligator giving everyone the finger in Florida, representing the rebellious nature of the state.
- The third suggestion is to replace a divisive Confederate statue in Charleston with Stephen Colbert, who can provide fun facts about the town.
- Charleston is highlighted for its first free public library, birding festival, and being named the number one U.S. destination by Travel and Leisure.

The video discusses the controversy surrounding Confederate symbols in the United States, emphasizing their connection to slavery. It includes interviews with individuals defending and opposing these symbols. The video argues that denying or distorting the history of slavery is harmful and suggests placing Confederate statues in museums with historical context. It also proposes alternative statues to honor deserving individuals and highlights Charleston's positive attributes.

Confederate symbols are still celebrated despite the ugly history they symbolize. John Oliver suggests some representations of southern pride that involve less racism and more Stephen Colbert.

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-♪ ♪ -♪ ♪ Before our main story tonight, I'd like to do something a little different and just quickly tell you about a beloved icon of my childhood, and it's this man.

For 20 years, he made the dreams of young people come true with his hugely popular Jim'll Fix It program.

Best known for his trademark jewelry, tracksuits, tinted glasses, and Tavana cigar.

Now, I know it's hard to believe, but that bizarre-looking man, Jimmy Savile, was a national hero.

We named places for him, we gave him a knighthood, we even put up this statue of him, even though it clearly looks more like a cheese sculpture of George Carlin that someone left in the sun.

Now, he had a show called Jim'll Fix It, where he basically granted wishes.

And like many British kids, I actually wrote to him.

I asked him to make me the mascot for Liverpool Football Club, and he never wrote back.

Which I'm actually glad about, because after he died, Britain began to find out who he really was, and the truth was horrific.

He's gone from a much-loved entertainer and respected charity fundraiser, to a man described by Scotland Yard as a predatory sex offender.

Jimmy Savile's headstone was here for less than 3 weeks.

His epitaph read, -"It was good while it lasted." -$HONKING

Oh, That is an unsettling thing to have written on his gravestone.

Although, to be fair, nearly every famous epitaph would sound horrifying written on a sex offender's gravestone.

From Dean Martin's, -"Everybody loves somebody sometime." -$30,000.

To Rodney Dangerfield's, -"There goes the neighborhood." You know, funny, funny, but if he'd been a sex offender, not so much.

The point is, Saville's headstone was taken down, as was that sign and that creepy statue, because once we found out that he was a monster, we accepted it was no longer appropriate to publicly glorify him.

Which actually brings us to our main story tonight, the Confederacy.

Now, in recent years, there has been a robust debate over Confederate symbols, from flags being taken down, to statues being removed, to the White Nationalist rallies in Charlottesville, both the 1 that ended in violence in August and another 1 that happened just last night.

So, as this debate is clearly not going away, we wanted to take a look at some of the arguments, because you don't have to look hard to find people very upset at the idea of Confederate statues being taken away.

You can't pick and choose what you decide is history.

I think I'll just leave them alone and leave them where they are, you know.

I just don't think we can erase our history.

It may not represent the best idea that anybody ever came up with, but nevertheless, it's part of our history, and, I think it should stay there.

the Confederacy and everything that came with it is, to put it mildly, not the best idea anybody ever came up with, because that, of course, is making grilled cheese on a toaster turned sideways.

That is a billion-dollar idea that is also completely worthless.

So tonight, let's do that, and let's look at the unique heritage of these symbols.

Starting with the fact that there are a lot more than you might expect.

The Southern Poverty Law Center found some 1,500 Confederate memorials across the country.

More than 700 of them are statues and monuments, and 10 U.S.

Military bases are named for Confederate officers.

Military bases named for Confederate officers, and they were the enemy.

That's like finding out that Nancy Kerrigan named her child Tonya Harding.

And tributes to the Confederacy are everywhere in the South, and notably, some in the North, too.

And that map doesn't include kitschy ways that the Civil War is presented, like at this family restaurant.

Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede brings a rip-roaring taste of America to life.

Dixie Stampede is a musical extravaganza of sight and sound.

Centered around a friendly North-South rivalry, friendly servers bring the delicious four-course feast right to you.

Including a whole rotisserie chicken and all the Pepsi, iced tea, or coffee you like.

Yes, that is a Confederate soldier serving a small child all the Pepsi she likes.

Which is still, remarkably, only Pepsi's second worst ad campaign.

with experiences like that, It can seem like the Civil War is just a friendly rivalry.

But that omits the key fact about the Civil War.

The Confederacy was fighting for the preservation of slavery.

And that's not my opinion, that is just a fact.

Slavery is mentioned in multiple states' declarations of secession, with Mississippi saying, our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery.

The Confederate Constitution contains a clause enshrining slavery forever.

