Should Confederate monuments and memorials be removed from public grounds?

In 2017, several protests erupted in Charlottesville, VA after the City Council there voted to remove a statue of Robert E Lee. The statue was built in 1924 as a tribute to Lee who was the commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia from 1862 to 1865. After the protests cities Wisconsin, North Carolina, New York City and Kentucky all voted to remove confederate statues. Opponents of the statue’s removal argue that the statues are a part of Civil War History. Proponents of their removal argue that the statues are racists since they idolize individuals who fought to keep slavery in the U.S.