By Sukhmani Kaur Batra, Rachel Ocampo, and Rajvir Dhaliwal, Courier Staff Writers
On the sixteenth anniversary of 9/11, Fox News host Brian 
Kilmeade discussed Confederate monuments with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. The James Logan community has strong opinions about some of Kilmeade’s controversial statements.
Zinke was in Shanksville, PA, where one of the planes had crashed during 911, killing all of the passengers. He and Vice President Mike Pence were there to commemorate the forty passengers. “We’re really reflecting on how great this country is and the sacrifices we made, and also talking about the change that 9/11 brought to all Americans”, said Zinke.
During the interview, Kilmeade made a comparison between the 9/11 memorial and Confederate statues, asking, “Do you worry 100 years from now someone is going to take that memorial down like they are trying to remake our memorials today?”
Zinke responded,”I’m one that believes we should learn from history and I think our monuments are part of our country’s history.”
When asked about her views regarding Kilmeade’s statement, Alida Lombardi, a James Logan history teacher, stated, “It’s almost like comparing apples and oranges. I think that was kind of disingenuous of Fox.”
She said of the victims of the crash, “They were doing something that was very clearly pro-American. They were trying to save other Americans’ lives. They were trying to preserve the integrity of America.”
She further noted that “[The Confederates] were enemies of the state. I mean, they weren’t American. They didn’t want to be a part of the United States. They wanted to create their own country, so I don’t think they represent the United States.”
Jessica Cunningham, a senior, also had some strong words about Kilmeade’s statement. “ You can’t compare the civil war and Confederate generals and battle sites to a tragedy and act of bravery that happens when Americans unites together to save the lives of others”, she said.
When asked about her viewpoint, Cunningham said, “I don’t think that they should be taken down becauses they are a part of our history, no matter how horrible it is,”she said.
She further explained “that by taking down statues, we are in away, symbolizing and making it okay for future generation to take down the memorials and statues we make now.”
David Ellison, a social studies teacher, expressed his “hope that 100 years from now, we may look back with sadness at this memorial and say, ‘We allowed this to define us as a nation, we allowed it to change our national priorities in such a way that it wasn’t really helpful for this nation.’”
Stephanie Padilla, a twelfth grader, said “the statues are a part of our history. They show the evident racism in our country,” she said.
However, senior Justin Fernandez had a more compromising view. He believes that Confederate statues “should stay because they’re part of history and we need to remember them. We don’t need to honor them, we just need to remember them.”
It is apparent that Confederate statues have a long history and an intense significance, whether it be good or bad.
About the original consensus in creating such structures, Lombardi notes that “[the monuments weren’t] erected by the people who fought in the civil war erecting monuments of those that they looked up to. It was basically white supremacists erecting them. A lot of times, there were erected in communities that were majority blacks. Blacks were denied the right to vote, so they didn’t have a say in whether or not these statues would be erected, so I think it’s important for people to understand that aspect of history.”
Robert Washington, another history teacher, said “We must ask ourselves, while Baltimore vanishes its Confederate monuments overnight and protesters topple a Confederate statue in Durham, what place these objects have in America’s life. The question is important not just for history’s sake. It matters for posterity, as well. What we hallow and uphold today will influence the perceptions and understandings of generations to come.”
Ellison believes, that “in the case of Robert E. Lee, I think it’s a shame that they tore down his statue.” He then explained his thoughts, saying, “I think he has many reasons to be admired. If we’re going to start tearing down those statues, well should we tear down George Washingtons? Because he owned slaves, he was a racist. Just because we find a flaw in somebody doesn’t mean we write them out of history.”
When asked about the current society’s obsession with these statues, Cunningham believes that “part of it comes from foolish pride, and the other comes from wanting to send a message.”
Regarding the actions of white supremacists in response to the acculturation of various ethnicities, Lombardi said, “It’s when the new group that comes in, that always receives some pushback from those who are already their. It happened to the Irish, for instance, and it happened to the Greeks and Italians. I, also, think it’s the globalization of the economy and [that] people [are] just feeling frustrated at the lack of jobs and not being able to live at the same standards that their parents did.”