Thanks for writing. I've been teaching high school & college history to diverse students for more than 25 years now. My Black students have proven perfectly capable of developing fair, nuanced perspectives based on a full consideration of the evidence, weighing both the achievements & flaws of historical figures.

Wilson wasn't "as fundamentally racist as they come." He lived during the long nadir of US race relations, but despite that--& despite his southern heritage--Wilson proved *less racist* than most whites at the time. That's damning with faint praise, & so is this: No president between Grant & FDR did much right on race, but by word & deed, Wilson proved among the least damaging presidents in that depressing span. So, why does Wilson gets scapegoated when worse bigots like McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, & Taft, Coolidge, & Hoover skate free? (Facts: McKinley, TR, & Taft let the South impose Jim Crow & lynch law. They waged racist war on the Philippines. TR & Taft--not Wilson--began segregating the federal workforce. Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/273560?seq=1)

Princeton had been segregated for 156 years before Wilson. Wilson failed to change the policy during the 8 years he led the school, & Princeton remained segregated for the next 38 years. Wilson was 29 years gone from Princeton when the school rejected Bruce Wright in 1939.

There are too many things named for Washington & Jefferson, but overall no shortage of public space for honoring heroes & causes. I'd feel better about the subtraction if there were more addition. I rue the dearth of new monuments, & would love to see more built for "greater & greater" people "with higher & higher ideals."

Since I'm neither a conservative nor a troll, I've never called anyone a SJW. Those who use that term typically deride Wilson as a "socialist" & "globalist."