ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND HAS MADE A DECISION TO DO AWAY WITH A
CONFEDERATE MONUMENT.
THIS MONUMENT IS DIFFERENT FROM WHAT
WE REPORTED ON EARLIER THIS WEEK WITH BALTIMORE TAKING DOWN
CONFEDERATE STATUES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT --
IT HAPPENED THIS MORNING, AND AS YOU CAN IMAGINE THEY ARE
PURPOSELY TAKING DOWN THESE MONUMENTS IN AN EFFORT TO
PREVENT CONTROVERSY, VIOLENCE, THE TYPE OF SCENES WE SAW DURING
THE HATE RALLIES IN CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA --
LARRY HOGAN DID SAY THE FOLLOWING --
THAT'S A GREAT QUOTE.
THAT IS.
KEEP IN MIND, WHEN THEY TAKE DOWN THESE CONFEDERATE
STATUES THEY DON'T THROW THEM IN THE GARBAGE, THEY ARE REMOVING
THEM AND PUTTING THEM IN PLACES THAT I WOULD ARGUE IT MAKES MORE
SENSE.
EITHER A CEMETERY THAT HONORS CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS, OR
A MUSEUM THAT TALKS ABOUT THE HISTORY -- BASICALLY PUTTING
THESE MONUMENTS AND STATUES IN THEIR PROPER CONTEXT.
IN THIS
CASE THEY ARE LIKELY TO GO TO THE MARYLAND STATE ARCHIVES
FACILITY.
I AGREE WITH, IN THE END, BRINGING THEM TO ARCHIVES OR
MUSEUMS OR CONFEDERATE CEMETERIES, THOSE ARE LOGICAL
PLACES.
IT'S NOT TO SAY THAT THEY SHOULDN'T EXIST, OF COURSE
NOT.
IT'S JUST A MATTER OF, DO YOU GLORIFY THEM AND HONOR THEM
BY PUTTING THEM IN FRONT OF THE STATE CAPITOL OR A COURTHOUSE
WHERE THEY USED TO HAVE SLAVE AUCTIONS?
HAVING SAID THAT, YOU
WILL BE HARD-PRESSED TO FIND PEOPLE THAT ARE MORE OPPOSED TO
THE CONFEDERACY THAN I AM, AND IT IS AMAZING THAT WE ARE HAVING
THIS CONVERSATION.
WE STILL HAVE TO HAVE A CONVERSATION AS TO
WHETHER WE ARE OPPOSED TO THE CONFEDERACY?
WE DON'T REALLY HAVE TO, YOU ARE JUST OPPOSED TO IT.
IT'S IMPLICIT.
BUT A LOT OF PEOPLE DEFEND IT TO THIS DAY, THEY DEFEND THE
TRAITORS WHO BETRAYED THIS COUNTRY.
PART OF WHY I'M OPPOSED
TO IT IS NOT BECAUSE THEY WERE FOR SLAVERY, BUT THEY HATED
AMERICA.
AND I LOVE AMERICA.
IF YOU ARE A FAN OF THE CONFEDERACY
YOU SHOULD NEVER CHANT USA, USA, BECAUSE YOU ARE FOR THE
OPPOSITE.
BECAUSE I CAN'T STAND THE CONFEDERACY AND THE PEOPLE
WHO DID THIS, I KIND OF LIKED WHERE BALTIMORE PUT THEM
TEMPORARILY.
THEY PUT THEM IN A WASTE TREATMENT FACILITY.
THEY HAVE TO EXIST IN CONTEXT IF THEY EXIST, THEY CAN'T JUST
BE AT THE STATEHOUSE.
IN TENNESSEE RIGHT NOW THE
GOVERNOR, A REPUBLICAN, HAS SAID HE WANTS TO GET RID OF THE
STATUE OF NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST, A MILITARY TACTICIAN
AND A KKK MEMBER AND A SLAVE TRADER WHO IS HONORED WITH A
PARK IN MEMPHIS AND A STATUE AT THE STATEHOUSE, HE HAS ORDERED
THAT THE STATUE BE REMOVED.
THE OPPOSITION TO THAT IN THE PAST
WAS SO STRONG THAT THEY CHANGE THE RULES OF HOW YOU REMOVE A
STATUE TO FAVOR THE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO STATUES TO STAY THERE.
BUT THEY HAVE TO BE IN CONTEXTS.
IF YOU ARE A BLACK LAWMAKER AND
YOU ARE WALKING BY A STATUE OF A SLAVE TRADER, COME ON.
THINK ABOUT THAT.
IT MATTERS.
