This is not revising history, or "viewing the past through a modern lens," as you state.

This is recognizing that present-day America is informed by its past, and if we intend to improve, we must address the issues that white men have successfully swept under the carpet for hundreds of years.

The indigenous, black, asian, women, disabled, and other people who make up America have been marginalized, denied, and outright killed for asserting the same rights we white men take for granted. Imagine standing in any of their shoes, going into a public building to exercise your Constitutional rights, and having to do so below the overbearing statue of a man who saw you as less than him ... less than human.

"But what about the good stuff he did?"

When I lived in Hungary, I could easily thrive without a car because there is a mature and extensive electrified transportation network that could get me cheaply from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans, and from Moscow to Vienna.

This is solely due to Stalin's hell-bent drive to get electricity EVERYWHERE, to modernize transportation and home life for every citizen of the USSR.

Today, everyone relies on this network - from streetcars in city centers to international train travel - without genuflecting before the statue of Stalin, and constantly bringing up his name when appreciating the ease they have in moving around Europe.

The same can be done for Thomas Jefferson. As an author in our founding documents, and one of the first people to step up and serve in the office of President, he deserves recognition. In school, during subjects that pertain to those topics.

We don't need a statue of him - or any individual, honestly - to remind ourselves of the history of our institutions. In fact, I'd say that a statue of Lady Justice would be far more appropriate in a government building, since she stands as an idol for an idea/ideal rather than a flawed human individual.

It has taken me a long time to come around to this way of thought, but I am now convinced that erecting statues of people is a poor option. Glorify their good works, not the person. Teach kids that a HUMAN BEING, JUST LIKE THEM, came up with these good ideas, and they can too! Don't literally put an old white man on a pedestal like he's the only one that could have provided that value to the world. Not only is it untrue, it whitewashes people who were truly terrible human beings.