The events in Charlottesville helped to stoke the ongoing debate about Confederate monuments around the United States, with demonstrations meant to protect the statues seemingly backfiring in the aftermath of the violence of the day. Many states have decided to take steps to remove such markers and monuments, while others have seen protestors take matters into their own hands to remove them. But for many areas, the debate continues and there doesn’t seem to be a solution anybody can agree on. That’s why Trevor Noah and Roy Wood Jr. are here to help out with some great ideas.
The first two ideas from The Daily Show personalities seem to be familiar examples, calling for an end to racism– something that seems unlikely given what has been seen in the past 20 years — and if that’s not enough, just cover the statues up. While some can easily cut through a tarp to free a statue from its coverage, it has seemed to work in some places like Charlottesville.
It’s their final idea that really pushes things into some creative territory. In between Wood Jr.’s humorous observations and stories about his mother’s costume making skills, they stumble upon the idea of just adding to the statues that are currently standing. If they can’t get rid of them, they should be able to amend them and make them more acceptable to the people who are forced to look at them. He suggests maybe putting a statue of Frederick Douglass on Robert E. Lee’s shoulders, just to drive home that the war ended and the man on horseback lost it.
But it’s Noah that really brings the idea to a more modern setting, adding NBA star LeBron James to the mix. If we could somehow extend this to capture a selection of NBA players dunking on Confederate Civil War generals, there’s really no reason for people to get upset. If we could get Michael Jordan sticking out his tongue and embarrassing Jefferson Davis on Stone Mountain in Georgia, you might put an end to the controversy forever.
(Via The Daily Show)