There is no explanation, whether or not satisfactory, which would in any way otherwise justify such honor, because their victims are still here and it reminds them of a very horrible past each time they behold such statue. The people of Iraq, despite the attachments of Sunnis, especially those of Tikrit to Saddam Hussein, did pull down every statue of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and there are many to help them completely erase whatever memory or sore taste which Saddam Hussein left in them. Americans also once pulled down the statue of British King George in New York after the revolutionary war of independence. Ukraine and other former Soviet era republics also pulled down Vladimir Ilyich Lenin statues to help them close that chapter of their horrible past recorded history. Germany has not only pulled down Adolf Hitler's statues but went a step further by de-legitimizing everything Hitler and abolishing and criminalizing anything Nazi including the Fuhrer salute.
So based on these precedents, why can't America also do the same by completely eradicating anything and everything slavery. This is the way to go for a country that is indeed serious about making amends for its past. America cannot be allowed, by the same token, to be saying that they condemn racism and have since abolished slavery and segregation and still be honoring those people who actually imprinted that man's inhuman treatment to fellow man and left such a dark spot on America's soul. The logic does not add up and a moment has now thrown itself up for America to do good for and by its minority citizens and quit reminding them that they are technically their properties and not equal fellow human beings. It is this ability to rise up and really be great in magnanimity, by taking down all the offensive statues, that America can indeed become whole again, more united, and then forge ahead collectively to doing many more great things. Americans of all shades and every hue should therefore help wipe away this lingering psychological nightmare, a ghost of the past, which these statues represents and constantly remind and subject our minorities fellow citizens to and help Make America Whole Again.