WE HAVE A LEGISLATOR AND MISSOURI, HE IS A
REPUBLICAN AND A STATE REPRESENTATIVE, WARREN LOVE.
HE IS MAD THAT AN UNIDENTIFIED VANDAL THROUGH PAINT ON A
CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL THAT WAS IN THE SPRINGFIELD NATIONAL
CEMETERY.
DO I THINK THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE THAT?
NO.
I THINK MONUMENTS SHOULD BE IN PLACES LIKE CEMETERIES.
I DON'T WANT THEM IN FRONT OF OUR COURT HOUSES OR STATE
HOUSES OR NEAR THE LAW.
I DON'T WANT THEM AS INTIMIDATION OF
AFRICAN-AMERICANS.
BUT I THINK PUTTING THEM IN THE CEMETERY MAKES SENSE WHEN
HE SAYS IT IS TOTALLY AGAINST THE LAW, I AGREE WITH HIM.
BUT HE DIDN'T LEAVE IT AT THAT, HE JUST COULDN'T HELP HIMSELF.
HE ADDED ñ DID IT ESCAPE YOUR ATTENTION THE LYNCHINGS THAT
HAPPENED OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS, AND THE THINGS THAT THE
CONFEDERATES STOOD FOR AND CELEBRATED?
IF A SLAVE RAN AWAY,
THEY WOULD BE LYNCHED.
THE CONFEDERACY WANTED TO PROTECT SLAVERY.
THEY WROTE IN ALMOST EVERYTHING THEY SAID.
IT WAS FOR SLAVERY.
IF YOU THINK IT WAS FOR STATES RIGHTS, IT WAS FOR THE
RIGHT TO HOLD SLAVES.
PART OF HOLDING SLAVES AGAINST THEIR WILL IS YOU MURDER
THEM IF THEY DISOBEY.
I WILL SHOW YOU SOME DISTURBING PICTURES, BUT THIS IS WHY IT IS
IMPORTANT TO HAVE THIS CONTEXT BECAUSE WHEN A GUY LIKE THIS IN
TODAY'S AMERICA SAYS THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE SO OFFENDED BY
CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS THAT THEY DO SOMETHING THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE
DONE, BUT IT IS JUST PAINT, THAT THEY SHOULD BE CAUGHT AND HUNG
BY THE NECK.
LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE.
THAT WAS A LYNCHING FROM BACK IN THE DAY.
NOT AS LONG BACK AS WE WOULD LIKE.
HERE IS ANOTHER ONE.
THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE WHEN YOU ARE FOUND AND HUNG FROM A
TALL TREE WITH A LONG ROPE, AS REPRESENTATIVE LOVE SAID.
AND ONE LAST ONE.
IT IS INCREDIBLY DISTURBING TO LOOK AT.
BUT THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED IN AMERICA.
WHEN YOU REFERENCE IT, IT IS DISGUSTING AND YOU SHOULD BE
REPRIMANDED FOR THAT.
FROM TIME TO TIME RIGHT-WINGERS SAY HE HAS FREEDOM OF
SPEECH, YES HE DOES.
HE DOESN'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO REPRESENT ALL THE PEOPLE IN
HIS DISTRICT AND THE RIGHT TO SAY OUTRAGEOUS THINGS LIKE
THIS AND THEN BE POPULAR.
SO IF YOU LIVE IN HIS DISTRICT, UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS MAN IS
ABOUT.
SO THEN OF COURSE REALIZING I MIGHT HAVE MADE MY RACIAL ANIMUS
A LITTLE TOO OBVIOUS.
HE TRIES TO WALK IT BACK ABSURDLY.
HE SAYS LYNCHINGS, NO, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH LYNCHINGS.
ALL RIGHT, YOU TAKE IT ANY WAY YOU LIKE THAT YOU THOUGHT
HE WAS CELEBRATING THE HEADINGS OF PEOPLE WHO STOLE THINGS
IN THE WEST.
IN THE CONTEXT OF A CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS, IF THAT IS NOT
WHAT HE INTENDED HE HAS A FUNNY WAY OF SHOWING IT AND BOY
IS HE ENORMOUSLY IGNORANT.
EITHER WAY IT WAS A TERRIBLE THING TO SAY.
YES, IT MATTERS.
IT MATTERS BECAUSE OF WHAT THEIR ANCESTORS WENT THROUGH.
NOT ANCESTORS FROM THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, BUT THEIR
GRANDPARENTS AND SOME OF THEIR GRANDPARENTS WERE TERRORIZED BY
THIS IN THEIR LIFETIMES.
JUST BE A LITTLE BIT MORE DECENT.
IT'S NOT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR.