CNN anchor Don Lemon suggested part of the reason some have recoiled at the nationwide movement to take down Confederate monuments is based on the “propaganda” they were taught in school about the Civil War.
“We are trying to put history in the right context. We’re trying to get you to understand that a lot of what you’ve been taught in history has been propaganda,” Lemon said on Monday. “And some things, you need to unlearn so that you can become a better citizen and that the promise of what America is is available to all. Why not have the mindset of, ‘Well, maybe we should be taking down some of these statues’?”
Since the Memorial Day death of George Floyd and other incidents of black people dying during interactions with police, a renewed conversation about race relations in the United States has been sparked.
As Black Lives Matter activists demand politicians address systemic racism in law enforcement and other segments of life, social justice advocates have targeted the monuments of Confederate generals in many parts of the country, especially in the South.
Monuments in South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia have all been taken down either by loosely organized protesters or local governments facing pressure from grassroots political movements.
A Quinnipiac University survey released last month found a majority of voters support the removal of Confederate statues.
President Trump has criticized demonstrators who have torn down Confederate monuments, calling them “vandals” who want to see the country destroyed.
“America owes its present greatness to its past sacrifices. Because the past is always at risk of being forgotten, monuments will always be needed to honor those who came before,” the White House said in a July 3 executive order regarding the preservation of historical monuments. “To destroy a monument is to desecrate our common inheritance. In recent weeks, in the midst of protests across America, many monuments have been vandalized or destroyed. Some local governments have responded by taking their monuments down.”
In a speech during Independence Day weekend, Trump warned that America’s “heritage” was being threatened by “the radical Left.”
“Make no mistake: This left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution. In so doing, they would destroy the very civilization that rescued billions from poverty, disease, violence, and hunger and that lifted humanity to new heights of achievement, discovery, and progress,” Trump said. “To make this possible, they are determined to tear down every statue, symbol, and memory of our national heritage.”
Democrats and the media reacted to Trump’s speech by calling it “divisive” and “dark.” Trump drew similar criticism after the deadly 2017 rally for white supremacy in Charlottesville, Virginia, when he condemned hatred on “many sides” of the conflict before later correcting himself and condemning white supremacy specifically.
Lemon, a frequent Trump critic, said America is long overdue for a reexamination of the dignitaries people revere.
“We have to stop deifying them. Say, ‘Yes, they did some great things, and they created a Constitution and a blueprint for us that wasn’t perfect at the time, and that’s good. But they weren’t perfect either,'” Lemon said. “So, as Americans, all of us should come together and have these conversations and get together and stop letting someone divide us. No one is perfect. Nothing is perfect, not even the Founding Fathers.”
