Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal Debate On Removal Of Confederate Monuments 20170824

Lester spence was asked about the best approach. Heres what he had to say. The approach the city has taken before was actually have monuments toto the put them in context. They were just put up. Before the statue was taken down there was a plaque next to it basically saying that it was that the statue was erected as part of a lost cause project voted to the confederacy and White Supremacy. That was ok. Gone, i thinkare what i would like to see is the base maintained. For the statues themselves are removed but the bases stay there in order to reflect on the one hand the fact that there was a political project dedicated to White Supremacy that had a long history that is deeply tied with the creation of the nation. And then that there was another political project created in order to remove them. I think thats actually the best that was the best approach in this circumstance. Other potential approaches. Maybe leaving taking pieces of the statues. Butbe maintaining them erecting another statue. There are a number of choices people have in front of them and the blessing is this generates the opportunity to create more discussion about what we should be doing. Host that was Johns Hopkins University Political science joiningr Lester Spence us on the program. The on the program was university of alabama law professor who discussed why removing these monuments is not so clearcut. Think the monuments are largely relics of the battle days. I think its important to leave them up so that we understand and remember that there were once people who were in charge in places like charlottesville and townsnd throughout the south and some in the north who wanted to celebrate the confederacy and the war fought to maintain slavery. Sort of balance things a little bit differently and i think its important to preserve those monuments on the landscape so that people remember that there was once a celebration of the confederacy and the war fought to maintain slavery. At the conversations we are having now about what the civil war was about. Why people were celebrating and putting these monuments up. That is a great conversation. I think its a great opportunity for learning, for national discussion. I think that conversation largely goes away once we take the monuments down. What do you think should be done about these Confederate Monuments . Roslyn in wilmington, delaware. I taught u. S. History and i am basically in the Peace Movement especially since i read about the civil war. Against robert slavery and inst dont believe he owned any slaves. Or if he did he got rid of them. And the other issue in the civil war was state rights. Can california have certain laws on pollution arcana federal Government Force them to do away with those laws on pollution . There were issues of tariffs, trade, states rights. It wasnt just slavery. So check your history books. Get on the computer. Host lets go to history. Com with the headline how the u. S. Got so many Confederate Monuments. This is what it says on this website. Most of these monuments did not go up immediately after the wars and in 1865. During that time commemorative markers of the civil war ended to be memorials that more and soldiers who had died. The vast majority of them were built between the 1890s and 1950s which matches up exactly with the area of jim crow segregation. The biggest spike was between 1900 and 1920s. In contrast to the earlier memorials that more and dead soldiers these tend to glorify the leaders of the confederacy. Thomas Stonewall Jackson. Thats why they put them in front of state buildings. Monuments stood for included a glorification of the cause of the civil war. White women were instrumental in raising funds to build these monuments. United daughters of the confederacy was probably the most important and influential group. The group was responsible for creating was basically the Mount Rushmore of the confederacy. A gigantic stone carving of davis, lee and jackson in Stone Mountain, georgia. 1960scompleted in the for 2 million. Albert and connecticut. What do you think . Caller i think it is an affront to societys norms. You can compare this to say they want to glorify was elected in the third reich in germany. Man ofafricanamerican 89 years old. I dont think these guys should be exhibited at all. It goes back to a time when we were and enslaved people. Say down with the statues. Host kevin in utah. Tell us what you think. I think these statues are basically to remind flecked people of their place. That that was the reason they are elected and i think they should come down. About t do you think we lost kevin. Jack is in providence, rhode island. Caller good morning. Some of them should come down. Theues that maybe some of southerners that were involved with the kkk. Others should stay like robert e. Lee. Was against slavery. Thats true. He was considered probably one of the best battlefield strategists in the history of all warfare. He was offered the command of the entire union army by president lincoln. The whole thing. He turned it down because he wanted to invade virginia. One of the key points. They should take the statue or picture of robert byrd down. Im going to shock everybody. John f. Kennedy if you go on the internet, he praised adolf hitler. Around the 1930s or 1940s. When he was a young man. Calling him basically a legend. You can go on the internet for that. And furthermore john f. Kennedy was friends with one of our a brilliant german rocket science. He was in the ss. He was friends with him because he had such brainpower and mathematics developed rocket programs. He was friends with a member of the ss so lets take down his photograph. Rights ahard black member of the senate of virginia, and also a member of the virginia war memorial commission. He writes understanding the purpose of confederate memorial. Localities erected monuments to those who fought in the war between the states several decades after the war while millions of those veterans were still living. The confederate Soldier Monument at the old courthouse in leesburg was erected in 1908. Most confederate veterans would have been in their 60s and many had befriended old adversaries. When the court has statue was himted it was to care for who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan. Quiet reflective image of the men who fought that war. It was not a political statement anymore than the vietnam war memorial is a political statement about that war. Assemblynia general wisely enacted virginia code section 15. 2181 two to protect War Memorials from destruction for political reasons. It provides access the civil war are erected it shall be unlawful to interfere. This is in the state of virginia. On the hundred six anniversary of the birth of Jefferson Davis the monument was unveiled before a large crowd of northerners and southerners on june 4, 1914. Woodrow wilson addressed a large crowd of union and confederate veterans placed wreaths on the graves of their former foes symbolizing reconciliation between north and south. Those who paid the price in blood formed bonds brotherhood for the benefit of america. A disservice when we reduce those magnanimous acts of love and mercy. I have no doubt that statue removal would invite removal of confederate headstones from confederate gravesites. We should have the wisdom to respect her history and draw lessons from it. I oppose weakening the virginia statute protecting War Memorials. In syracuse, new york. What do you think . Caller i think they should not even take the statues down for one thing. I do understand why you people are crying and sticking up for one side. Host jewel in north hollywood, california. Caller i think they should take the statues down. At 1. I didnt think they should. After giving it some serious thought i believe they should take the statues down because history that is behind us and we need to leave it behind us and Everybody Needs to get on board with trying to andg the country together the people need to Start Talking so that we can get some understanding about each other especially blacks and whites. Other cultures are coming into this country to live among us. What is happening is theres a lot of confusion about whats going on. Black people are at the we are at the center of all of it. There has been racism. There has been jim crow. There has been so much going on for years prior to others coming into this country. Its a country of immigration but for a long time it has been a country of blackandwhite and mexicans and maybe a few asians. Now that there is an influx of different people coming here we need to have an understanding thinks theirbody race is important. Everyone needs to realize that we are all important. We are all americans. We are not a divided country. The racists did to either get a grip or fine Something Else to impeder than try to their ignorance upon other people. Host ok. You said you changed your mind. Read first thought they should stay up. Why . I talked to other people and they gave some good points. It is part of history. I think they should probably some people have suggested that they get moved someplace like a museum or Something Like that. I think Something Like that is a good thing for them. Think they should destroy them. They probably are worth a lot of money. Keptshould probably be where people can get a clear understanding of the history because that type of place they will lay out what its really about and give people the history that is meant for it. Right now it is like an eyesore for black people. It is something that you dont want to see that. You dont want to keep being reminded. People say we need to forget. We are not going to forget. We will put it aside. But its not forgotten. Host i have to leave it there so i can get in some other voices. Terry in tennessee. The way i see it is theyall of the statues should take Martin Luther king statue down, too. Thats what they should do. Thats the way i see. Host how do you view Martin Luther king . Caller theres nothing wrong with him. Fired upe going to be about everyone they should take all statues down. Host do you equate the Civil Rights Movement with jim crow laws . Caller nothing wrong with that. They should take his down to be fair about it. They should take his down, too. Host ok. Robert. Henderson, kentucky. Caller good one. Automatically my last name is lee and im the descendents of slaves here in henderson. Taking down statues are taking down flags is symbolic. Regulatet legislate, nor dictate a persons heart. When people were killed in charleston in the historic black she tooki haley down the flag. That was all good. There were still 400 7,000 raised for him on the internet, for his defense. Police took him to have a burger afterwards. Black life is still devalued in america. 3 5 of a human being. Taking down statues is symbolic. Real change comes from within and that cannot be legislated, dictated nor regulated. For the person that studies and really gets down to the country issues its about whats in the heart and that cannot be regulated. That change has to come from within and a person has to truly have a relationship with god in order for that to happen. Host ok. Robert in henderson, kentucky. Usa today confederate statues falling across the United States. Divided cities struggle with the fate of these monuments which some view as historical markers while others see as symbols of the hate. Look at the citys debating this. Durham, gainesville. St. Petersburg, san diego, los angeles, baltimore, brooklyn, madison, daytona. Each we will be talking to reporters throughout the three hours while we also get your viewpoint on what should happen with these monuments. Robert in fort smith, arkansas. Go ahead. Caller hello. I was wondering. On the census. 62 to something that people want to leave the statues up. Im beginning to wonder if they are after White Supremacists or if they are after white people. Host who is they . I noticed this guy on television. Start a raceing to and theyre pushing it too far. You mentioned polls. Heres the Washington Post with the Economist Survey that was done august 13 through the 15th. After you see statues of confederate war heroes more as a symbol of southern pride or racism . Southern pride. 26 said symbol of racism. In oak hill, west virginia. Caller good morning to thank you for taking my call. This is not related to the statues. However we celebrate memorial day every year. I think it mistaken was the daughters of the confederacy who started a memorial day for the southern dead. Cant remember the year that congress then changed it to memorial day that we then honor the northern and all the dead in all the wars. Starting of our memorial day. Toch is related i believe the monument issue. We forget this. I dont know how many people know this. Host what do you think about these monuments . Should they remain . Should they come down . Should they be put in a museum . Given Historical Context . Caller i believe that they should stay up because they said somewhere something that they somewhere i cant remember which state in the south toward down veteran. A veteran is a veteran. No matter which war they served in. Host what about the Historical Context to win most of these monuments or erected. Around the time of jim crow laws. What was happening at the time that segregation was being put into law. And at the same time a movement in front of symbols State Capitol buildings in Public Squares. What about that context . Caller perhaps they could be moved to someplace else where andle could still see them not really be in the glaring eyes in front of a courthouse or a school what have you. But i am mixed on this really. Host im leaving it there so we can hear from one reporter who is covering this debate in richmond, virginia. Us via skype this morning from that area. Virginia statehouse reporter. Through what very monumenthave avenue. Its a big tourist attraction in your area. And what is the debate right now . Thank you so much for having me this morning i really think its important to start icing that this conversation that richmond is having is not a new one. Virginia does a wonderful job of preserving its history, respecting its history and one oldlook at archives and newspaper articles and see that people in richmond just as soon as the lead monument was erected in 1890, John Mitchell jr. Who was the editor of the Richmond Planet editorialized that people were going to be debating about the legacy of treason and blood. Have always been met with resistance and debate and controversy. Were just having a contemporary sort of iteration here in richmond. There are folks who have said and the violence that he inflicted on worshipers in South Carolina was a jumpoff point for our conversation in richmond now. Accuracyhere is some to that. After that happened it was a big issue during our mayoral race. Our mayor now is one who consistently advocated for balance and context. Throughout statues richmond. He made good on that Campaign Rhetoric when he appointed a 10 Member Commission to look at how to best add context to