Confederate Statues: Where Do They Belong? | MTP Daily

YOU'RE CHANGING HISTORY, YOU'RE CHANGING CULTURE.
>> WELCOME BACK. TIME FOR "THE LID."
ACCORDING TO THE SOUTHERN BOFRT LAW CENTER THERE ARE OVER 700
MONUMENTS OR STATUES HONORING THE CONFEDERACY THAT ARE
SCATTERED ACROSS STATES -- INEL THREE MAJOR BURST IN THIS
COUNTRY. THE BIGGEST SPIKE CAME AROUND
1900 AFTER FERGUSON AND AS JIM CROW LAWS BEGAN TO RULE THE
SOUTH. OVER 400 MONUMENTS IN PUBLIC
SPACES WERE DEDICATED AT THAT TIME TO HONOR THE CONFEDERACY.
THERE WAS ANOTHER BUSTS FROM THE 1920s TO THE 40S.
NEARLY 140 CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS AND SITES WERE BUILT THEN.
AND THEN THERE WAS ANOTHER SPIKE THAT HAPPENED DURING THE SOOIFL
'60s. OVER 90 PUBLIC SPACES AND
MONUMENTS WERE DEDICATED OR RE-DEDICATED DURING THAT TIME.
THE PANEL IS BACK. MICHAEL STEELE, KASIE HUNT,
JONATHAN ALTER. DOES IT MATTER WHEN THESE
MONUMENTS WERE PUT UP TO BE -- SHOULD THAT BE PART OF THIS
CONVERSATION? >> IT CAN BE PART OF IT.
IF THEY WERE DONE AS A WAY OF RESISTING INTEGRATION OF RAISING
THE FLAG, YOU KNOW, FOR RACISM, THAN THAT'S DIFFERENT THAN IF
THEY WERE BUILT, YOU KNOW, AT THE TIME IN THE 1860s OR
SOMETHING LIKE THAT. SO, YES.
BUT THESE ARE COMPLICATED QUESTIONS OF HISTORY AND SHOULD
THEY BE IN MUSEUMS? SHOULD THERE BE NO PLAQUES ON
THEM THAT PUT THEM IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT?
ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS SHOULD BE WORKED AT THE LOCAL LEVEL IN
CALM COMMUNITY DISCUSSIONS. THEY SHOULD NOT BE TOPPLED IN
THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT BY, YOU KNOW, BY PEOPLE ON ONE SIDE OF
THE DEBATE. AND THEY CERTAINLY SHOULDN'T BE
THE SOURCE OF NEO-NAZI AND WHITE SUPREMACIST RALLIES.
>> I THOUGHT IT WAS INTERESTING, THE "NATIONAL REVIEW" BASICALLY
SAID IT ON SUNDAY AND THEY TOOK A COLLECTIVE DECISION AND SAID,
IF THEY ARE GOING TO BE MAGNETS FOR WHITE SUPREMACISTS, THEN
MAYBE IN PUBLIC SPACES THEY SHOULD GO AND THEY BELIEVE IN
MUSEUMS, KASIE? >> I THINK THAT'S THE WE THIS
DEBATE IS CENTERING. THE CONVERSATIONS, IN MANY CASES
ARE AROUND, OKAY, SHOULD WE RELOCATE THESE TO A PRIVATE
MUSEUM OR A PRIVATE HOME, DEPENDING ON THE VARIOUS
OPTIONS. IN LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY, RIGHT
NOW, A PLACE MITCH McCONNELL IS PAYING VERY CLOSE ATTENTION TO,
THEY'RE GOING THROUGH THIS DEBATE.
THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE ARGUING, WELL, WHY DON'T WE JUST DESTROY
THEM. THE COST OF RELOCATING THEM
WOULD BE SO HIGH FOR THE GOVERNMENT.
AND THIS IS GOING TO BE SOMETHING THAT CONGRESS IS GOING
TO HAVE TO GRAPPLE, AS WELL. I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE BEEN OVER
TO STATUTORY HALL RECENTLY OR WALKED AROUND, THE OLD HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES CHAMBER IS FILLED WITH STATUES, MANY OF
WHOM ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE CONFEDERACY.
AND THAT WOULD BE A STATE-BY-STATE ISSUE.
THE MONUMENT IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WOULD HAVE TO BE TAKEN
DOWN AS AN ACT OF CONGRESS. I DON'T THINK THERE IS AN END IN
SIGHT TO THIS. >> WE ARE THE ONLY COUNTRY THAT
DID THIS TO HONOR A LOSER, YOU KNOW?
>> YEAH, YEAH. >> IT HAS BEEN ODD TO -- WE ALL
JUST GREW UP WITH IT. OF COURSE, THAT'S THE WAY IT
WAS. WE SORT OF HONOR ALL AMERICANS
