text: As a southerner, I feel the Civil war was about states rights, not slavery. It was a war of "northern aggression." Why can't I admire Lee as a leader even if he (and the South) were on the wrong side of the slavery issue? In many countries, there are statues of historical figures that are offensive to some and not to others. Think Stalin, Mao, Edwin Rommel... (I'm pretty sure there are no statues of Hitler in Germany.) 
  
  I am glad you suggested they be placed in museums (assuming the ignorant mobs don't destroy them first).
  
  I do not regard the statues as symbols of the confederacy but as monuments to history. I don't know any southerners that are proud of slavery (and I know a lot of southerners since I grew up there). I don't know any that want to intimidate blacks. Actually, I think they want blacks to propser and have opportunities.
  
  I'd posit that a far better way to handle this situation, it to erect statues of black heroes, like Martin Luther King as a counter-balance.