the statues along monument avenue. The commission has met a handful of times since his announcement in june. And they are tasked with gauging Community Sentiment and figuring out the best way to move forward. Since the announcement of that commission every mayor has changed his position and more forcefully called for the removal of the monuments along and there is at least one member of our city council who plan to submit a resolution and ask the state for permission. To move statues. That would sort of help the richmond local authorities moved around that tricky state law that says that people cannot disturb monuments once they have been put in place. Host described monument avenue for the folks who have not seen it. Guest its a long thoroughfare. In a Historic District of richmond. There are homes all along it. Tree lines. Very scenic. Very beautiful. There are businesses connected throughout the thoroughfare. There are five confederate figures sitting along the avenue and Arthur Arthur ashe. R people have said that monument is ae in and of itself confederate shrine of sorts. And that he kind of ruins that. Host what has it been like in richmond . Guest very tense. Since that commission that we mentioned before has been , there hasmeeting been one very well attended Public Meeting about two weeks ago. 500 people were there. We saw about 40 speakers. Half of the speakers were in favor of the mayors call for adding context. We heard lots of suggestions of billboards alongside the monuments. Half of the other speakers at that meeting were still having a conversation about whether or not they should be talks touched at all. Its all very tense. There are high emotions anytime that anyone talk about it. It is such a closely held issue in virginia. The citys largest blackowned media outlet had an theorial writing we ask commission and our readers what context can possibly change of the statues meaning and message from what was meant when they were directed following a bloody civil war meant to keep black people in bondage and what could possibly change their present context . I understand theres another Public Meeting coming up. What do you think will happen then . September 13 . Transpireduch has between this last meeting and september 13. I have spoken to one member of who said they have asked for a clue and down period. Certainly havent seen anything like what happened in charlottesville. And i knowe high that there are people in the community who felt like they didnt want to participate in the conversation because removal was not an option and now that more people would forcefully come out and speak in favor of the removal of the way we have seen in other states across the country. I wouldnt dare try and predict. Host Virginia Statehouse reporter in richmond. Reporting one twitter. Thank you for the update out of richmond. Appreciate it. Mr. Trump on tuesday at a rally in arizona where he talked about this debate that speed wage that is being which across the country. In the proud tradition of americas great leaders from George Washington, please dont take his statue down. Please. Please. Does anybody want George Washington statue . [booing] no. Is that said sad . I see they want to take Teddy Roosevelts down to. Theyre trying to figure out why. They dont know. Theyre trying to take away our culture. Theyre trying to take away our history. And our weak leaders. They do it overnight. Fore things have been there 100 15 years. 100 years. You go back to university and its gone. Weak, weak people. Host President Trump on tuesday. Do you agree with him or do you believe that these symbols should come down . That they represent racism, hate. Rob in clayton, missouri. What do you think . Caller good morning. In our country racism has created a civil war between more people than all of our wars combined. This is not just limited to the United States. White supremacy from 1898 to has ruined every single culture. Every single country in the india, white imperial supremacy has driven out 53 countries in africa. The last in being 1992. White imperial supremacy. You cannot make evil and good compatible. Im a vietnam veteran. Democracy is a wonderful idea. [inaudible] it must be stopped. Angela merkel denounced what he is trying to do with this garbage. It has to stop. On washington journals twitter page, conducting a poll with all of you. What should be done about Confederate Monuments. Take them down, keep them up. A couple of responses from viewers here. If they are to come down, could they be a compromise and put it in a Historical Museum . Eddie in los angeles. Caller good morning. Where can i go with this. Im a vietnam vet also. I have a thing about the enemy be put on a pedestal as such. In this country confederacy was actually implemented into our government. They might have lost the battle that they actually won the war. Host how so . Look at the Government Policies that happened after the civil war to black folks. Even the first civil rights bill. You go to the congressional act of 1871 and that was the second civil rights bill, if that was to implemented they were going to change this country into a corporation. Ofts a congressional act 1871. If you look at the redlining, happened after the civil war was implemented. All of the racial containment or government implemented. Now the part about it is we allow the south to write the text books for children. How does that happen . How does the one that lose the war read the textbook right the textbook . Host james in maryland. Caller good morning. Put intohey should be museums of the people that want to honor these statutes can go and visit them just like in europe. The germans you dont see monuments of all of hitlers that massacred the juice. They have concentration camps. Villages have museums. In america they should have the statues in a museum so people who want to go there to visit the statues. Of your calls coming up. Frank page of the newspaper, the wall street journal with the headline trump sets military transgender paned ban. New implement a administration been on transgender people serving in the military. I will consider a Service Members ability to deploy in deciding whether to kick them out of the military. It also directs the pentagon to stop spending on medical treatment regimens for those currently serving. Medassets six months to prepare to fully implement the new band according to officials. This headline on several of the papers this morning. We will with the New York Times headline on the relationship between the president and congress. Trumps shutdown threat risks splitting his party. The amount to pay for the border wall. He vowed to pay for the border wall. And difficult to appear agenda lawmakers counter threats over shutdown and primaries. On the trunk shutdown threat it says mr. Trump has asked congress to allocate 1. 6 billion toward building a wall along the border with mexico. Currently a mix of barriers from chainlink fences and steel wall in that key people from crossing to steel beams that stop vehicles. Provided 341ss has million to prepare and bolster the existing border barriers. The Trump Administration is seeking 3. 6 billion for the border wall. In the past mr. Trump has said there is no need for a wall along the entire border. The wall street journal and the New York Times Editorial Board have something to say about this prospect. As trumps larger problem is is now clear an absence of any plausible governing vision. On tuesday he was back to raging against just about everyone who crossed his field of vision. 77 minutes worth of anger began as the evening wore on to exhaust even his most fervent listeners who began quietly to fade away. The wall street journal, beating his own head against numeral. Trunk strength to do exactly what Chuck Schumer wants. The crowd loved it. This is the political equivalent of holding a gun to his own head and saying that conduct is and do what he wants, mr. Troubleshoot himself. Dont expect Chuck Schumer to try to talk him out of it. Only be too happy to test his care since voters will blame a shutdown on republicans. Senate democrats are vowing not to spend a dime on the wall and mr. Trump will need 60 senate votes to pass a funding bill. Speaker of the house paul ryan yesterday. This was in the wall street journal. President donald trump script to shut down the Government Congress doesnt approve funding for a wall along the mexico border raised alarm among some gop lawmakers. Days for thee governments current funding expires on october first. Lawmakers from both parties had expected congress to pass a stopgap to her threemonth spending bill. His remarks raised fresh questions about the path forward. That is the latest on washington and what was happening between the white house and congress. Back to our discussion with all of you. What should happen with these Confederate Monuments record . Caller efficiently them alone. Stop messing with this history of our country. I was in vietnam three years. What color people were when they were wounded. I put them in my helicopter. Brought the wounded back. Put them on planes. To be shipped back to the United States to their families. We still are going to be doing that. Why would we want to tinker. Thing we are going to do is start taking stuff out of our schools so our children cant learn from what we did in vietnam or any other country. Its crazy. We are acting like children. Im in my mid 70s. Whats going on. Why is this world weve got the republicans fighting the democrats. It is nuts. Its got to stop. Host what about the argument from the other side . African american sing that when they see these symbols that generalshe civil war that is a symbol of trying to keep africanamericans in bondage. Its not a symbol to keep them in bondage. I never asked anybody what their color was when they were wounded. They have the red blood running. I loaded them in my chopper. Through them out of a war zone to a hospital ship. Got them care. Brought them back when the care was taken. Put them on a c130 off of the carrier. Flew them back to germany. From there they brought them back to their families in the u. S. Didnt care what color they were treated still dont today. This is just stupidity to the ants degree. Host greg in florida. Good morning pet i am a 38 year watcher of the cspan. I am also a vietnam combat. Eteran with all due respect to my comrade in vietnam just a minute ago, i vehemently disagree. The his assessment of monuments. I think they should be taken down. I think they should be taken down immediately. I thought that robert a couple calls ago was very insightful to discuss again that even though the north on the battle the south is still winning the war. With all the current legislation that has to do with voter suppression. Other regulation and laws that suppress africanamericans. There are only racists of people who understand the institution of slavery and the written history of the horrors of slavery. They are africanamericans. A recorded history of their people being in slavery. Group on thisc planet has gone through the israelis and the jewish people and black. Black people. They understand when you see a memorial erected to another group wants to preserve the memories of slavery. You dont see any swastikas being flown in germany. You dont see any memorials of hibbler and the nazis in germany. In fact the german people have sought to eradicate any kind of historical memory of the nazis given what they did to the jewish people. In america it should be the same thing. We should remove these memorials because it is an affront africanAmerican People who were in the institution of slavery. Any other ethnic group who comes to america if the color of their hue is not black than they are considered white. Mexicans, italians. Whatever. If the color is brown there are still considered white. They can move to any neighborhood they can. They can get the best jobs they can. And our people whose color is are stiller, we carrying from the sale of the horrors and memories of not only being africanAmerican People but considered three quarters of a human by being property and being owned. With any color who talks about preserving a memory of a people who only looked for a fair and a square deal at present friends and roosevelt tried to give us after world war ii. Guild in jamestown, North Carolina. Share your thoughts with us. Good morning. About four or five calls back home and made a statement that memorial day was a confederate holiday. There is nothing further from the truth than what she said. Its absolutely wrong. Memorial day was started by in charlestonaves to honorolina in 1865 the soldiers from the union army that were killed. And memorial day in the south has been deemphasized for many years. So lets get the facts straight about how memorial day started. Her statement was wrong and couldnt be farther from the truth. Regarding the statues host hold hundred where did you get your information hold on. Where did you get your information . Has beenhis documented. You can go to various sites. Look up the origins of memorial day. 1865. Charleston, South Carolina. Lets all you have to do. There are numerous sources. Host go ahead with your thoughts on the monuments. Caller they should take down all the months monuments. Monuments that honor the confederate confederacy. Monuments that honor the union. Take them all down. Suggest is told tell the truth in Historical Museums. And typingogizing what happened during the civil war. Show pictures in the museums of antietam and gettysburg. In the civil war, more were killed than all the wars the u. S. Has fought in. Tell the truth and museums. Have any of these statues anymore and just tell the truth. And educate the populace. Ofo have ecumenical kinds gatherings and reconciliation so we can get past all of the hate and bitterness that is still very prevalent in both the south and the north. Thats my comment for today. History. Com says it is unclear where exactly the tradition of memorial day originated. Numerous different communities may have independently initiate the memorial gathering. Government federal declared waterloo, new york the official birthplace of memorial day. At first celebrated the day on may 5, 1866 because it hosted an annual communitywide event during which is this is closed. Businesses closed. John logan called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. The 30th of may 1868 is a designated for the purpose of strewing flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in the defense of their country during the late rebellion. The date of Decoration Day was chosen because it wasnt the anniversary of any particular battle. On the first Decoration Day James Garfield made a speech and 5000 participants decorated the day grave. Many northern states held similar events enterprise the tradition in subsequent years. Made0 each one had Decoration Day an official state holiday. Southern states continue to until afterdead world war i. Memorial day and Decoration Day gradually came to be known originally honored only those lost while fighting in the civil war. During run for one United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict