Frederick Douglass would stand up for the Jefferson Memorial

Lucian Truscott is the sixth-generation great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson. Truscott seems to think his family history (being a direct descendant of the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third U.S. president) gives him all credibility to call for the Jefferson Memorial to be removed.

Truscott contends “we don’t need” the monument. Monticello is enough because it emphasizes “his moral failings in full.” The Jefferson Memorial, by contrast, stands as a false “shrine to freedom.” And Truscott, as a descendant of Jefferson, clearly thinks he has full and unique authority to call for its removal.