“This past weekend’s violent protests against the planned removal of a Charlottesville, Virginia, monument commemorating Robert E. Lee by ‘alt-right’ activists and white supremacists—and the counter-protests that opposed those demonstrations—has captured the attention of the entire country. But the effort to take down the symbols that glorify the Confederacy and its leaders are far from new. The tensions in Charlottesville build on a movement that surged after a white supremacist killed nine parishioners at a historically black church in Charleston, S.C. in 2015. Beyond monuments, the debate has focused on flags like that of Mississippi, which bears the Confederate flag as part of its design, as well as on schools and streets with names that bear Confederate connotation. On Thursday morning, Trump threw fuel on the fire by tweeting his support for keeping Confederate monuments in place around the country.”