and the holiday falls to commemorate American Military personnel that died in all wars. Fe. In santa caller maybe somebody has already suggested this. Change thet you just plaques to tell the truth . The statues are part of our infamy. Dont make them out to be heroes. Tell the truth. They fought for an unjust cause. The debateis part of thats happening across the country. Thats what the mayor of richmond originally said. Give these monuments context. It seems like it would be more truthful. Its part of our history. Just tell the truth like the last caller said. Host john in new york. What do you think. Caller i think they should be taken down. Cemetery. In a its too much hate and too much. Ivisions i dont think that should be glorified with all the pain. Lynchings and beatings. All of that stuff. But that read on the graveyard and they should be replaced with maybe Florence Nightingale or hank aaron, jackie robinson, armstrong. Neil armstrong. To verify someone being cast for no reason at all. Should the union once they should keep the union ones of because at least they wanted to like unite the country. The world. A part of at least they wanted to unite the world. Take them down and bring in peace. Host william in oregon. Its your turn. Caller yes. I just wanted to say earlier in your program you gave some good points. Some good reasons for keeping the statues. Why they were put there in the first place. Was not actually from racist reasons back in 1918 or whatever. It was to commemorate the lives that were lost. It wasnt really a political thing back then. As it was explained. , ihink what has happened now think the point President Trump is missing is now the statues after Charlottesville Virginia incident, it has now become a rallying point for the racist bigots to use this to go around each of the cities and have a big rally and beat a bunch of people up. Around the statues. I think they should be taken down as they were in baltimore. In baltimore they took them down i think as a result of the charlottesville incident. Host yes. Within days. And in the middle of the night. Right. I think the mayor did that in baltimore not necessarily because it was something that made black people feel bad to look at that because now because is really theened racists are using this as a rallying point. Because of that i dont think thats the statues will just have to come down or put someplace where the racists cant have a big rally around that. Up. Use it to be people thats all i wanted to say. Thank you very much. Host james in tallahassee, florida. Caller good morning. They should bek left up and or it should be up to the citizens and the cities. The human disabilities. I dont think it should be done in the dark. I dont think they should be vandalized or anything like that. I understand that a lot of people want to whitewash the history literally. And democrats were on the wrong side of that war. There were the ones that were for not abolition. Theres too many people that died during that war. I am a mixed family. I am part of American Indian norwegian trade my husband is black. Black children. Black lives matter and all of these people talk about killing white people. And my children go, thats my family. People are not paying attention to everything and i think its the media and the politicians. Hat fuel all this along with hateful people that do all their craziness. Collectively, just a few people should demolish all of our history. The democrats didnt mind all these years. All of a sudden they mind now. Now they want them to have actually had been there for 30 some years. They were on the wrong side of history and i wish everybody did read his three. And really did find out. Im not even represented at all as far in congress in any way. American indian. I dont have any issues with it. They are just stones. Commemorateused to paid in fullied, for that. Were the only country on this entire planet that actually turned itself inside out and against itself in order to host do the right thing. Host im going to leave it there. Pamela what is joining us from baltimore. She is a politics reporter with. He Baltimore Sun explain what monuments are there in baltimore and that the arguments are for and against and what actions city officials have taken. Guest good morning. Just good in baltimore and central maryland we have had several monuments with confederate ties taken down over the course of the past week or so. In the city of baltimore there were four monuments that were taken down without notice in the middle of the night. Was to a former Supreme Court justice who authored the dred scott decision that upheld slavery. That was taken down. Theell as one that was confederate general robert e and Stonewall Jackson. There is a confederate Soldiers Memorial that was taken down and baltimore. A couple days later there was a justice taunting statue on the ground of the Maryland State House in annapolis that was removed. This week there was one in the suburb of ellicott city. Their courthouse had a confederate memorial to local soldiers that also was taken away in the middle of the night. Host lets talk about the former Supreme Court chief justice. The dred scott decision that he wrote in 1857 that gives and what heificance wrote was neither the class of persons who have been imported as slaves nor their descendents whether they were free or not who had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order and altogether unfit to associate with the white race either in social or political relations and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect and that the negro might justly the connection talk about the dred scott decision. It upheld slavery. It ruled that black americans have no human rights whatsoever. Compared slaves to merchandise. It is largely regarded as the worst Supreme Court opinion ever written. It is been controversial for years. There have been multiple attempts to remove his statue from the state house. It took on new significance after the events in charlottesville. There is a Public Safety concern that this statute could become a flashpoint as the statue in charlottesville did. Host what is next for the city and surrounding areas . Now a bunch ofe pedestals with no monuments on them. There has to be a discussion in the community of what comes next. Should there be something to replace these monuments. Also the matter of what to do with the ones that have been removed. Most of them are in storage right now. Howard county confederate memorial is going to go to a museum that has an exhibit called a divided county that talks about both sides of the civil war. That one has a home. The rest of them dont have homes. Theres empty pedestals. I think thats the next step to figure out. What should be honored in our Public Squares. The fate will decide of those statues and what they . Are replaced with . Guest thats going to be up to the government. In a necklace the statehouse there is a group that makes decisions on what happens inside the building on the grounds around it. Top officials and State Government will make that decision. They take it very seriously. Its the oldest statehouse still in legislative use in the country. It is somewhat of a living museum. Host pamela wood, Baltimore Sun political reporter. Guest thank you for having me. Host we are at the top of the hour on the washington journal. We will continue getting your thoughts about what should be done with these Confederate Monuments, getting reports from political reporters across the country where the debate is happening. Shouldthey remain or they be put in a museum or cemetery, taken down . In the situation in baltimore, many of them are in storage until the city can decide what to do next. Lets go to stand in billings, montana. Good morning. Caller good morning, greta. I was wondering, where you Public Schooled like i was . Host what is your point . Caller my point is this when we came out of Public School we thought that the north and south in the civil war was all about slavery and only about slavery. I contend that if it was about slavery and only about slavery, it would not have happened. Here is my point. Should we tear down Arlington National cemetery . That is the biggest monument we have got. Down, should not tear it but whose family owned arlington house . And the land that the cemetery is now on . The family lineage of robert e lee, they owned it. It was taken away from them. That is when they started to bury the dead there. My point is this. The civil war was fought over states rights, which slavery was only a part of the whole picture. When lincoln contacted general garibaldi, the italian general who led successfully put down two civil wars, garibaldi told him, you are going to lose because you do not have a moral victory. The south will defeat you. Moralnt i have the south victory . He said because states rights always, anything you got unless you talk about slavery. If you turn this into slavery, you will have the moral victors and your chances of winning will be much greater. So what it started out as is not what it ended up to be. Host can i get your opinion s great great grandson thecondemned Charlottesville Violence and told cnn eventually someone is going to have to make a decision. If that is the local lawmakers, so be it, but we have to be able to have that conversation without the hatred and violence and if they choose to take those statues down, fine. Maybe it is appropriate to have them in museums or put them in Historical Context in that regard. Caller again, do you want to tear down arlington . That is where you will eventually go. Host patricia and lords valley, pennsylvania. I think if we keep drawing the line between black and white we keep pointing out our differences. Thisis point in time after country elected a black man twice, two terms, we still cannot get over it. It seems instead of bringing us together it has divided us again. For baltimore to go in the middle of the night and take down statues is a scary thing, a very scary thing. It is reminiscent of lynching. , baltimore, to do is the statues you took down, i suggest may be brought to the new African American History Museum in washington, d. C. , to stand outside as a guard to protect that part of american is, but shameful as it to bring the attention of all of us that it is behind us. Host for those that believe the symbolism represents hate, what kind of message with that send to have them outside of the African American museum here in washington . Caller that hate is learned and hate, because it is learned can be unlearned. Those that shed their blood on both sides can stand together as they do in a foxhole in vietnam. It does not matter what color skin you have. The human species needs to survive for the sake of humanity, put it behind us and stand together to do it. In athens, alabama, what do you think . Caller them monuments should come down, the northern and the southern. In all reality, go way back to the constitution because it is all predicated on hatred and White Supremacy and the Confederate Monuments are no better or worse as the president said, then George Washington and the Founding Fathers who were espousing freedom and rights for rich, white male slave owners and property owners. Lack of people have never been a part of this country from the inception. Andmonuments of the south the monuments of the north, i do not draw a distinction between them. If you really want to be honest and truthful, it all needs to be torn down and go right back to the constitution, and rebuild the system of government that is truly equal and fair to everyone that is citizens of this country. Until you go back to the constitution and look in it and see we are not considered as human beings or people, what does it matter what uniform generals war in a fight to uphold slavery . Because the Founding Fathers owned slaves as well. People dont want to deal with it because it will eventually come around to some truth and reconciliation like germany had to do, take south africa had to do, like earlier callers, we are afraid to address that issue. It could wind up allowing black reple to be reppo rated arated. There is ways to pay back 400 years of slavery, but because no one wants to really deal with it , we still have these monuments that is an affront to black people, including the union once. Host kenny, piedmont, South Carolina. Share your thoughts with us. Heard thehavent terminology used yet. These people were criminals that were fighting for the south. Statues for criminals, something is wrong. Any other country in the world there would be no heritage. To keep blaming heritage is stupid. They should have dealt with them then and we would not be having this problem now. Host venus and holly, pennsylvania. Caller i have been listening for a good hour or so about the monument in South Carolina, monuments all of the world, and history and constitution and what people believe to be the constitution. Basicallytution is listed today as done by government. We were founded on a democratic ,onstitution as we the people and if people want to talk about slavery, where are the monuments for the trail of tears . Where are the monuments for the actual people, the indians that we took the United States from . As peoplehis country from everywhere across the world. Yes, the blacks were enslaved and i agree with the person who said on the history this was not about slavery. This was about the government and slaving all people blacks, whites, mexicans, who ever lived here, italians. I am classified as white. I did my history, that little dna test. I am a mixed race from every part of this world, including part black, part jewish, raised catholic, it does not matter. Unless we stand as a union, a , not government, because we are run by the government. That is who runs this place, the government. We have to come together as human beings, as all races. Host that is venus in pennsylvania. What should be done about Confederate Monuments . We will continue on the washington journal until the end of the program around 10 00 a. M. Eastern time, so continue calling in, give us your thoughts. What is the debate like where you live . News, this is a tweet from an Investigative Reporter for the New York Times interior Inspector General confirms it is investigating apparent failed effort to pressure senator murkowski to vote yes on obama care repeal. The secretary says he is responding to their letter and concerns about a phone call made and mikulski. You requested that the office of Inspector General for doi investigate this matter. That from eric lipton this morning. Newspapers,o in the every county but one has obama care options for 2018. Notionthe president s that the system is imploding. Customers in every u. S. County except for one will have at least one insurer on their webbased exchanges set up by the 2010 Affordable Care act. It is a stark turnaround from earlier this year when nearly seven dozen counties at some point face the prospect of having zero options next year, fueling President Trumps claimed the law was imploding and needed to be replaced. The New York Times says this on the situation