These acts of destruction are acts of pure and unmitigated hate, a blind and abstract hatred completely devoid of any impulse of charity toward others. They accomplish nothing to further the well-being of those whose cause is being drafted into service as the pretext for the mob’s violence. There is no vision of the future being put forward, no positive vista being explored. A public statue is an expression of public meaning. Tearing it down leaves only an empty place. [1]