Historians urge state lawmakers who are weighing the fate of controversial monuments to make their task a ‘teaching moment’ – Chicago Tribune*

“This isn’t just about politics, it’s about people connecting their own lives and identities to these stories, these myths or these histories,” Smithsonian curator Aaron Bryant told the Illinois legislative committee tasked with making a recommendation on the fate of monuments located on state property. “This is a lot more complicated — you can’t just legislate this stuff out of people. You have to take a very humanistic approach.”