in yemen a slow death. After two and a half years of war, little is functioning. Repeated bombings have crippled bridges, hospitals, and factories. Doctors and Civil Servants have gone unpaid for years. Malnutrition has made the country vulnerable to disease most of the world has confined to history books. Colorado has killed nearly 2000 people and infected morally nearly half a million, one of the largest outbreaks in the past 50 years. The front page of the New York Times. Republicans are taking their tax reform pitch to fortune 500 companies. The speaker of the house paul ryan in oregon yesterday talking to intel and the ways and Means Committee chairman is helping lead the push on taxes and talked up the efforts on wednesday at an at t town hall in dulles, have dallas, after speaking at a ups site in kentucky. Arguing cases in the knighted, immigrant says he was booted illegally. A federal judge will rule us in as next week whether to allow the first dreamer deported under the Trump Administration to return to the United States that Border Agents ousted him illegally. The judge indicated he would him to return to Southern California to testify in a trial that will determine whether he voluntarily left the country or was improperly expelled in february. That is a case to watch, from usa today. A story on senator Robert Menendez of new jersey, he has been denied reprieve from his corruption trial to cast senate votes in september when congress returns. His lawyers made three requests todelay the trial, agreed postpone the trial on days when a key vote would be taking place, or if the judge informed the jury he could not be in court because of washington. The judge dismissed all three requests. That would have added to its length. Should mr. Menendez be found guilty and removed from the senate, his replacement would be appointed by the sitting governor. If that happens before january 17, governor Chris Christie would most likely appoint a member of his party, tipping the senate one more vote in the republicans favor. Should extend beyond his tenure, the next governor, potentially philip murphy, a democrat who is leading in the polls would make the appointment. Jury selection ended on wednesday with a panel of six men and women that to decide whether mr. Menendez excepted rives as part of a scheme to trade political favors and influence for Luxury Vacations and campaign donations. Lets go to ed in winchester, virginia. What do you think about this debate . Caller i dont think we should remove the statues. Making this an issue now, we are giving the what we nazishe altright but the and kkk and people who just hate other people, we have given them something to hold onto. If you listen to what they were saying on their ticket george march friday night, they were torch marchki friday night, they were saying down with jews. These are nazis. I blame the governor of the state and the mayor of charlottesville. Host why . What could they have done . Caller you dont have an organization like that plan a rally. Torches. Carrying tiki they were not wound up with cloth and stuck in kerosene. Torchese carrying tiki and you do not just go into home depot on friday and by all of those and that fuel. This is a well organized thing. We know if there is going to be a rally like this there is going to be opposition. We should have had the national aard there, we shouldve had parade route laid out for these people to let them constitutionally gather and speak what is on their mind. We dont like it but we have to let them do it because we have a constitution that gives them the right. We should have separated the two groups with their caves and National Guard and that never would have happened. That young girl never would have happened have been killed if our governor doesnt matter if he is a democrat or republican had stopped this. He should have been ready for this. The march on friday night was not a planned march where they applied for a permit. They broke the law. They should have had their permit revoked friday and stopped before the march even started on saturday and all of that. Host carol, shepherdsville, kentucky, it is your turn to tell us what you think about these Confederate Monuments. Caller yes, hi. I really dont believe they should come down. I mean, where does this all stop . Our country was young. We went through forming this country and by the way, my background is part of all of it. The north and the south during the civil war, my family was on both sides. North and south. They both fought. I did not know any of them. I just know i came from them. Thiso argue about any of and have these hate groups and President Trump was right, on both sides there is hate, and i dont understand it because i dont hate anybody. Host history. Com says this about how the u. S. Got so many Confederate Monuments. While every statue in every town has a different origin, taken together the roughly 700 Confederate Monuments in the United States tell a national story. Many of these commemorations of those on the losing side of the civil war are a lot newer than one might think. According to the southern poverty law center, these monuments are spread over 31 states plus the district of the 11a, far exceeding Confederate States that seceded at the outset of the civil war. Most modern humans did not go up immediately after the end of the war. Confederate marketers markers tended to be markers of soldiers who died. Professor said eventually, they started to build Confederate Monuments. The vast majority were built in the 1890s and 1950s, which matches up with the era of jim crow segregation. The biggest bike was between 1900 and the 1920s. In contrast to the earlier memorials that mourned dead soldiers, these tended to glorify leaders of the confederacy like generally,efferson davis general lee Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson. The memorials were there to teach values to the person. The values these monuments stood for included a glorification of the cause of the civil war and white women were instrumental in raising funds to build these Confederate Monuments. United daughters of the confederacy in the 1890s was probably most important and influential group. Anthony in butler, pennsylvania. What do you think of the debate . Caller i was on facebook and it really sickens me that the monuments that they were tearing down, breaking them, demolishing them, i could see them taking them down and put them in museums but i also see them leaving them up because it is a part of our kids history of learning in school. Now, is so much involved and the United States has to get it together and wake up. We are going to fall apart and that is just what they want, for us to go against each other, fight against each other. These people, the hate groups are doing, they want to be over here because they want that allowedbut we are not to have it. It is about the money, the money talks. Host jerry in dalton, georgia, good morning. Aller good morning i am from the south, groep in the south and have been living in the south my whole life. They absolutely should go away. They are focal points to keep blacks and whites separated, and that needs to be dealt with. I think 50 to 100 years from now thank blackk americans for pushing to get rid of these monuments because they are focal points to keep a separated. It reminds me of what Lyndon Johnson i dont know if i have this quote correct a white man will give you his last dime to make himself feel better than a black person, and i think shat is what these old geezer in the south, they cannot get over it. This is an example of them giving that last dime to keep blacks and whites separate. Host what do you think about Stone Mountain in georgia . Caller i hope i can live long enough to see it come off of their. They defaced a natural monument and it should never have been done. I think they should it should be done away with. Host have you ever visited . Caller yes, i have, when i was a child i did. Host what about the tourist attraction . Many people go there. Caller it has other things, it has the lift and other things that would be an attraction. Host what would you replace it with . Caller i hope they can just stand and off. It will always be marred forever but i wish they could make it look natural again, is what i would like. I dont know what all these other monuments, what they should do with them. If they want to hold onto that and put them in museums. Destroying them would be fine with me, that putting them in museums if they have got to have that, when be fine. Host we are going to go now to atlanta, georgia, great bluestein is joining us, political reporter with the. Tlanta georgia constitution explain the significance and physical scale of Stone Mountain in georgia. Guest it is huge, the biggest monument to the confederate war in the nation. The carving is even bigger than Mount Rushmore. It took Something Like, decades to finish with a lot of starts and stops and was not formally finished until the 1970s. It is a state owned monument and that complicates things. The state of georgia owns it and operates it with an Entertainment Company that runs it as an attraction. They turn it into Snow Mountain in the winter so people can sled down another part of the site. It is one of georges top tourist sites but also this giant homage to the confederate war dead. Jefferson davis, general lee, and Stonewall Jackson, it measures three acres, towers 400 feet above the ground, measures 90 by 190 feet and is recessed 42 feet into the mountains. Guest every single time we have debates about confederate symbols, you cannot help but look at Stone Mountain. Georgia has the secondmost number of Confederate Monuments outside of virginia. Atlanta and savannah have most of them. Stone mountain is its own unique debate, and this year we have a democrat candidate for senator who is the former house and horny leader, calling for the removal of the carving. It has incited a debate House Minority leader, calling for the removal of the carving. Needs to be put in context and they need to have more articles about slavery and the true cause of the civil war. Republicans have all condemned stacy abrams call to remove these carvings. There are some petitions out. Inflamed early goings of the georgia race for governor. Host explain the history of this mountain and its ties to the ku klux klan. Guest it is where the kkk was reborn in the early 1900s. They would have cross burnings and rallies on top of the mountain. It was owned by a prominent segregationist in georgia with ties to the kkk movement. It has long been a very complicated, vexing issue in georgia. Recently over the last few decades, the area has become lots more africanamerican and elected its first black mayor a few decades ago. Now three or four residents living in the city of Stone Mountain are africanamerican. If you go to the site on an average day, you will see an unbelievably diverse crowd blacks, whites, asians, hispanics, people going picnicking and hiking. It is beautiful. You see a sort of cornucopia of folks out there enjoying the site, and most nights in the summer they have a laser show on the side of the mountain over the carving. They play whistling dixie, and it isgod bless america. A very bizarre scene that many of us who grew up in georgia grew up going to. Debate likes the right now for what will happen . Early georgia law, in the 2000, there was a compact, a to whense agreed georgia tried to take his rebel emblem off its state flag. Lawmakers also put in a statute that said essentially that all confederate memorials are protected under law in georgia. There was a specific provision rejecting and safeguarding Stone Mountain from changes so there has to be a change in state law in order to make any changes to Stone Mountain, or really any other civil war era monument around the state. There is debate about revisiting that. The governor and republican lawmakers and Many Democrats have little appetite for going and trying to sandblast or explode the carvings off Stone Mountain, but there is a broader debate that will unfold next year when the legislature comes back in session about revisiting the other part of the law and allowing local governments more control over their monument in their backyards. Right now, they are safeguarded by state law. Talk about the expense and undertaking of trying to sandblast Stone Mountain. Guest we have this long story about that the other day. Essentially, it could take years. It is not as easy as getting a giant sandblaster and blasting it off. It would likely take a lot of explosives, environmental studies, and time. It has been done before. There was an earlier version of a carving that one of the artists did not like so he exploded it off and restart it. It has been done before where limited use of explosives have removed the face from stone withain, but it this time that big of a carving it would take a lot of time, money, and effort. Bluestein, reporter with the atlanta journalconstitution. You can follow the debate over Stone Mountain. Thank you very much. Guest thank you for having me. Host lets go back to jerry and dalton, georgia. Did you learn anything . Can tell he wants to have it both ways, i think. It did take a lot of money to put it up there, but lets spend a lot of money to take it down. I think it will be worth it in the future for black and white of georgia. Host i read in one story today that the Stone Mountain cost 2 million at the time, to put up. Caller i would be willing to spend whatever it takes to get it off that natural monolith, which i think is the largest in the world. Host bill in chicago, good morning. What do you think of this discussion . What are your thoughts . Should these Confederate Monuments stay or go . Them inwe can recall museums, and to continue to celebrate them with building monuments to them, that is ridiculous. And i am not an chart child of a soldier. Put them in museums. It is all about history. Them, dont continue to celebrate atrocities that we committed. Host thomas, humboldt, texas, it is your turn. Ander i am down in houston let me tell you about racism, racism is a racket. He only people who make money if somebody on tv or selling the books. Now we about to have a hurricane and all the flags and guns will not save you. , you oughtstatutes to put up the world war ii ziserans who fought the na and if you want to see a monument, go see crazy horses monument. Host michael, st. Louis, missouri. Caller i just kind of wanted to speak a minute on lincoln. At the end of one of his final speeches he said that there should be charity to all and malice towards non nine, and no one cares about that none, and no one cares about that. Host mark in san diego, what are your thoughts . Are a capitalist country and unfortunately a bunch of capitalists have gotten their hands on this whole discussion. Because they have, we have been pitted one against the other. If you will want to see your nation truly survive and get back to what it should be, our forefathers, they set a goal for us. They said something for us to reach to, not something to dwell on in the past. Forever been and are thought man