House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said there should be a “review” of historical statues for possible removal, perhaps even those of the Founding Fathers.
During a Washington Post interview on Thursday, the California Democrat was asked about how the United States should deal with the issue of the Founding Fathers who were slave owners going forward. The speaker called slavery a “sin” and said she was also concerned about the past treatment of Native Americans.
“We have a list of grievances that are part of the early years of our country, and we do not want that to be continued by glorifying any of the people who perpetrated those injustices,” she said, adding that instead of demonstrators vandalizing and tearing down monuments, she thinks that there should be a more methodical process to it.
“Have a review in terms of let’s take it down safely so that we’re not hurting anybody when the statue comes down or costing more money to get rid of it or get rid of the defacing of something that maybe shouldn’t have been,” the speaker said.
Although Pelosi highlighted a distinction between the Founding Fathers who owned slaves and the Confederate leaders who fought for slavery, she said the U.S. should “subject everything to scrutiny.”
“I’m all for it. Let’s review this. Why are we glorifying the sins of the past?” she said. “But that doesn’t mean that because Thomas Jefferson or George Washington or others were slave owners that we should undermine what they did for our country. These Confederates — Jefferson Davis, Alexander Stephens — they committed treason against the United States in the name of slavery. I think that’s a different story.”
“But you know what? Subject everything to scrutiny and make a decision. But I do think we should do it in a safer way rather than a more dangerous way,” Pelosi said.
