Joe Biden: Government must protect monuments to Washington, Jefferson, Columbus

The Hill ^ | 06/30/2020 | Jonathan Easley

[SeekAndFind]

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday said the federal government has a responsibility to protect statues and monuments of historical figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Christopher Columbus.

Speaking at a press conference in Wilmington, Del., the former vice president defended monuments dedicated to past presidents who owned slaves. Biden made the case that those public statues should be preserved, while monuments to Confederate leaders should be removed peacefully by local officials.

“The idea of comparing whether or not George Washington owned slaves or Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, and somebody who was in rebellion committing treason trying to take down a union to keep slavery, I think there’s a distinction there,” Biden said.

“The idea of bringing down all those Confederate monuments to Confederate soldiers and generals who strongly supported secession and maintaining slavery and going to war to do it, I think those statues belong in museums, they don’t belong in public places," he continued.

"I think with regard to those statues and monuments, like the Jefferson Memorial, there’s an obligation that the government protect those monuments because they’re different. That’s a remembrance, it’s not dealing with revering somebody who had that view. They had much broader views. They may have had things in their past that were now and then distasteful, but that’s a judgment.”

The former vice president argued that local governments should lead in the peaceful removal of statues glorifying the leaders of the Confederacy. But he said that he understands the “anger and anguish” of those who would like to see them toppled by protesters.

“I can understand the anger and anguish that people feel by having for years and years been under the statue of Robert E. Lee if you’re an African American,” Biden said.

[Envisioning]

Joe Biden is a child molester. Are you really going to elect a child molester America?

Did I mention he was a child molester? He needs to be in prison not running for office! Does this sound at all familiar?

[Morpheus2009]

People need to accept that slippery slope is real. It may start with destroying monuments and statues in the public square, but it can devolve into destroying the museums, and possibly book burning if not stopped.