unless you folks can take your heads out of your po poes and vote third or fourth party. Are voting for somebody that belongs to the republican or democrat party, you are not voting for yourself. It does not matter how good the person is because they have to please the party. For gods sake, folks, take a deep breath, take a step back, quick being quit being victimized by our own propaganda and act like we are headed for a future. We should be kind and loving each other, and if you want to at up a monument, put up monument to mans ignorance and make it absolutely clear. Host what should be done about confederate arguments question monuments . Lori in pueblo, colorado. Caller i was a democrat but after that last call, i dont know. I may change my party. I think they never should have been put up to begin with. They are a sore reminder of what people went through and years from now, College Professors will be pointing to them and saying, look how foolish and students will be laughing and saying, i cant believe it in this country. Alabama. D, huntsville, what do you have to say . Caller i decided to call in on this because it wasnt about politics or anything. I am saving that for five months and giving trump a chance. People, just try to live our lives. Try to live and be the best we can be. The statues are there. If you want to monitor them and watch them, do it. If you dont, dont. There are more important things in life than the statues. In bowie, maryland. What are your thoughts on the debate . Caller basically, when i noticed is, being from virginia and going back to monument avenue i noticed that the statues, i thought they were created before the 1920s but i realize now they were created as part of an inspiration by the wilsonpresident woodrow who inspired the rise of the nation, torth of the pretty much inspire people in the south that the south will rise again. And basically that was the beginning of a lot of torturous times for africanamericans. That being said, we ought to move those statues to david dukes backyard or the Confederate Museum of richmond where they employ a lot of people. You do not have to destroy the statues, move them. They should not involve taxpayers funds or the state of virginia to take care of them, clean them, and maintain them. Host what do you think about renaming of schools . 109 political Public Schools confederate icons. Schools, nearly 25 have a student body that is primarily black while almost a 10th of the schools have a student body that is more than 90 black. Caller as the population has schools, andhose their parents and people in the school committees, to make a determination to change the names of those schools to support people who supported the freedom of the ancestors of those students. Basically, why should we celebrate robert e lee . Why should my child be in that classroom or go to a school where he or she is reminded of something negative in terms of the impact on his or her ancestors . That is not correct. They should have an opportunity to change the name to support their heritage. Host where the 700 statutes and monuments statues and monuments are located, more than 25 are in virginia and georgia alone. Texas, South Carolina, alabama, and mississippi take up 30 . Nearly 77 were built or dedicated before 1950 while 6 were built or read dedicated during the era of the Civil Rights Movement. 4 were built or dedicated after the year 2000. Anna from las vegas. Caller thank you for taking my call. My feeling with these infederate statues are that kind of agree with jerry and the last caller. , as taxpayers, have to provide the money for the statues and my question to you, politico was talking about the percentage. What about the percentage of the states that celebrate confederate holidays . Host give us a little bit more, anna. What are you referring to . Caller i lived in texas for a short time. The confederate holidays, they actually have a confederate day. Statues being removed and the confederate holiday, and the year that i lived in texas they also had marching around with the kkk. Ifonestly feel that somebodys parents or ancestors were raped, torn apart from their families, and slaved, beaten, and you walk by these, i dont think a lot of our Younger Generation are really into the history. Not that our history books are all correct at all, but the confederate, they were against the fact that black people should be free. Host our producer found on sink progress website, eight states have holidays celebrating the confederacy. Politico, from Jefferson Davis highway in san diego, california, nearly 500 roads, memorials, and bridges memorialize the confederacy. , lee county,exas North Carolina among others. Richard, elkland, new jersey. Caller how are you today . Host good morning. Caller listen, lets get back to the beginning. The british were the first ones to bring slaves here. Lets get back to the constitution, all men are created equal. These statues, they should just scrap them, build them down and get a little money back under scrap. They all should go and they never should have gone up. God bless america. Host robert is in fort worth, texas, watching us there. Caller good morning. Little like to show a perspective in this and im going to try to make a point. A question is, not to be a rhetorical question, if knocking down all of these statues and im not for all of these statues if knocking them down, will prejudice and hatred go away . 1974, myme to texas in father got a transfer. We were living in the houston area. I heard nothing but horrible things. I was from new jersey. I was this, that, a dam yankee. Person. Ike, i am a bad aen i get a job working in predominately black run hospital district in houston and i heard all kinds of things. I was called cracker, white guy, and other things. I am thinking, here i am getting it from both sides. Fast forward to now. Learned behavior. Well knocking down all of these things, will it work . Will it stop people from hating each other . What next, what a regal into knock down next . It goes around and around. Host what about the argument that having the statues that were, many of them in directed during the jim crow segregation, having them on state grounds or Public Squares of firms for for peopleffirms like white nationalists that having the statue there is an affirmation for them, and for africanamericans it is a reminder of slavery and that there was an effort by some in this country to keep them in bondage, what about that . Are you there . Caller i am here. Yes. Maybe this will answer your question. When i was a very young child, all of these wonderful statues were poured. I thought statues were put up for good people who do good things. ,eople who do bad things statues should not be erected for these people. , theymany in world war ii completely erased everything about the third reich. He third reich was terrible i was watching the shows on netflix about world war ii. The pattern of warfare that went on back then, it continues. Ands like there is a book people committing war are. Eading the same playbook it does not seem to stop. Downtake the statues because people were down who did those horrible things. Host more of your calls coming up, but first, President Trumps relationship with congress and those in his party, on tuesday at a rally in arizona the president said shut down the government if i do not get my funding for the wall. Trump congress conflict escalates, the wall may upend a difficult gop agenda. Threatss counter his over a shutdown and the democrats are saying there is no way they will agree to a funding of the wall. When the house and Senate Return next month, they have 12 legislative days they are in session to get a budget done before the new fiscal year starts october 1. Threatts blast trumps of shutdown for a wall, rum us to stand firm on no funding for a fence. President trump tweeted out i requested that mitch m. And paul ryan tithe a debt ceiling legislation into the popular v. A. Bill which just passed, for easy approval. Day did not do it so now we have a big deal with dems holding them up on the debt ceiling approval. Could have been so easy, now a mess. Another legislative item Congress Needs to deal with because the treasury is running out of money to pay our debts, so congress will need to act to lift that the four october. All of those debates to look october. O in in san diego, that to our conversation on confederate margate monuments, what is your take . Caller i think monuments were about history but i can understand if they really hurt people and i can understand people really being hurt by them. What really bothers me is why it is so easy to do things. We talk about stupid monuments. When i lived in detroit, i can hardly find a Small Business ran by black men. It was all people who barely speak english and i have nothing against pete immigrants but why are these Small Business loans not giving more money to white people and black people . They are from everywhere but america. I do not understand why more blacks are not given Small Business loans. Host tom in hardeeville, california South Carolina. Caller on these Confederate Monuments, i think we need to step back and look at them in the context of the civil war and the times that these individuals lived in. The United States was a far different country than it is today. If you study the history, people identified with their states first and the country second. The civil war changed all of that, where we now consider ourselves Americans First or south carolinians. I grew up in illinois. You consider yourself an american first. I think it is a great time to start looking into the history of the civil war, teaching at a lot more, and using the monuments, saying if we continue doing certain things this is going to be a possible result. It tore the country apart. You can use all these monuments to say, we cannot treat our citizens differently. Or colorjudge by race or creed or religion because this is what the result becomes ultimately. That, doorder to do you have to take these monuments out of the Public Square, away from the state capitals, and put them next to other statues in a museum or cemetery and give them context and equality and prominence with other people from that era . Having themink that in Public Places might not be the greatest thing, but it also puts them in the public eye and makes people think about it. If you have to go to a museum specifically to look at one of these things, what are your chances of doing that as opposed to, like here in savanna which is close to where i live, have a large Confederate Monument to the confederate war debt. It makes you think about it every time you walk by and say, you know, this might not have been the best cause. World, andged the these people were people of their time. , theyidnt think like us didnt act like us, and we cannot really understand based on our perspective, what their thought process and life was like. But we do know one thing, if we continue doing what we are doing we are going to tear ourselves apart. These are visual symbols of, if we continue doing it, this is what is going to happen or could happen. Host kevin in california, kevin, good morning. Caller good morning, greta. How are you . Host doing well. Caller throughout history, many other countries around the world had slavery so nothing is new necessarily about slavery. However, american slavery was particularly cruel for several reasons. Slaves were brought here with just from thousands of miles away with no chance of getting back to their families. Their children were turned into slaves and had no chance of freedom. These statues stand as a reminder for the black man and woman today, americans, that this is what happened to their family in the past and there is no reason at all that you can tell me that there should be something in the public where our brothers and sisters walk by and remind them of the way their families were treated. Host eric, self employed, new jersey. What new jersey. What do you think about Confederate Monuments . Caller you cant fight racism. It is a terrible thing and i feel for those people, but you have to think like, these were american boys. These are statues of american boys, soldiers. They had extreme courage to do what they did and fight for their rights, their state rights. They believed their government was committing tyranny and that shaved a lot of our policies as a country today. We dont stand for a government that commits tyranny or tries to break the constitution, so i just think that tearing them down is on american un american. You are tearing down a Veterans Monument and i think it is wrong. Politicale noted, reports that of the 700 Confederate Monuments in this country, most of them reside in virginia, georgia, and other southern states. There is one Confederate Monument in the state of massachusetts. Joining us on the phone as a reporter with the boston globe. History of give us a this Confederate Monument in boston. It wasessentially, erected in 1963 during the civil by thetennial, put up united daughters of the confederacy but a branch in boston that is now defunct. It is behind a Visitor Center on an island in bostons harbor outside the National Historic monument called fort warren where thousands of confederate soldiers were imprisoned. The monument only remembers 13 soldiers that died and it has a confederate feel, has their wars, and calls civil between the states. It has been there since 1963 and has not been noticed by a lot of people. It is kind of subtle. Host can you see it today . It is there but as of june 13 it has been boarded up because of the governor, Charlie Baker said we dont want a monument that does not stand for the liberty and equality of all people in massachusetts. The Mass Historical Commission and the department of conservation and recreation is trying to figure out what to do with it essentially. Host can massachusetts take it down . Can the government take it down . Guest they can take it down but apparently from what i understand when i wrote my story, this came after new orleans took down their Confederate Monuments, four of them. A letter was sent from the dcr to the Historical Commissions asking, how do we do this . They said submit a form and tell us what you are intending to do with it, your preferred method of removing it and where should we put it . They are looking at museums and there is a lot of discussion but now it is at a standstill. Host governor Charlie Baker, a republican, said this. He believes we should refrain from the display of symbols, especially in our public parks, that do not support liberty and equality for the people of massachusetts, quoted in the boston globe. What has it been like in massachusetts . Guest it has been very interesting. Andas been reported before people did not know we had a udc chapter here. When i reached out to udc they did not respond. Unlike monuments that were constructed after the civil war or the turnofthecentury or commissioned back then, this was only 1963 in the middle of the black power movement. The Civil Rights Movement was gaining strength. A lot of monuments that honor the confederacy came up at that