SPLC: Dozens of Confederate monuments removed in 2021, but hundreds remain

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- More than 70 statues or memorials honoring Confederate soldiers in the United States were removed in 2021, a new report said on Wednesday -- but almost 2,100 monuments or other markers honoring the Confederacy remain.

The Southern Poverty Law Center report says that 73 live monuments were taken down last year -- and 2,089 memorials or markers can still be found throughout the United States and U.S. territories.

The assessment notes that 723 live monuments remain -- in addition to hundreds of other things like schools, parks, bridges and roadways, that bear a Confederate name.

Efforts to remove names and imagery related to the Civil War and slavery ramped up after the Charleston church attack in 2015. Last year, several monuments came down -- including a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Va.

A statue of Zebulon Baird Vance (C), who served in the Confederate Army's Rough and Ready guards, is seen in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The SPLC said there are 723 live Confederate monuments remaining in the United States and territories. File Photo by Sarah Silbiger/UPI

"Destroying these monuments and these memorials will not erase the legacy of slavery," the report states. "But abolishing these memorials is a first and essential step in combating the white supremacist values of the Confederacy."

The SPLC's database shows that Virginia, with 290, has the most live Confederate monuments, followed by Georgia (285), Texas (242) and South Carolina (224).

"There has been some resistance to removing the monuments for a variety of reasons, including family members who want the memory of these men to be kept alive; people who feel the symbols of white supremacy should not be hidden away but should be on display for us to learn from them; historians who believe the monuments preserve and educate about America's past; and residents of the city who feel the tax payer money needed to remove the monuments would be better spent elsewhere," the Anti-Defamation League says about the removal of Confederacy symbols on its website.

In a tweet two years ago, the Anti-Defamation League criticized former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Halley, who was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under former President Donald Trump, for writing that "outrage culture" won't allow Confederate flags to be removed in her state.