Do Confederate Statues Simply Preserve History?

FEATURING DR. YOHURU WILLIAMS – Donald Trump, siding with the KKK and self-proclaimed Nazis and fascists shocked many with his defense of confederate statues when he tweeted, “Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments.”

Many cities around the country are removing Confederate-era statues of historical figures like Robert E. Lee and white supremacist groups and the President don’t like it.

While the statues represent the “history and culture of our great country” for some white Americans, for African Americans in particular, it represents the defense of mass enslavement, repression, and violence.

Read Dr. Williams’ article in The Progressive HERE.

Dr. Yohuru Williams, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas, author of Black Politics/White Power: Civil Rights Black Power and Black Panthers in New Haven (Blackwell, 2006) and Teaching U.S. History Beyond the Textbook (Corwin, 2008). He is the editor of A Constant Struggle: African-American History from 1865 to the Present, Documents and Essays. He recently wrote an article in The Progressive entitled, “No Two Sides about It, Confederate Statues Must Come Down”.

**This segment was originally broadcast on August 21, 2017.