And then there's the speech Alexander Stevens, the Confederate Vice President, gave in 1861, in which he articulated the basic principles for the Confederate nation.

Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man.

That slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition.

If the Confederacy was not about slavery, somebody should really go back in time and tell the fucking Confederacy that.

And yet, remarkably, many people think the Civil War was over something else.

When people were asked, what do they think the main cause of the Civil War is, 48% said mainly about states' rights.

Only 38 percent said mainly about slavery.

Only 38 percent thought the Civil War was mainly about slavery.

In other words, look to your left, now look to your right.

Statistically, all 3 of you live in a country where only 38 percent of people think the Civil War was mainly about slavery.

And on that states' rights argument, for the record, the southern states were ardently pro-states' rights.

Notably, when Northern states passed laws to help protect runaway slaves, the South wanted the federal government to override those states' laws.

So, they loved states' rights as long as they were the right state's rights.

The wrong state's rights would be state's wrongs, wrongs which would need to be righted by the right state's rights.

Look, to put it really simply, they just wanted to own black people and they didn't much care how.

But that's a very hard fact for some people to accept, especially if a member of your family fought for the Confederacy.

And sometimes, the understandable desire to want to distance your relative from that cause can lead to people distorting the cause itself.

Just watch as 1 man at a community meeting in North Carolina defended a Confederate statue by talking about his family history.

My great-grandfather was a Confederate soldier.

But I'm really concerned about our monument.

You know, we all want to kind of be independent.

We all have a little rebel in us, even the ladies.

And look, look, I don't know, I don't know why his great-grandfather fought.

It is hard to know the motivations of any individual soldier.

What we do know is that, again, collectively, they were fighting to preserve the institution of slavery.

And I do get, honestly, I honestly get wanting a more comfortable history for your family, but in doing so, you can't invent a more comfortable history for your country.

Because you'd be erasing the actual painful experiences of many Americans, as a fellow North Carolinian explains.

When I walk by this statue, it becomes very painful when I think of the suffering that my ancestors went through.

They enslaved people, abused people for their own economic impact.

And it should not be celebrated by these statues.

And that is the harsh reality of what was done by those Confederate men.

And yes, even the ladies, hashtag Confederacy.

And if you want to see a perfect crystallization of what happens when 2 people have wildly different views of the same symbol, Just watch this local news clip.

My family fought to save their farm under this flag.

And the news clip actually cut out there, but we were so intrigued to find out what his response was, we tracked it down.

Do you know how much a slave cost back then?

the wrong when you decide your best argument is screaming at a black man, do you know how expensive you used

this guy on the cover of, Holy shit, that is not remotely The Points magazine.

And look, that is clearly an intense example, but denial of this painful part of history can take many forms.

Look at PBS's Finding Your Roots, where Henry Louis Gates explores celebrities' family histories, and he often finds some shit.

Famously, Ben Affleck pulled strings to get the show to remove all references to his slave-owning ancestors.

And though he later apologized, that impulse right there is not good because it sanitizes history.

And while there is no easy way to respond to learning that kind of horrible information, it is worth watching Anderson Cooper find out how 1 relative of his died.

Boykin was murdered by a rebellious slave.

Your ancestor was beaten to death with a farm hoe.

not to live a life that could lead a descendant of yours to 1 day say, a guy smashed grandpappy's head in with a garden hoe?

But my absolute favorite response to a nasty surprise undoubtedly comes from Larry David, who received a real one-two punch.

Are you telling me that my great-grandfather fought for the South in the Civil War?

Now, Larry, this is another part of the 18th century.

And look, Larry David is not responsible for what his ancestors did.

I have to believe that because I'm English.

And I would like to go to an Indian restaurant again at some point in my life.

-...but we do have to reckon, personally and as a country, with what our heritage means.

You can't say it something else like town meeting Santa.

You've got to actively, painfully come to grips with slavery and the lasting benefits and disadvantages that it conferred in ways that, frankly, we haven't yet.

And that actually brings us back to Confederate monuments, because there is something about them that symbolizes our reluctance to have that conversation.

Because while some initial memorials were built, mainly in cemeteries, shortly after the Civil War, the real surge came much, much later.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says a majority of the more than 700 Confederate monuments in public spaces across the country were erected decades after General Lee's surrender.

As this chart of the years that they were dedicated shows, there was a big spike from 1900 to 1920, as white Southerners were reasserting their dominance through things like Jim Crow laws, with another spike in the 50s and 60s, as the Civil Rights Movement was gaining steam.

So those statues weren't so much commemorating recently fallen dead, as sending a pretty hostile message to African-Americans.

And sending messages is kind of what statues are often for.

This 1 says, the most notable thing about our city is a fictional character.

--HARD LAUGHTER- And this 1 says, about yay big.

We still don't know what he was trying to measure, but whatever it was, it was about yay big.

some Confederate statues, the intent is crystal clear.