time shortly after jim crow, so there is the sense that these monuments were put up to intimidate and to remember history in a false narrative. They asked the question to me, what do we want to remember . While others would say it is a part of history and maybe we should relocate it because it should not have a place of legitimacy in a National Historic landmark, but put it in a museum in proper context of what the confederacy took stood for. Host what is next in this debate . Guest i called them yesterday. I am following it and am hopeful that we will hear something within a few weeks. Necessary, the form is needed so the Historical Commission can review it and then it is relocation. Right now, nobody can see it in before when you could see it, most people did not notice it and there had not been requests to remove it. Host to follow what is next for this Confederate Monument in boston you can go to boston globe. Com or twitter at boston globe. We thank you for your time. Guest absolutely, thank you. Host back to our conversation with all of you, what do you think about the debate happening across cities in the United States . Should these Confederate Monuments stay or go . Larry and petersburg, illinois. Ian petersburg, illinois. In petersburg, illinois. Caller i hate to see all this divide and i find it hard to say that anybody in the United States would say slavery is right. A lot of people had family members die, fighting for the right cause. Maybe we ought to leave it to the local areas, decide what to do. Maybe one suggestion was if they leave them up, put a sign on wrong. Slavery is host don, sumter, South Carolina. What do you think . Caller good morning. Ironically, we just had a big Family Reunion here for the eclipse. We were right there. Up, was a topic of discussion within the family. What we decided was that demand from South Carolina who just ofently called, the context what he was talking about was right on. When you asked a Perfect Question following him, what should we do with it . My family came up with a decision that we should put up plaques with each and every up,ue or monument that is explaining exactly the circumstances. It is the history of our country. , and we shouldry use the statues to remind ourselves not to ever let this happen again. By putting the plaques up with each and every statue, explaining the circumstances sot might help to make it that we never repeat what we stood for in the past. Host was that debate with your family heated . Caller yeah. My family will always be heated. Everyone decided, by consensus, that was a pretty solid solution. It respected the history of the nation and culture of the people, but it explained specifically how wrong it was and how we should never let it happen again. Host don in South Carolina. Jeff is in kenmore, washington, watching as their. Caller good morning. An addict arnold has a statue of his boots. Benedict arnold has a statue of his boots. Maybe we ought to symbolize what these guys used to make their mark in history. It should not be anything positive from where i stand. It is pretty offensive obviously. To a bunch of people. I will say black people from the south understand how offended some of these people are looking at some of the statues. Host we have reached the 9 00 hour on the east coast. We are going to continue on with all of your thoughts, your phone calls, your tweets. Happening in your communities across the country and a lot of down the cities up and east coast and across the country, as well. Removed . Ey be should they be put in a museum, plaques go up explaining the context of the statues, as some callers have as well. , continue dialing in with your phone calls, well get to more a minute. Want to share other news with you from the Washington Post afghanistan. Here is analysis done by them. More troops in afghanistan means billions more in war costs. President trump said the u. S. Ommitment to afghanistan was not a blank check, but his decision to send more troops to already lions towering war cost, which topped 1 trillion in afghanistan alone 16 years. T the government will be paying for more veteran health care another half century. Direct u. S. Spending on the war in afghanistan will rise to 840. 7 billion, if 2018president s fiscal year budget is approved, according to a military strategy expert at for strategic and international studies. That includes only the money in overseas Se Department contingency budget. The department of veterans doubled its staff to 2001 andmployees since tripled the budget to more than 185 billion a year. Addition to 212 billion authorize in direct pending to care for war veterans since 2001, when terrorist attacks on the world and pentagontowers triggered u. S. Military campaign necessary iraq and afghanistan. To learn more about where the president s budget request tands and his priorities, you can tune in to cspan this evening, well be giving you an verview of the president s budget request. Cabinet heads went up to capitol spring to out line for congress what the president would like to do, where he would spend the money and youll also learn where awmakers pushed back against his requests and what lawmakers do when they decide because lawmakers hold the purse strings, what the final numbers of the federal agencies. Watch that this evening, details. G for more james in philadelphia. Youre next for the conversation confederate about monuments. Good morning to you. Caller good morning, how are you . Doing well. Caller i think that the it should be up to the individual counties of where the monument is. Okay. Caller whether it should be taken down or left up. Vote to ally, i would take them down. I dont think they should be destroyed or dragged down and do y, file petition it the correct way, that way ts not splashed all over fox news, they are destroying monuments. Ry to do it the right way, respectfully, but this is a very hotbutton issue in mississippi people here because dont like being told what we can put up and what we cant, stupidly racist. Like i think they should all including our flag. We have the rebel flag in our which i dont agree with, either. Ost james, what do you think of this poll taken by the Economist Survey recently, do see statues of confederate heroes, robert e. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, a southern racism . Ore a symbol of 54 said southern pride. Hat do you think of the question, the response from those surveyed in this concept southern pride . Caller well, my stance would be depends on the statue. If it is a statue commemorating soldiers that lost their lives, then i could see where it is pride. Far as the generals, the people that actively said, i do part of the e a iited states anymore, um, no, dont think thats southern the south se they did not want to be a part of the United States, so that is unamerican. But, the people down south, i muchy dont think they had of a choice whether they wanted to or not. Generations of my family died fighting from the south. Care about any f the statues, but for some people its really okay. And i mean, i dont know, it depend on what county the statue is in. Host okay. We told you and callers have baltimore, in the middle of the night, the mayor ordered four statues down. His piece, written in the Christian Science monitor, says that in baltimore, city officials have talked about lee and Jackson Memorial to chancerville, depicting the e last meeting before lee won a 1863 ive victory in the battle of chancellorville and jackson was killed by friendly fire. Base of the baltimore as become a new memorial located on intersection of a workingclass neighborhood of houses. Johns Hopkins University mansions. Onlookers lit f candles and other tokens, a of l artist placed a figure defined and pregnant slave woman off s foot as if facing with the confederates. There has been gra feet and he well. Ism, as host john in hubbard, ohio, john, good morning. Caller hi, how are you doing today . Host doing well. Caller okay. S far as the statues, they should put them in a museum. People to go for back and look on. But everything is falling and doing Little Things and trying to change our all this. On with what Pay Attention to they are doing on top of what keeping us complaining on, you got to Pay Attention to doing. Heyre theyre changing everything. In front of our a bar you cant smoke in anymore. A restaurant e in anymore. Hat is on peoples private property. Theyre changing everything and if those are Little Things top, trying to do little changes and nobody is paying attention to it. Host okay, john. Terry in washington, d. C. Caller yes, good morning. Good morning. Caller yes, the comment i would know, make is that, you i doubt very seriously if, you statues of are hitler around anywhere near any people. Jewish to remind them, you know, well, had their side lost and he had a side and a and we honor everything that he stood for, so a ust dont think there is sensitivity, you know, when you really think about atrocities happened in the history and so i guess a solution would be, you want to leave the statues up, put right beside it, those people, different types of on the union side grants, for know, example, not grant some place but right itself, there with the lee. That way you can put the context where the context is officially, if you put a placard that has doubt seriously many people who are hardly readers really l take time to get to the end of the paragraph efore moving on to Something Else. That is something i want to say, f you wont honor hitler, and you know, it was just very easy to help others take their statues, i mean, to really take time and be honest about and be very comment. Ut, that is my host terry in washington, d. C. , lets go to jack watch nothing carolina. Orth jack, youre on the air. Caller good morning, greta. Morning. Od caller my comment is that the ogic that seems to be going about taking down the statues reminder of a very history. Od of our i wouldnt say logic be ark plied to the democratic party, party of slavery. Host uhhuh. Caller that is all i have to say. Host what do you think, jack, should be done . Caller i think they should get democratic party. Host okay. Laura, lansing, michigan. Laura . Caller i think you ought to take the statues and put them in place and make a museum out of them and let everybody know is, just like we have the museum for the holocaust, its a dark period of is ory, yes, but it definitely part of our history. Deny do otherwise is to that history. Host okay. Laura in lansing, michigan. Richard plaque, who is a member f the senate of virginia and a ormer u. S. Marine pilot and a tnam war veteran writes piece, arguing you need to understand the purpose of memorials. Erected monuments to those who fought in the war after the war, millions of those veterans were still living. The old courthouse was erected 1908, 43 years after the war ended. Their 60s ns were in by then and many have befriended old adversaries. Erected it was to care for him who shall born the battle his widow and orphan, statue is image of the men who fought war, writes the Virginia State senator. One can imagine, those who 1908, including veterans, widows and those for memorial tatue was a to longlast friends, it was not statement or any ore than the vietnam war memorial is a statement on that war. N the anniversary of the birth of Jefferson Davis, the Arlington Cemetery was unveiled crowd of arge northerners and southerns on 1914, president Woodrow Wilson addressed the crowd of wreaths on placed the grave of former foes, symbolizing reconciliation south. N north and the memorial central theme, hose who paid the price in blood form bonds of the benefit of america. We do them a disservice when we reverse those acts of love and mercy. Alton, illinois. George, what do you think . Caller yes, good morning, good morning. Morning. D caller i have what about a compromise, African Americans seeking reformation, lets monuments upeep the and go ahead and approve of slavery for descendants from slavery. Host okay, george with his necessary alton, illinois. John in washington, d. C. John, what do you think . Good morning. Wanted to say that i think we are now at a turning point where are working toward making this a more perfect union, which we should be doing. This conversation, although healing. Its a wound okay. The america, say for instance, to put the shoe on the other foot sometime. Ets say for instance, white americans that believe that these statues should stay in place, lets say for instance we erect a statue of the honorable or malcolm x and how outraged they would be that we did that. Its a symbol. Okay. They should have the right to their history and their past, to thinkthe way they want to because they are americans, we are all americans, but i think in an ld be placed appropriate place, a museum. If you want to go look at african like the american museum, i live here in d. C. , when i walk into that useum and see all of the horrors and things we had to go that is a a race, stark reminder, like the statues are. We need to put them in the proper place, in a museum, that way, if you want to check it out and read history and get the understanding, full understanding because that is a peoples minds, otherwise not know exactly what so i statues stood for, thank you for allowing me to speak. Cspan is dynamite place for to view and to vent and thank you for being in existence. Have a conversation across the country. Priscilla, california, youre next. Aller im a black woman, 71 years old, and i grew up in the south. I grew up in mississippi until i was 16. I learned a lot about our actually part of my history, Jefferson Davis is ancestors. E of my nd so, i dont see that a statue can actually hurt anyone and im just wondering why right many years later, you have two brothers in the same family, one fought with the south. And one with the i, myself, i have southern pride, although ive been out im 71, came out here at 16, but the south is my home and i dont condone what happened in lavery, but at the same time, youre also splitting families, mean, we were mixed up back then. Mixed with the whites, or whatever, and also, i want to know why is it that you an have people on the street flying isis flags or holding up we get upset yet when they see the Confederate Flag . War between the states, the south was very, very popular back then. They were making money. Was ad the north that fighting the south. Slaves there have been forever in this world. You go back to egypt. Slaves, they built the monuments in egypt. Are they going to tear those down . You know, i think people should about this and tearing them down is not going to change anything. People have to change. Host okay. A, west hills, california. Columbus, georgia, what is your take . Caller my take on the Confederate Flag, they should be in a d and placed cemetery. Here is why i say that is because the reason i say that is reminder of is hate, hatred. Not only is it reminder of hate, but most of the people that war, they to civil were against slavery. Slavery, now you want to place a statue up, why not place one of jesus. I dont know why we dont have one up of jesus. Ost george