Hi, I'm from California (a Union state) and I've been a resident of this state for my whole entire life. I've visited the South with my family twice in my lifetime once in New Orleans, Louisiana and again in Atlanta Georgia. I have known the Confederacy, Confederate flag, and Confederate monuments have been around so I did some online checkups. After listening to Americans opinions on the Confederate flag and Confederate monuments (as well as state voters opinions of them), the fact that thousands of Hispanics, Native Americans, Jews, Northern-born Confederates and even a few Chinese and indigenous Hawaiians fought for the Confederacy, reading some Confederate documents that related to states rights (the Provisional Constitution, Confederate Constitution, Jefferson Davis 1860 speech, and non-slavery-related secession ordinances), and some Sons of Confederate Veterans material. I have come to known that it's not racist to love the Confederacy and all things Confederate, just ask the Sons of Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Confederate flag supporters at rallies, the 62 percent and 43 percent of Americans that view the rebel flag and monuments as southern pride not racism, Brazil's Confederados. We even have some blacks and who consider the Confederacy as part of their heritage. When these Confederate monuments were built largely by the UDC they were built not because of honoring slavery, racism or white supremacy but they were instead built to honor historic figures who were their ancestors that had a profound effect on American history. The Confederate flag and monuments are historically significant symbols that matter not just to Southern history but also American history as well and therefore based on majority opinion should be kept as is (with the only exceptions being relocation to cemetries or museums).