In that town meeting from before, the statue that they were debating was this 1, which went up in 1914.

And a leader of that county's chapter of the KKK gave a speech at its dedication, calling the occasion an opportunity to recall the achievements of the great and good of our own race and blood.

Which again, is pretty on the nose right there.

And the largest Confederate memorial, the carving on Stone Mountain in Georgia, is located where the 20th century KKK was born.

It depicts 3 Confederate leaders on horseback, and it was completed in 1972.

So, that means there is color footage of the dedication.

After nearly half a century of work, The memorial carving here at Stone Mountain is finally finished, and officials are calling it the eighth wonder of the world.

We must recall those principles of loyalty, dignity, and honor that shine through the lives of men we commemorate today.

Yes, that was Vice President Spiro Agnew commemorating the loyalty of literal traitors.

But what can you really expect from a man whose name, rearranged, spells grower penis?

Some monuments went up even more recently.

I want to show you 1 that was erected on private lands, but very much for public consumption, because once you see it, you will not forget it.

It portrays Nathan Bedford Forrest on his horse, gun in 1 hand and sword in the other, surrounded by Confederate state battle flags, visible for all to see on the side of I-65.

Forrest was a Confederate general and an early leader of the KKK.

That is just objectively terrifying regardless of context.

So, some of these statues commemorate people who fought a war to preserve slavery, were erected to assert white supremacy, and were dedicated by Klan members.

And yet, there is a blanket defense that tends to get offered by people, and not just people, also this guy.

Okay, so that argument is, taking these statues down obliterates history, which is clearly just ridiculous.

First, monuments are not how we record history.

Or in the case of 1 in Tokyo, how we glorify giant radioactive lizards.

And yet, the president's concern seems to be that tearing down statues leads to a slippery slope.

I notice that Stonewall Jackson's coming down.

I wonder, is it George Washington next week, and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after?

Okay, well, I'll tell you where it stops.

Anytime someone asks, where does it stop, the answer is always, fucking somewhere.

You might let your kid have Twizzlers, but not inject black tar heroin.

You don't just go, well, after the Twizzlers, where does it stop?

And the same is true of Confederate monuments.

All people, living and dead, exist on what I'm gonna call the Hitler-Hanks spectrum, from bad to good.

And at some point on the spectrum, monuments to honor people are going to be inappropriate.

Although, to be fair, it does get tricky around the middle, where of course you'll find Adolf Hankler.

And look, there are clearly people deserving of statues who were imperfect humans, and sometimes our standards change over time, which can then get tricky because you're judging historical figures by modern standards.

But for many Confederate monuments, especially those erected well after the Civil War, valorizing the cause or leadership of the Confederacy, this really isn't a close call.

This is your babysitter showing up in a Jimmy Savile t-shirt.

I don't care what you think that represents, you're not staying home with my fucking kid tonight." And for Robert E.

Lee in particular, it's actually even easier because of this.

Lee was once asked about placing memorials at Gettysburg in 1869.

The former general replied, I think it wiser not to keep open the sores of war, but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered.

Lee was opposed to statues of people like Robert E.

So any city that decides to keep a statue of him should at the very least add a speech bubble saying, you know, I told you all specifically not to do this.

Well, I would argue that nothing is not acceptable.

And trying to paper over the cracks can actually make things worse.

In the 1990s, Richmond tried to fix its Monument Avenue, a street lined with statues of Confederate leaders by adding African-American tennis legend, Arthur Ashe to it.

And you can't just give Confederates a black friend and say, we're good, right?

So, if we really want to learn from and honor our history, Perhaps the first step might be to put most of these statues somewhere more appropriate, surrounded by ample historical context, like in a museum, where people go to proactively learn about history and also to punish their children.

And please, try not to think of this as a loss because it's actually a real opportunity.

Because if and when a plinth becomes empty, that is actually a huge chance for your area to honor someone who really deserves it.

And I have some ideas for replacements that I would love to run by you.

He stole a Confederate boat and he sailed it to freedom and later served 5 terms in Congress.

You are the birthplace to Bessie Coleman, the first African-American woman pilot.

Why would you not want this in your town?

Now, Florida, You might not want an individual, but how about something that honors what your state represents?

Something that says, you've got a little rebel in you.

So, I give you this statue of your official state reptile, an alligator giving everyone the finger.

He's called Herman, and he definitely says Florida while also having nothing to do with slavery.

And finally, finally there is Charleston.

And to you, I say this, why have a divisive Confederate statue when instead that pedestal can be filled by your favorite son, the actual Stephen Colbert, who will stand up there

all day telling you fun facts about your wonderful town.

Charleston is the site of the first free public library in America.

the Southeast's most comprehensive migration-focused birding festival.

See, Charleston, you can have this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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