IN WARS, I GUESS. I'M TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW I
WAS CONDITIONED AS A KID TO -- YOU'RE JUST SORT OF LIKE, YES,
THAT IS WHAT THAT WAS ABOUT. THAT'S WHAT THAT WAS ABOUT.
BUT IT WAS ALL TAUGHT AS HISTORY.
>> YES, TIME AND PLACE. AND THAT REALLY MATTERS HERE.
WHEN YOU GO BACK AND LOOK AT THE GRAPH YOU PUT UP IN THOSE THREE
SPIKES, THE FIRST WAS IN THE IMMEDIACY AFTER THE WAR, AND OF
COURSE, PLESSEY VERSUS FERGUSON, THAT WHOLE DECISION.
OKAY, NOW WE CAN STAMP OUR CLAIM.
THEN AS THOUGH VETERANS STARTED TO DIE, THERE WAS THE
COMMEMORATION FOR THOSE MEN WHO SERVED.
LESS EMPHASIS ON WHAT THE WAR WAS ABOUT AND MORE RECOGNITION
OF WHO THEY ARE. AND THEN THAT THIRD SPIKE OF 91
STATUES WAS IN THAT PERIOD OF TIME WHERE THE CIVIL RIGHTS
MOVEMENT WAS GRAPPLING THE COUNTRY AND THERE WAS SORT OF A
PUSHBACK A LITTLE BIT, SORT OF ANOTHER REMEMBRANCE.
AND I THINK THE TIME AND PLACE ARGUMENT DOES MATTER A LOT.
BUT HERE'S THE RUB. I THINK WHEN IT ALL BOILS DOWN,
IT MATTERS WHAT THESE SYMBOLS, WHAT THESE IMAGES, WHAT THESE
PLAQUES ARE BEING USED FOR. WHEN THEY BECOME THE RALLYING
SOURCE THAT FERMENTS ANEW THE KIND OF UGLINESS THAT WE'VE SEEN
IN CHARLOTTESVILLE, THAT'S IT. IT'S GOT TO GO.
>> IT SEEMS AS IF THE LOCAL -- LET THE LOCALS DECIDE THIS, THAT
IT'S -- IT'S WHERE WE WENT WITH THE FLAG.
>> YEAH, AND LOOK WHAT NIKKI HALEY DID IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
YOU KNOW, SHE HANDLED IT REALLY WELL.
OTHER PEOPLE SHOULD TAKE A LEAD FROM HER.
AND ALSO, YOU CAN GET A SENSE THAT THE -- THAT THE NATION IS
SOMETIMES ARGUING OVER SYMBOLS IN A WAY THAT LEADS US INTO
PLACES WE DON'T REALLY WANT TO GO.
SO I WAS UPSET THAT TRUMP CHANGED THE NARRATIVE FROM
NEO-NAZIS AND WHITE SUPREMACISTS TO HOW WE DEAL WITH STATUESTATU.
IF HE HAS MORE SUCCESS IN CHANGING THE SUBJECT, WE HAVE
FAILED. >> I DON'T THINK ANYBODY, ALSO,
IS INTERESTED IN DENYING THAT THIS HISTORY HAPPENED OR THAT IT
EXISTS. THAT'S A QUICK, OFTEN, PATH DOWN
ROADS WE DON'T WANT TO EXPLORE. THE POINT OF -- THERE'S A LOT OF
VALUE, AND I THINK BOTH SIDES SEE A LOT OF VALUE IN
REMEMBERING WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY IT HAPPENED.
I JUST THINK THERE'S AN INTERPRETATION ON ONE SIDE THAT
CLEARLY HAS CROSSED AN ENORMOUS MORAL LINE.
>> WHAT'D YOU MAKE OF WHAT LARRY HOGAN DID TODAY IN YOUR HOME
CITY OF MARYLAND? >> THE MAYOR OF BALTIMORE, IN
THE DEAD OF NIGHT, HAD STATUES REMOVED --
>> BUT MAYOR HOGAN IS -- >> THAT'S NOT VANDALS --
>> NO. BUT LARRY HAD THE STATUE OF
CHIEF JUSTICE TANY TAKEN DOWN, WHICH I KIND OF APPRECIATE,
BECAUSE I HAD TO STARE AT IT FOR FOUR YEARS.
IT WAS OUTSIDE MY LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR'S OFFICE WINDOW, SO
WHEN I LOOKED DOWN, THERE WAS THE TOP OF HIS HEAD.
BUT I SUPPORT WHAT THE GOVERNOR DID.
HE DOESN'T WANT THAT TO BECOME THE SYMBOL WE SAW DOWN IN
CHARLOTTESVILLE. >> THIS IS ANOTHER MOMENT, I'M
RHYMED OF MITCH LANDRIEU'S SPEECH HE MADE WHEN HE REMOVED
THOSE STATUES IN NEW ORLEANS AND HIS REACTION AFTERWARD WHEN HE
SAID THAT THE BLOWBACK WAS SO STRONG THAT HE MAY NOT NOT HAVE
RECONSIDERED, BUT THAT HE WAS SURPRISED BY IT.
>> HAVE THE CONVERSATION WITH SOMEBODY WHO'S NOT

Confederate Statues: Where Do They Belong? | MTP Daily | MSNBC

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