The problem with toppling statues

People gather around the Robert E. Lee statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, on June 4,2020, amid continued protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody. - Earlier in the day, Virginia governor Ralph Northam announced plans to remove the statue of the Confederate general, directing the Department of General Services to remove it "as soon as possible." — AFP

THEY were once feted as pioneers, leaders who created empires and powerful nations, worthy characters of worship by their successors. Some of their statues stood on their pedestals for centuries in city squares and other central locations, seen by millions of passers-by and pointed to reverentially by parents and teachers of successive generations of schoolchildren.

Now, however, the statues are being toppled.