Historians Question Trump’s Comments on Confederate Monuments

Now, two of the closest living relatives of famed Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson have weighed in on the issue, and they’re offering a viewpoint some might not expect.

Trump said in his tweet that “Publicity seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated that I said there is moral equivalency between the KKK, neo-Nazis & white supremacists and people like Ms. Heyer”. He insisted that blame for Saturday’s mayhem fell equally on white supremacists and people who oppose white supremacy. People don’t usually put up statues of Washington to celebrate his keeping of human chattel, but statues of Lee have typically been erected to celebrate his role in attempting to preserve slavery.

Foner explains numerous statues were erected in the 1890s when the rights of black people were curtailed.

Considering white-nationalist groups have chosen to rally around Robert E. Lee’s statue in Charlottesville and other Confederate statues around the country, I want to question the point of a Confederate statue in the United States in the first place.

In an open letter published in Slate magazine Wednesday, Aug. 16, brothers Jack and Warren Christian entreated the mayor of Richmond, Va., to remove the statue honoring their great-great-grandfather, along with all the other Confederate statues situated on Monument Avenue.

During a Monday protest in Durham, North Carolina, a woman toppled a Confederate statue, and authorities said on Tuesday she was arrested. The answer is not because they owned slaves.

In his comments, Trump lamented the push to take down Confederate statues. There are also racists who support Trump. But logically, these acknowledgements do not necessarily make the markers or Trump racist. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson [another Confederate general] is coming down.

So, you know what? When asked specifically his opinion on whether to keep Confederate statues, Trump said, “I would say that’s up to a local town, government, community, depending on where it’s located”. He tried to leave, but Che stopped him, reminding him that he (Washington) did own slaves.

“But I’m not giving any deference to George Washington or Robert E. Lee”, she added.

“Something like the [Robert E. Lee statue] should have never gone up”, said Albert Yenque of New York City, who was visiting Washington with his wife, Karine, on Friday. We honor people like Thomas Jefferson because of the great things they did and the obstacles they fought against.

Flake, who is running for re-election in Arizona, wrote Tuesday: “We can’t accept excuses for white supremacy & acts of domestic terrorism”. Because he was a major slave owner.

“These monuments celebrate a fictional, sanitized Confederacy ignoring the death, ignoring the enslavement, ignoring the terror that it actually stood for”, he said.

Later on, Rye said, “I think that we have to get to the heart of the problem here, and the heart of the problem is the way in which many of us were taught American history”.

The announcement is one week after white supremacists rallied in Charlottesville, leaving one dead, and 19 injured. Rather than doing what nearly any other politician would do in the face of withering criticism, The Donald went on the offensive – not to clarify any previous remarks about the Charlottesville protest and counter-protest, but to address the wider issue of our heritage. He was referring to Heather Heyer, the woman who was killed when she was struck by a vehicle driven into the crowd.