AND NOT JUST A SLAVE TRADER, PEOPLE WHO DEFENDED AND FOUGHT.
I WANT TO TOUCH ON THAT, WE TALK ABOUT THE DRED SCOTT DECISION,
BUT TANEY WAS THE ONE WHO WROTE THE DECISION, AND WHEN YOU READ
THE WORDS HE USED YOU CAN UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE WOULD FIND
HIM, OR FIND HAVING A STATUE OF HIM IN FRONT OF THE STATEHOUSE,
SO OFFENSIVE.
I WILL READ YOU A PART OF HIS DECISION.
HE SAYS --
NOW THAT YOU'VE READ THAT, THE ALT-RIGHT WILL LIKE HIM EVEN
MORE.
BUT IF YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND THAT
AFRICAN-AMERICANS DON'T WANT TO WALK PAST THAT GUY ON THE WAY
INTO THE STATEHOUSE, THERE'S NOT MUCH WE CAN DO FOR YOU.
THAT
MEANS YOU ARE FINE WITH RACISM.
AND TANEY'S DECISION WAS SO
DISASTROUS NOT ONLY BECAUSE IT APPLIED TO SLAVES, AND WE HAD
SLAVERY IN THE COUNTRY, BUT BECAUSE IT ALSO APPLIED TO
FORMER SLAVES.
THEY SAID NO, YOU AREN'T A HUMAN BEING, I DON'T
CARE WHAT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS ARE, YOU ARE BLACK, YOU ARE INFERIOR
TO ALL OF US, YOU DON'T EVEN BELONG IN THIS COURTHOUSE AND
YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS.
BY THE WAY THIS IS ALSO THE SAME TREAT OF
TIME WHERE THE SUPREME COURT RULED THAT CORPORATIONS ARE
HUMAN BEINGS, AND HAVE ALL THE RIGHTS OF HUMAN BEINGS.
THAT GOT
EXPANDED AS THE YEARS WENT ON AND LATER IN THE 1970S AND OF
COURSE FAMOUSLY IN CITIZENS UNITED IT GOT TO MEAN THAT THEY
COULD GIVE POLITICAL DONATIONS, BUT BACK THEN IS WHEN THEY
DECIDED CORPORATIONS ARE PEOPLE AND HAD RIGHTS THAT CITIZENS DO,
BUT BLACK PEOPLE, WHO ARE ACTUALLY HUMAN BEINGS, WERE NOT.
IRONIC THAT THE CIVIL WAR LED TO CITIZENS UNITED.
SO TANEY, HIS STATUE BEING REMOVED IS A GREAT DAY IN
AMERICA.
AND HE WAS ONE OF THE WORST SUPREME COURT JUSTICES,
WITH ONE OF THE WORST DECISIONS EVER, THAT GUY SHOULD NOT BE
CELEBRATED.
I THINK THE WASTE TREATMENT FACILITY IS A
PERFECTLY GOOD PLACE FOR HIM, BUT FINE, EVENTUALLY MOVE HIM TO
AN ARCHIVE SOMEWHERE.
AND GUESS WHAT, REPUBLICANS, YOU CAN ORDER THE REMOVAL OF A
STATUE AND STILL WAKE UP THE NEXT DAY AND YOU ARE FINE.
YOU
CAN GO ON GOVERNING AND DOING THE THINGS A LOT OF PEOPLE OF MY
ILK DON'T LIKE, BUT YOU CAN STILL DO THE RIGHT THING ONCE IN
A WHILE AND IT WON'T CRUSH YOU.
BILL HASLAM, AND LARRY HOGAN IN MARYLAND, GOOD STUFF.
IF YOU ARE BLACK AND YOU ARE WALKING BY A TANEY STATUE THAT
IS LIKE BEING JEWISH AND WALKING BY A GOEBBELS STATUE.
WE SHOULD
CELEBRATE GOEBBELS, WE SHOULDN'T ERASE THEM FROM HISTORY BECAUSE
WE NEED TO LEARN FROM IT, BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN WE SHOULD WALK PAST
HIM ON THE WAY TO AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT BUILDING.
AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO IN GERMANY, YOU GO TO A MUSEUM AND
YOU CAN SEE WHAT YOU WANT TO ABOUT GOEBBELS IF YOU WANT TO
SEE THAT STUFF, AND THERE'S A LOT TO BE GLEANED AND LEARN FROM
THAT, AS THERE IS FROM NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST AND JUDGE TANEY.
IT'S IMPORTANT TO SEE THAT HISTORY WHERE IT'S MEANT TO
BE SEEN.