“Imagine there’s a small town called Bondageville, named after its distinguished founder, Samuel Ashe Bondage.”

“Imagine there’s a small town called Bondageville, named after its distinguished founder, Samuel Ashe Bondage.”
“Couldn’t the dimensions of the old obelisk yield a new and beguiling one, perhaps composed of a transparent composite material?
“The obelisk wasn’t the problem. Vance was the problem.”
“What Mr. Ready fails to grasp is the idea that Confederate monuments were intimidation tactics when they were constructed in the first place.”
“White supremacy wasn’t merely a footnote to Vance’s public career, after all, and he would have been the first to tell you so.”
“To maintain civic cohesion, we must convince these souls that despite the failure of their cause, they can return to the fold as legitimate members of this community. Think of it as a kind of reconstruction.”
“Suddenly, we will have two monuments to consider: the steel lynching monument and Vance’s.”
“For years now, Americans have engaged in culture wars, typically over gay rights, abortion, feminism, an imperiled Christianity, bathrooms and Confederate monuments, all perhaps as contrived as the ‘winners,’ usually declared to be ‘leftists’ and ‘lie-braes,’ and ‘losers,’ the poor victimized ‘right and righteous.'”
“First off, let’s agree that anybody with an ounce of decency must feel a bit embarrassed that Asheville has given its top award for excellence to a man like Zebulon Baird Vance.”