In the video above, John Oliver provides some historical context for the ongoing debate over Confederate statues, and argues that taking down these racist symbols is actually a way to come to terms with American history, not erasing it.

The "Last Week Tonight" host ​also offers some "replacement monuments," including a living one for Charleston, S.C., the city where the first free public library in the U.S. was erected and where fellow "Daily Show" veteran Stephen Colbert happened to have grown up.

— Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata