It's funny, I have this same question for people angrily defending Confederate statues. These statues were largely put up (quickly, and out of crappy materials) to intimidate black people at the peak of Jim Crow and the KKK, not to "help remember." They're not historic places, and people need zero help "remembering" the Civil War. So what are you defending?
Some say things like "We should keep these statues as examples of what not to do." We do that with museums, not by putting them on a pedestal. For many, the defense ends up being a defense of the Confederates themselves, saying that Robert E. Lee was actually a pretty good guy because he treated his slaves better than others. Or the Bill O'Reilly special: Yes, much of this country was built by slaves, but the slaves were actually treated well.
You want to find someone "sanitizing history," go look at all the people fighting this hard to honor the Confederacy. These statues, among other things, have made that attitude socially acceptable in the South for a long time, and we're seeing the results today.