Replace Jefferson Davis? Sure. With Frederick Douglass.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch is trolling.

Its bait: the Confederate statues along Monument Avenue. Columnist Michael Paul William has gone fishing twice, with columns that have generated more heat than light. Jeff Schapiro has been getting in on the fun, too (his most recent effort is a fine example of the trolling art). And the editorial page has gotten into the act as well. It’s Sunday piece on the Avenue and its public art says that the statue of Jefferson Davis should be removed:

Statues and symbols of Davis belong at historic sites, Civil War museums and historical societies. They do not belong in more general public surroundings that convey glory, laud and honor. Kentucky politicians, including Mitch McConnell, majority leader of the U.S. Senate, have called for removing a Davis statue from the rotunda in the state Capitol in Frankfort. It’s time for the Davis statue on Monument to go, too. We agree with Mayor Dwight Jones about building up rather than tearing down; we see the Davis statue as an exception. There may be others in other places.

So let the demolition begin, because exceptions.

Let’s take the RTD’s writers at their word. Davis was not been and never will be a sympathetic figure. He is buried in Hollywood cemetery, and has a statue there. So from a memorializing statue perspective, he’s covered.

Take down the gaudy Monument Avenue piece, then. After all, he’s not even a Virginian and all he did in his time here was utterly, and catastrophically, wreck the place. Why should he get the prime real estate?

But before we rush to replace him, let’s think about the location. It’s been given over to non-Virginian for decades. Why not keep the spot that way — a place for a non-Virginian to be gazed upon by joggers, dog walkers and the occasional tourist.

The possibilities are endless. But let’s narrow the field to a Davis contemporary, but who held diametrically opposing views. And let’s toss out the politicians. Their names get plastered on things great and small and, arguably, anyone who managed to climb the greasy pole of politics will, at some point, fall out of favor (I’m looking at you, Woodrow Wilson…Virginia native, scholar, president, unrepentant racist).

Let’s also stipulate the Davis replacement must be African-American. Monument Avenue’s Arthur Ashe statue is the only such memorial on the street today and it gets rough treatment from the city.

My suggestion to replace Davis on the Avenue is Frederick Douglass.

He checks the boxes — non-Virginian, Davis contemporary, very different views, African-American.

But more important than boxes checked, Douglass is timeless. And if you have the time, read his speech, delivered in 1852, titled “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.” Douglass strips the bark off of the Fourth of July, the Founders, the notion of America as a land of liberty and equality. It is powerful, uncomfortable, and true.

And it ends with a message of hope:

…notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. “The arm of the Lord is not shortened,” and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from the Declaration of Independence, the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. The time was when such could be done. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. Space is comparatively annihilated. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic, are distinctly heard on the other. The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. The fiat of the Almighty, “Let there be Light,” has not yet spent its force. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. “Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God.”

Hope for the future — a brighter, better, more abundant world where injustice, bigotry, and hatred would be unable to grow in quiet. It is a place still somewhere over the horizon.

Some will argue Frederick Douglass has enough memorials already. He’s covered.

No. Put a great bronze statue to him on Monument Avenue, in the place currently occupied by Jefferson Davis. Replace the man who betrayed his country and presided over the butchery of a generation of men in the defense of chattel slavery for a man who escaped that abominable institution, and became a powerful, timeless advocate of liberty for all.