“Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments,” President Trump tweeted on Aug. 10. “You can’t change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson – who’s next, Washington? Jefferson? So foolish! Also … the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!” He added.

As he is about many things, Trump is wrong about this. The monuments honoring Confederate leaders that started to come down in cities across the country after white supremacists used a Charlottesville statue of General Robert E. Lee as a rallying point to express their racist and anti-Semitic ideas about the state of the country are neither permanent features of our landscape, nor honest attempts to explore American history. These statues glorify our nation’s ugly and horrible actions of the past. Putting these figures up on a pedestal, literally and figuratively, gives reverence to the exact people this country should be embarrassed of.

The argument is simple: The Confederacy fought to maintain slavery and white supremacy in the United States, and that isn’t something that the country should honor or memorialize in any way. But with the state of our country as it is now, acknowledging our past as what it was — horrible, is a tasking process with alt-right groups.

Critics, including our president, argue that these monuments are really about Southern pride, not commemorating a pro-slavery rebellion movement. They argue that trying to take down the Confederate symbols works to erase part of American history.

But erasure isn’t the goal of these movements.The goal is to make people feel safe in a country where slavery didn’t officially end until 1865, the day the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. Not even 150 years ago, people could be owned by other people in America. This movement is not about erasure. This movement is about the United States of America owning up to their ugly past and not hiding in the shadows cast out by statues that stand tall for hate, anti-semitism, and modern, un-American ideals. And with all of these reasons; why is there still opposition?

Some people in the rallying crowds of Charlottesville, Virginia, are neo-nazis. They are white supremacists. They are people who would kill for the ability to fly the confederate flag. Heather Heyer, an advocate for equality, was murdered while marching against people holding torches and preaching about the America they want. One filled with hate, injustice, and violence. However, isn’t this the exact point that the opposition is saying supports the flying of the confederate flag? They would kill to keep the spirit of hate, bigotry, violence and racism alive in this country. This isn’t about conserving Southern pride anymore. This is about moving forward with our American ideals.

At our highschool, change has always been present. Our “Red Raider” mascot used to run around the Leo Shields Field while making the stereotypical native “battle cry” before a home football game. We have learned that there are better ways to pay homage to our past, without being offensive. There is now a statue at the gate of the turf, glorifying Iyannough, an American Indian sachem and leader of the Mattachiest tribe of Cummaquid in the area of what is now Barnstable, because that is tradition. We are respecting the land that was once native, and that statue signifies that. What does a statue of Robert E. Lee suggest? Do you see any statues of Adolf Hitler in Germany?

There are other ways to acknowledge our history that doesn’t include this type of glorification. History books, or even a plaque, serve the purpose just the same, if the argument against the removal of statues is just about conserving our American history.

We, as a country, would be naive to think that we can completely forget our past. As President Trump said, we can learn from our history, just not in the way he thinks. We can use the lessons our ancestors were taught to better our own lives and relationships with one another. There is no forgetting, only moving forward, acknowledging the truth rather than hiding behind false symbols of patriotism.