Common Excuses for Glorifying the Confederacy — and the Truth That Dismantles Them
By Krystena LuCastro · Originally published on Medium Aug 10, 2025
1. “It’s about heritage, not hate.”
EXCUSE: Confederate monuments honor Southern pride, culture, and history — not racism or slavery.
REALITY:
• The Confederacy’s “heritage” was explicitly built on the preservation of slavery, as stated in its own secession declarations.
• Most Confederate monuments weren’t erected right after the war — they were put up during Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement to enforce white dominance, not remembrance.
• Heritage that erases oppression is selective nostalgia, not history.
2. “The Civil War was about states’ rights, not slavery.”
EXCUSE: Confederate leaders fought for the right of states to govern themselves.
REALITY:
• The right they were fighting for was the right to own human beings — documented in official secession declarations.
• Confederate VP Alexander Stephens called slavery the “cornerstone” of their government.
• “States’ rights” without naming the specific right is just coded language.
3. “They were brave men defending their homeland.”
EXCUSE: Confederate soldiers fought honorably for their states.
REALITY:
• Bravery doesn’t make a cause moral — history is full of valor in service to evil.
• Their “homeland” was a breakaway nation created to preserve slavery.
• Honoring bravery without judging the cause erases the harm done.
4. “We need to remember all history, even the bad.”
EXCUSE: Removing Confederate honors is erasing history.
REALITY:
• Statues and street names are honors, not history. History belongs in museums, archives, and classrooms.
• We don’t put monuments to Benedict Arnold or other traitors in public squares.
• True history includes heroes from marginalized communities — whose honors are often missing.
5. “They were fighting against government overreach.”
EXCUSE: The Confederacy resisted federal tyranny.
REALITY:
• The “overreach” was stopping the spread of slavery.
• Freedom from oppression cannot mean freedom to oppress.
• If you only object to government action when it benefits marginalized people, it’s not about liberty — it’s about control.
6. “It’s part of Southern identity.”
EXCUSE: Confederate symbols are central to Southern culture.
REALITY:
• The South’s identity is far more than the Confederacy — it includes contributions from Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ Southerners.
• Reducing Southern pride to a pro-slavery rebellion is historical erasure.
• Many Southerners fought for the Union — why aren’t they equally honored?
7. “My ancestors fought in the Confederacy — I’m honoring them.”
EXCUSE: Family heritage justifies Confederate honors.
REALITY:
• Having an ancestor in the Confederacy doesn’t make the cause right.
• We can acknowledge ancestors without celebrating unjust actions.
• Honoring heritage should not harm others or distort truth.
8. “Other countries honor both sides of a conflict.”
EXCUSE: It’s about reconciliation and unity.
REALITY:
• Other nations usually honor both sides in neutral memorial spaces, not by glorifying those who fought for oppression.
• Unity without truth is false reconciliation.
• Confederate honors have historically deepened division, not healed it.
9. “Taking them down is cancel culture.”
EXCUSE: It’s just erasing things people don’t like.
REALITY:
• Removing public honors for traitors isn’t canceling — it’s aligning public spaces with national values.
• We routinely update what we honor as values change.
• Confederate statues were political statements when they went up — removing them is a political statement that white supremacy and racism has no place here.
Every one of these excuses falls apart under history, fact, and basic morality. The pattern is clear: it’s not about remembering history — it’s about protecting a false legacy built on oppression.
At the end of the day, any support or glorification of the Confederacy — in any form and without condemnation — is the moral equivalent of supporting Nazi soldiers for their so-called “heritage,” “culture,” and “pride.”
Trying to disguise admiration for the Confederacy as anything else is a slap in the face to real Americans who stand for the UNITED STATES, especially Black Americans. Choosing the losing side — the side that fought against the Union and the values of the United States — is a deliberate act of betrayal. Waving the equivalent of a Nazi flag in the face of your own country and its people is not just dishonorable; it is traitorous and blatantly racist.
If the highest offices in the land refuse to recognize that, they are no better. This country will never heal — and as it stands, likely doesn’t want to. If you glorify the Confederacy, you are a racist. And if you aren’t, you have a very convincing way of pretending to be one.
Refuting this doesn’t make you clever. It makes you a racist, a racist sympathizer, and a traitor to your country.
We are tired of the excuses and denial. There is no justification it is plain and simple divisiveness and hate whether you want to believe it or not.
If you feel defensive reading this, ask yourself why.
What part of this truth feels personal to you?
If honoring the Confederacy matters more than honoring the people who built, defended, and expanded the promise of the United States, what does that say about the values you actually hold?
And if you claim to love this country, can you truly love it while glorifying those who tried to destroy it?
Look at the timeline. The Confederacy lasted four years. The United States has stood for nearly 250. Why cling to the side that fought to break it apart? Whose stories are missing when statues honor traitors but not the enslaved, not the soldiers of the Union, not the Indigenous defenders, not the countless Americans who stood for freedom? If we say we value history, then we must tell all of it — and honor those who fought for the nation, not against it.
Imagine a soldier who gave their life for the Union walking through our towns today, seeing streets named after those who tried to kill them. Imagine a Black child passing a statue every day of a man who fought to keep their ancestors enslaved. What would it mean if, instead, our public spaces told the truth — and honored the courage of those who fought for freedom, equality, and unity?
That choice is still ours to make.
Read the published version on Medium · Substack