It only changes the scenery. History remains.
What I think remains largely unsaid is modern society's changing views of the past. Call it revisionist if you will, but if the prevailing views of the citizens in the locales of these statues determine they be removed, so should they be.
Weren't the images of the Caesars pulled down eventually?
Lets face it, the Confederacy was an armed insurrection against the United States of America (such as they were in the middle of the 19th century) and was subsequently and decisively defeated, at great human cost.
Do these statues then, actually portray American "heroes", or are they the figures of traitors who sought (and fought) to perpetuate a feudal culture predicated on racism and slavery? Food for thought.
In my own view, they are graven idols of dead men with dead ideals from a dark era that are counter to the values of America.