Jefferson Memorial, Confederate statues enter national race debate

Los Angeles Times ^ | June 24, 2015 | David Ng

[concernedcitizen76]

This week, the Jefferson Memorial was drawn into the national debate about race following the shooting deaths of nine people in a predominantly black church in South Carolina last week. It joins other public statues depicting Southern or Confederate figures, including Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, that some are arguing represent the country's racist past and should be removed.

CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield this week questioned whether the Jefferson Memorial should be taken down because Jefferson owned slaves. "There is a monument to him in the capital city of the United States. No one ever asks for that to come down," Banfield said.

Fellow anchor Don Lemon responded by saying Jefferson represented "the entire United States, not just the South." But he added: "There may come a day when we want to rethink Jefferson. I don't know if we should do that." ...

[celmak]

This whole notion of getting rid of this flag is totally misplaced. If we are going to do something with substance, we should ban the political Party that upheld slavery without apology.

It is the Democrat Party that has this heritage of hate. No Republican EVER held slaves - ONLY DEMOCRATS. The Democrat Party has NEVER apologized for slavery! If we are going to ban anything meaningful because of slavery - BAN THE DEMOCRAT PARTY !!!