This angry and destructive approach to creating a better future will be viewed in the future as an enormous mistake.  It is being driven by forces determined to divide America and turn us against ourselves, and has succeeded remarkably well so far; it is, however, based on a willful misinterpretation of history, cherry-picking some facts and ignoring or denying others in order to 'blame and shame' their way into political dominance in today's world.  Of course, it has never been just about Confederates, but that is the part we are seeing most clearly in Richmond. To see, for example, the Valentine Museum host an angry, disruptive, and demeaning exhibit designed to corrupt attitudes toward historic, landmarked art is truly amazing.  Being creative and innovative to a better end is always welcome; supporting anger, derision, disrespect, and denigration of any of America's historic figures as a supposed means of achieving that better end, is not.  The specious arguments - 'remove historic statues to protect them' - 'they are offensive' - are sad and pointless efforts to deliver a poke in the eye with a sharp stick to white residents, especially Confederate descendants, of the South everywhere, none more sad or divisive than in Richmond and Charlottesville.  As the need to protect these monuments and to make clear the actual facts of history has been forced on us, resistance is being mounted that will ultimately be successful, but in that process time and money will be spent that could otherwise go towards productive endeavors, undertaken with the spirit of cooperation that our cities and our country deserve.  Screaming Antifa, student radicals, particularly those with bullhorns, and angry City Councils are doing a great deal of damage to their own credibility, but to see Richmond, the Valentine Museum, and VMFA denigrate American history, with so little understanding of what it actually is, is even more disturbing.  A first sign of mob mentality and the effects of demagoguic rhetoric is the unwillingness to believe anything except what one has been told - this has never been more clear than it is here. Our history, all of it, is why we are where we are today, the preeminent country of the world.  We can and must always strive toward a more perfect Union and to better ourselves and our situations, but it is the height of hypocrisy to continue to live here and enjoy the benefits of our history while decrying it and trying to erase it.