Removing statues sign of ‘ripping US apart’
Trump criticism of moves to pull down Confederate memorials puts him at odds with leaders’ families
DONALD TRUMP yesterday described the removal of Confederate statues as a “sad” sign of “history and culture of our great country being ripped apart”.
The violence in Charlottesville at the weekend was sparked by a white supremacist protest against the removal of a statue of General Robert E Lee, who led the Confederate troops against Abraham Lincoln in their battle to create a separate, slave-owning state.
The monuments have become flashpoints, with African-americans in particular objecting to the lionising of men who fought to keep slavery, and white supremacists rallying around the historic symbols.
Yesterday, Mr Trump apparently sided, once again, with the white supremacists. “Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments,” he tweeted. “You can’t change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson – who’s next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish!
“Also the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!”
His comments put him at odds with the families of some of the most famous Confederate leaders, who have called for their ancestors’ statues to be removed. However, Mr Trump was yesterday backed by Paul Lepage, the Republican governor of Maine, who said on that removing the statues was “just like” removing a monument to the victims of 9/11.
He said Left-wing protesters were ignorant of history and wanted to erase it, like “the Taliban in Afghanistan” in their desire to remove monuments.
Two great-great-grandsons of General Stonewall Jackson wrote an open letter to the mayor of Richmond, Virginia – where they live – saying: “Confederate monuments like the Jackson statue were never intended as benign symbols. Rather, they were the articulated artwork of white supremacy.
“While not ashamed of our greatgreat-grandfather, we’re ashamed to benefit from white supremacy while our black family and friends suffer. We are ashamed of the monument.”
America has more than 700 Confederate statues and monuments, almost half in Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina. Statues were removed in New Orleans in April and in Baltimore early on Wednesday, after the Charlottesville protests. In North Carolina, protesters took matters into their own hands and toppled a Confederate soldier’s statue themselves.
In Birmingham, Alabama, this week a 52ft Confederate obelisk was covered up in a wooden box. In Lexington, Kentucky, the local authorities were last night voting on whether they should be removed.
Robert E Lee V, the great-greatgrandson of the general, said he had no problem with their removal.
“Eventually, someone is going to have to make a decision and if that’s the local lawmaker, so be it. Maybe it’s appropriate to have them in museums.”