Thread by @reveal

1/ The monuments we build are supposed to commemorate a shared history.

In reality, they’re often instrumental in erasing it.

This week’s new episode with @TheIFund explains: revealnews.org/episodes/monum…

2/ Let’s start at Beauvoir, the historic home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. It’s supposedly a “neutral educational institution.”

But as reporters @SethFW and @bxpnyc found out, it’s anything but that.

3/ For example, here’s how one tour guide described slavery:

4/ @SethFW and @bxpnyc also joined an audience who watched a supposed “re-enactment” of a Civil War battle in which Confederate troops beat back the United States Army.

No actual battle happened here during the Civil War. But, at Beauvoir, the Confederates always win.

5/ Tour guides and re-enactors routinely denied the realities of slavery in their presentations to visitors. Beauvoir's former director said there was evidence where the individual who was enslaved was better off physically and mentally.

6/ And here’s another surprising thing about Beauvoir: It has received more than $21 million in government aid in the past decade.

In other words: It’s a historical site that’s *actively warping history.* And taxpayers are footing the bill.

7/ It’s not just Beauvoir, either. Seth and Brian found that local, state and federal governments have directed at least $40 million in taxpayer dollars to Confederate memorial sites and Confederate heritage groups over the past decade.

8/ They also found that Confederate memorials and cemeteries, created by Jim Crow governments, have in some cases received taxpayer funding for generations.

9/ And taxpayers have invested in multiple sites that served as shrines for white supremacists, including this Confederate museum Dylann Roof visited before murdering nine people in Charleston, South Carolina. usatoday.com/story/news/nat…

10/ During their reporting, Seth and Brian heard from people who are still deeply invested in the Confederacy’s most racist ideals …

11/ And others who are fighting those ideals head-on:

12/ Read their print investigation, via @theIFund and @smithsonian: theinvestigativefund.org/investigation/…

13/ And to get all of our stories and episodes delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter: revealnews.org/newsletter