in jacksonville, florida, george, is this about history or hate . It is a ell, i think different thing to different people. I grew up in North Carolina, outh carolina, georgia, alabama. Most people i dealt with werent klan, as ap like the matter of fact, my great grand ather ran a newspaper and took the klan on 100 years ago. They shouldnt be involved. Of us should ask cities and counties to move the statues graveyards, as people are suggesting, but call them the elimination museums, bought north korea slaves, bangladesh has slaves, they allow slaves in the middle east. In 12 countries, i saw this upclose and personal. Real problem here is that the kids are not being educated properly. Alabama, at the high school. Monroeville was close by, we studied to kill a mockingbird, studied causes of slavery, economics. People are cheap if you enslave immoral people. These things need to be put in teach the kids and the adults the true nature of slavery, why it occurred, who started it in the modern era, lets say within the last 400 years. Can be done. Jacksonville has been talking about this for years. Okay. Allen in missouri, is that the name of your town . Correctly . Unce it caller yes, thanks for taking my call. Is over a vil war nd over and we need to get down to business at hand and the generations doesnt know the istory, especially younger blacks. He their own people did it to them. People and their traders came through and they sold some of the men for some of the needs for survival, you know, the women, babies have milk and survival of their tribes. Came to theem, they states and southern farmers that help, so they bought them. Over, he civil war was they were made americans. Host okay. Allen in missouri. Lets go to memphis, tennessee, skype is ryan and a local Government Politics reporter with the memphis appeal to talk about the happening in that city. At the forefront of it is a bust bedman forest and a park. E of him in the forest . Athan bedford guest a confederate general who as lived in memphis for a long time, so he after the war he really kind of helped reconstruction, along with Jefferson Davis, the president of the confederacy. Owned slave trading business in memphis, according well, first om, as grand wizard of the ku klux klan battle of fortpillow as troops massacred black soldiers surrender and ion after the civil war was a president. Railroad what is the history of the bust and the statue of him . Guest well, the bust is in nashville and im not familiar of that. The history the statue was actually nstalled around the turn of 19 1900, and has been since then, from them, always been a controversial subject in the civil rights era. That is when the Jefferson Davis monument was erected and always just a draw for criticism. But especially during civil is when the hat push started to bring it down. We didnt really see reaction local government until just recently in 2015, when the city to take it down, that was the first action. Host what is the debate like today . Is happening . Guest well, since 2015, the the has been trying to take monuments down, Jefferson Davis forrest and what happened is he state has a very strict Historic Preservation law that blocked the citys efforts to take it down. Now they are going through the process, governor announced just support for the citys application for a waiver to statues. He but still the tennessee voted Cal Commission has it down once, as several members of the board are sons of supporters veterans and members, so they denied it once, that was overturned on it will come back, but not sure what will happen next . Historical s the commission . Guest the Historical Commission is a governorappointed board reviews all monument changes, modifications,movements, anything like that across the state. Board was emboldened in 2016, just as confederate debate hit its stride ationally to say no to any movement of any historic figure monuments. War fore it was just for memorials, but when the Confederate Monument debate got historic figures were added to the list of the things Historic Commission controlled. Host what are Race Relations in in this debate like memphis, tennessee . F course, Martin Luther king assassinated in memphis in april of 1868. Memphis t like in today . Guest there has been a renewed come or the statues to down, especially with, as you mentioned, the 50th anniversary Martin Luther king, jr. s execution. The city is planning a big rollout. M. L. K. 50 there is a big push to then. It down before i think everyone in memphis, who elected official, in the on board with taking it down. City Council Voted unanimously to take it down. The mayor, Jim Strickland wants down. Ke it what is keeping it from coming own is the state, memphis is a democratic city, heavily democratic controlled. A red state and i think there is some tension people tween just what want from both sides of that issue. Could nd could the some who want the statue taken get a waiver from the commission . About there is a question wheth whether if they get a waiver, can take it they down, whatever. But if the commission does not the cities they are willing to appeal all the way up to the state Supreme Court. That is one option. He City Council Just recently said if they or pursuing e] selling the like parks that the statues are in to a third party who could then the monuments because state law doesnt apply to private land and sell the parts the city. So that is another option being considered, as well. In more debate to come memphis. Ryan poe, politics reporter with memphis commercial appeal, the update. Greekt thank you, greta. Host lets go back to the calls. Luis in chicago. Good morning to you. Caller good morning. You say, take them down or let them stay . Aller well, its a very, very sensitive question because its done too quickly. It should have been discussed people should have voted and had some kind of civil rather than being hateful about it. Its a part of our history and people in the south were monsters, they did help slaves get away from the situation. But greta, let me say Something Else, too. Host sure. Is, shouldur question we keep it, right . Host yes. Is, we should er put it in a War Memorial Museum United States civil war. Please let me say something. Host okay. If we are going to go to the south and try to get rid of slavery, what are we going to do in the north . Retired and i walk down the streets everyday in hicago, we dont have any museums, we dont have any have any e dont racial generals around in the parks. Harassed everyday, racially, by people from all world, and they are mocking me. Day. Mes a what are the democrats going to do in chicago to stop the racism . Would you please answer that . Think . Well, what do you caller they should pass a mocking law. Im a little nervous this morning here. Thats okay. Caller pass a mocking law that says it is illegal to walk down any country or any state in the United States they are person like a thief, hold their purse, hold going urse like they are to steal from you or do something to you that is nasty r something and put the person down because of facial features and hair because they have a this ent texture of hair, stuff should be addressed, not just the south. It is all over this country, not south. The the north is just as bad. You cant just put the southern and leave the northern people free of all this meanness they do everyday in the city. They should pass a mocking law unitedng anywhere in the states and make sure that people who practice this know it is not right. Okay, luis in chicago. Bruce in plant city, florida. Bruce. Caller yes. Host good morning, welcome to the conversation. Caller how are you . Host doing well. Caller i would like to say in we dont need any monuments. Rushmoreneed the mount monument. We dont need mat rein memorial we need problem solvers. All we do in this country is go like a bunch of iranhas, they go from one feeding to the next feeding. E need people in washington , at dont harass people democrat or republican, and im a democrat. We need people that can problems. Lve the we need people that are genuine. Need genuine people. Host okay. Caller in this country. Lacking that. We need a hero and heroes dont statues. Host lets go to pensacola, florida. Think, what do you sylvia . Caller i think they should leave it where it is, it is part history. You want to destroy it . That is what theyre trying to do. Take all the t, states down, the president s, the eople that fought in all the wars and all the stuff, the the country in this year from other countrys and putting stuff up, get rid of of it if you get rid of. That host what about the argument prominent from places where some feel folks are state ed, like the Capitol Grounds or Public Square . Have how many squares the other in it, too, i know, i live in florida. Host okay. Southside, west virginia, sharon is watching. Thanks for calling in sharon, take. Us your caller hi, thank you for taking my call. I think the statues should be memorial area, hand, lets her give these give some balance see. Hat people lets erect statues of slaves and put them next to the statues confederate generals. Slaves picking cotton. Slaves being hung. Slaves being beat, raped, that way people could really see what these were fighting for. And the way things are now, im such hatred toward americans, i didnt used to feel that way. I voted for barack obama in i was so proud to vote for him. Such hope and ive been a democrat all my life. 2012, i switched to the Republican Party and voted barack obama, not specifically because of anything but because i in my daily life in restaurants, work wherever i was at, all of a sudden, animosity from directed at me. Think that the racial divide in this country has gotten so never get over this. But at least back to the subject statues, lets put in context what those generals were fighting for. Host and sharon caller all for erecting statues of slaves next to the generals. Host did you vote for President Trump, then, the last time around . Did. Er yes, i and i am so against so many things hes done, but more than anything, i was voting against hillary. Im sorry, what was your question . No, that was my question. You were voting against Hillary Clinton . Vote against he ary, even though trump, has an alligator mouth, i dont he is racist. I think things have slipped out mouth, i think the only green, you know and basically thats my only omment, we should put in context what these generals were fighting for. See a picture of emmett hill and some slaves. Narrative, ifve you can ever do that, i would highly suggest that, it put in context, you can go it is a overnment website, go to and ead them and their views are word for word well, im nervous, so understand. Kay, we we have your point, sharon. Maine. In westbrook, caller yes, i just heard that lady and i tend to agree pretty most of what she said, i voted for obama the second time. Other to bring one perspective to this. N biblical times, the slaves built the pyramids. Ow those i think are standing simply because theyre a product was gineering that spectacular and there were slaves that put those up, so been destroyedve because of slavery putting those up . No, because theyre an ttraction, for one thing and because of the engineering for another thing. Statues, except for what they represent, can they be the bronze ones artistic value and maybe they be removed to a hall of statues, war statues or whatever. To point that out, the slaves put up the pyramids and is a feat of engineers, what would they do about that, you mean . Hat i host okay. Lets hear from ryan in thomasville, georgia. Ryan. Caller hi, how you doing . Host im well, ryan. This . Re your thoughts on caller my thoughts, maybe use wall that the president wants to put up, you top of them or something get rid of them as ymbol or whatever continue on with that, just continue on whatever, and need to understand, okay, god is the and continue on and have whatever out the there host okay. Sandy, youngstown, ohio. Sandy. Caller hi. Es, about the statues, i dont really care, im not from the south, so i dont really care if museum, i ut in a dont think they should be destroyed, but they did a poll 62 of americans want them o stay as a part of history, but theyre not going to stop. Left, okay. The majority of people that want removed and theyre not going to stop, they said they want washington removed and Abraham Lincoln and the names of schools and the names of streets and rushmore and then books will movies and that is going to be the constitution, is what theyre really aiming for is the constitution of the United States because going to say it was made owners and even though this is the freest country and better, a ake things lot of countries still have thats what theyre after. Constitution, keep that in mind, thank you. Host all right, sandy. Ray, pleasantview, tennessee, what are your thoughts . Caller yes. This monuments theyre on, is nothing, but a ploy from the liberal people. Si they have enough foothold fthey think they can push and take everything down, and anything conservative, now, donald trump the best speaker and sometimes he speaks off the cuff, but ill tell you what, he sees what theyre isil convalley and the liberals all over this country and out of this country, soros and all those people are funding this crap and america better wake up and smelling the roses because theyre going to try to just like that lady said, theyre after the onstitution, theyre after our history, theyre after our pride country. Ty in our American People better wake up and take charge. Thank you. Right, ray, lynn, sheldon, illinois. Lynn, what do you think . Thank you for taking my all and thank you for having this. Every caller who called in has had great ideas, i think it is a wonderful idea to erect statues ight beside the hero statues like u know, slaves and rederick douglas, who wrote narrative of the slave, good book, easy read. Know, i really think it is about hatred and Belief Systems families teach children. They teach their children to because they teach their children all black people are and not just black people. Our act of the matter is government is constantly practicing genocide on black people, poor hite people, all types of people, but particular, and using the black people to support their jobs. Prison and Justice System and their legal system, its crazy, they are putting people jail, keeping them there for years and years, they dont get they get a trial, locked up. The slavery is really still practicingere still racism against black peep and he will its being done by the government, the olice, the congress, the lawmakers, and the last caller s very right about silicon valley, they are rich people paying to make everybody fight can keep on ers trying to get rid of our country and get rid of everything. Know, this made america great. Host okay. Milford, new jersey. Caller hi, thanks for taking my call. Expensive liberal education fund, the war between he states of fought in determining whether the future of the country would be industrial or agricultural. Slavery was part of this. I was taught it was driven by he northern industrialists wanting to wage slavery. Down slavery would have been xpensive for the industrialists, they had to pay and basically paid nothing at immigrant or child laborer lost an arm or limb in their machines. Missed the le have point about how a lot of this came up. And if you go back and at cspans show with steve and reince priebus. Comment non made a which shook a lot of people, essentially in 2020, he wanted o get target for the Trump Administration was to win reelection with 20 to 40 of black vote, i believe 30 or 40 of the black vote. Brooklyn for 12 years 90 n area that was say black and, you know, if you look Administration Lot of as combating a the systemic problems. You look at patterson, according to the theen record has only 3 of people graduating that can get nto College Without taking remedial classes. In other words, they have a 97 bad. Re rate, which is very what that does is when you have a poor education, it makes you dependent and when you have crimeridden neighborhoods, it ends up leading people to despair and drugs. These are things that need to be removing statues, when i look at it, i look at them pulling down the bad. What that does is when you have statue of hews , it makes you hughes and think what is the difference, people doing stupid things. Host at the Political Action conference that took place in washington, cspan had coverage of that discussion, cugo to find more. To what caused the civil war . His on the website at civilwar. Org. While many debate the ultimate civil war, e winning author states it started because of uncompromising differences slave states to prohibit slavery in territories that had not yet become states. Abraham lincoln won election in 1860 as first a platformpresident , pledging to keep slavery out of the territories, seven slave deep south seceded and formed Confederate States of america. Lincoln administration and most of the northern people to recognize legitimacy of susession, fearing it would democracy and create precedent that would frighten the United States into several squabbling. Here the mroodiest battleos your screen there. 