[AnthonyMouse]

> cherrypicking statistics.

Using statistics directly responsive to the claim is cherrypicking?

It seems like your issue is with the claim, not the statistics. Being murdered by the police is not a central example of the problems of black people and holding it up as such will only cause people to address what you claim is the problem rather than what the actual problems are.

> But if we're going to be pedantic it's worth noting that tearing down the things that you don't like is selective whereas burning everything to the ground is much more indiscriminate and there's a big difference there.

When "things you don't like" consists of the likes of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, that's pretty hard to distinguish from burning the American system to the ground.

[cookie_monsta]

That's your conception of your country? I'm sorry to have to break this to you, but they're all dead now. All of the slave owners and all of the slaves are dead. Their children are dead. Their children's children are dead. It has been seven generations.

Or are we cherrypicking the past for things that mean something today as well?

[AnthonyMouse]

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson is dead. Independence is not.

If you want to take down a statue of a Jefferson, go take down a statue of Jefferson Davis. If you can find one.

[cookie_monsta]

> Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson is dead. Independence is not.

So, even though his children are dead and their children are dead, it's almost as if what he did in his life had ramifications through the ages and still shapes society today. I'd never considered that possibility. I wonder if there are other situations where that applies?

[AnthonyMouse]

The obvious difference being that "all men are created equal" is something we should want to preserve whereas slavery is something we should want to destroy forever.