600,000 died in that war, as well. You can find this information on war. Org. Baron, waldorf, maryland. Good morning. Caller good morning. I think the statue is not about statue, it is debate African Americans feel they are unequal. Eated we are not in a postracial people tenda lot of to believe and if these wounds ane healed, this wouldnt be issue. Host what should be done then, barron . Caller i think they honestly eed to have a bigger debate going on about why this is an issue, why people feel they are equally. Treated still americans are jailed at disproportionate systematic racism rather than blatant racism. I think that is why a lot of not being they are treated equally. You look at the numbers, they dont add up. People on a daytoday basis feel as though, i dont dislike i voted for barack obama. To a stem still appeals white person. Ost brian, houston, texas, what do you think . Caller i say when i look at this and people say, you want to culture, you want to tear down our heritage, i say, well, what is your heritage . Is it racism and treason . Say,i look to myself and i when i see things like what your callers are seeing, how they statues saying this is the show the people of raq that they are truly liberated it, truly free. Portraits t put up of their perpetrators, i guarantee there are no pictures o. J. In Nicole Browns house. Like woco ou people statues oing to erect of david koresh, when you been victimized by somebody, you them and put e them up and revere them like that. What you do, put it in a book, a History Museum, but you dont put them up in statues that make as though they are heroes. If anybody says that this is the then i dare toe, ask them the question, why not or statue ofure of Osama Bin Laden to say it is for memory. Brians thought in houston, texas. Joining viaflorida, skype, steve contorno, staff times for the tampa bay to talk about the debate happen nothing that city over monument. Te explain this monument, what exactly is it . Role in the confederacy. Uest so its actually an interesting monument, different than the ones causing controversy in other parts of country. It doesnt have robert e. Lee or Stonewall Jackson on it, instead soldiers, one is bayonet on , with his shoulder, heading to battle, his econd facing south, head looking down, looking n. Ected and returning to war between is horrible structure that points toward the heavens, and it out 15feet tall as erected in 1911, at 50th anniversary of the start of the civil war. Florida, the area had a war, there wasthe a short, very short battle near he port area and there were people who fought in our area and union nfederacy soldiers, as well. It was a not a large because florida was still, you know, vast swamp land mostly port nd cities, especially this part of the state. Connections s some to the Confederate Army and community, as well. The political process so far, the debate that to do n tampa over what with this monument . Guest its been an interesting started before the events in charlottesville, tied to what y happened in new orleans and it as been going on for several months. There was, it is interesting ynamic, you have tampa, a relatively progressive city, ntire council and mayor are democrats, the statue itself is on county property outside of an old courthouse and county 52 ission here is republican. So you have a little bit of friction between the council out of downtown, but in control of county commission that is more it ervative in nature, so has been interesting back and forth. They had a vote on whether to june, they decided not to move it and then revoted decided to r and move it and more recently, they had a vote to move it or whether we should pay for it and decided there had to be private funds in order to move it. They challenged people in the it unity who wanted to see moved. You have 30 days to raise the money or it cant be moved. The Community Responded by raising 140,000 plus in less than 24 hours. At this point, looks like it will be. Wrote, one editorial right decision here on tampa confederate monsxument it for dnt have taken months commissioners to make it. In the end, it fell to private elected leaders to be the moral voice in the community. Roud moment for the power of civil involvement, swift rebuke to the commissions indifference for shames sake, if nothing else, should strife to work with equal haste to peoples will. What will happen next, now that they challenged people to raise and they did so . Guest there has been so many necessary this saga, im hesitant to say anything definite at this point. Money was raised, the fundraisers announced they met decideds and the county to put a wooden barricade around he statue, it is now enclosed y wood and that seems to be that the final i dont think will reverse they course on that. They made a decision several move, it fit were to will move to a private Family Cemetery and nearby suburb where in the Family History and family tree fought Confederate Army. E was a prisoner of war, in a prison and had to walk back after the war, so this family is monuments ed of the nd their great grandfather in the monuments. Its going to be moved there sometime in the next couple months. Hillsborough county this, sioner crist said now the liberals should be happy it is moving. Conservatives should be happy taxpayers are not paying for it and confederate enthusiasts still be angry is moving, should be grateful it is going to be moved afely and erected properly at site where they could still go enjoy it. So guest yeah. Host go ahead. Seems like a nicely wrapped vote to an issue to an divided this community. Its a little bit cleaner than it has gone do and some people are angry it will be it d and some people think shouldnt be moved and should just be taken down and not kept record somewhere else. Ost steve contorno, staff writer with tampa bay times, thank you. Guest thank you. Host back to our calls with you. Bakersfield, california. Five minutes e left here to get your thoughts and others. What should you think . Confederate statue monuments go or stay . They you know, i think should go, unless, like your previous caller said, they erect statues of slaves. Y thinking is people always ay, it was so long ago, but if there is swastika around, they the Jewish Community and we want that same protection. T was apparent as a child growing up in atlanta, you would ee the kkk everywhere and it was so scary and the fear in the theirs eye trying to get children away from being harassed and sneered at by the was horrible. So i think those things should go away. Show the d, you know, pictures and show movies of horrors of slavery so people can what we have not gotten over and why. U know, we dont know our an cestors, we dont know our history, so lets start with a good conversation. Host okay. Caller for both sides. Angela, bakersfield, North Carolina. Trinity, North Carolina, sharon watching there. Sharon, welcome to the conversation, go ahead. Caller okay. Everybody is putting a bad slavery, but this is just from my childhood. S, we had, of course, ancestry, great grand father and grandfather owned slaves, in 1950s, we still had plaque people that lived on our had inheritedthey that land whenever they, they slaves. They were a part of our family. E had some, we would even go eat with them and they come to cant say that i my grandfather, great was bad to his slaves because they were in the 950s and the only reason they left is because their house burned to thed it ground and im assuming, i dont assumingback then, im they sold their property. That everybodynk was cruel to their slaves even though they were called slaves. Also sharon, just to clarify. You are not saying slavery was a good thing . But im saying that everybody puts a bad spin on it, everybody see that that had slaves was cruel and i grandparents, great grandparents were not bad to they wouldnt have given them property. Host harvey, illinois. Thank you d morning, for cspan. I want to say to the lady who even though hat they might have said that slaves treated okay on that land it doesnt ters, make slavery any better and so monuments, i the wish they would think that who thoset the people statues were put up there for, erectedthe statues were in the early 20th century and hey were put there to intimidate and to bring terror americans tofrican emind them of their place and that in itself is enough to make want to feel empathy for those of us who know what that those monuments represent. They are painful and they should maybe to a museum or Something Like that, they shouldnt be in the public that is what that those statues are up there to remind us. Judge an, if you go to history. Com, a story, a piece together on how the u. S. Got so many Confederate Monuments to your point, a every town has a different origin, taken together, the monuments in the United States tell a National Many of these commemorations of those on the losing side of the civil war, newer than one might think. According to southern law center, the monuments are spread over 31 states plus district of columbia, far exceeding 11 states that conceded the outseed war. He civil monument dids not go up after the wars end immediately, and history, they e started to build monuments, vast ajority between the 1890s and 1950s, which matches up exactly ith the era of jim crow segregation. The president tweeting out here morning, more about Mitch Mcconnell, the leader of the senate. The only problem i have with him is that after hearing repeal and replace for seven years, he that should never have happened. He president s relationship with Mitch Mcconnell brought the New York Times reporting on it esterday, the two have not spoken in a couple of weeks, according to New York Times, mcconnell,ader, mitch putting out a statement yesterday saying that he is in frequent contact with the on the t and theyre same legislative page. Well go to james, who is in to get in well try another phone call before we say goodbye, go ahead. Marcus, pensacola. You. S, good morning to caller good morning. Contrary to a lot of belief, the war was not caused by the ry, slavery was never issue. T was about southern cotton farmers sidestepping wall street nd that is what caused that war. Now these statues should never be taken down. Of our history. Dont find them offensive and they are going to take statues down, where do we go next . Down the street markers that have Martin Luther on them, this is a book tv recently visited capitol hill to ask members of congress what books they are reading this summer. , the first is the path about chinese philosophy, and in some history books, not just looking at the history of mankind, but also the future. Do you learnmation from reading sapiens of amadeus . I am still working through the books right now. Homodaeus is really the history of the future. It is our species again the dominant species on earth, but a look at the future and what it has in store for us, including the advances in technology. I am very involved in autonomous vehicles, as the senator from michigan, and this is the biggest technological change in auto since the car first came off the us and. Line. E off the assembly this book actually takes a look incredible advances in Machine Learning really mean for the human species, particularly as we start to integrate these technologies . In our own bodies, and terms of information processing, nano bots to deal with disease, enhancing our mental abilities. It is very thoughtprovoking. What caught your attention about the International Loss of the you are looking into . Philosophy you are looking into . I have a degree in philosophy. Abstract ideas that are important to our culture. But i am not that familiar with chinese philosophy. The author guarantees in his class that his class will change peoples lives if you Pay Attention to the words of chinese philosophers. It will change your life and your everyday living. I am looking forward to this as a guy who spent time studying western philosophy, to take a deeper dive into chinese philosophy. Announcer book tv wants to know what you are reading. Send us your Summer Reading list via twitter or instagram, or post it to our facebook page, facebook. Com bookto be. Facebook. Com booktv. Television for serious readers. This week on cspan, tonight at 8 00, with the budget as something for congress to handle, we will look at pending proposals for the federal budget. Friday, an interview with agricultural secretary sonny perdue. My political history was, i tell people what i was born in 1956 in georgia, they stamped democrat on your birth certificate. I made a political decision in 1998 to change parties, and became a republican at that point. Announcer followed by a conversation with jeff moss. There were no jobs in information in Information Security for any of us. This is really a hobby. As theinternet internet grew and there were jobs, all of a sudden, hackers started getting jobs doing security. Announcer watch on cspan and cspan. Org. And listen using the free cspan radio app. Announcer this weekend on book tv, saturday at 8 30 p. M. Eastern, Richard Dawson on his soul. Cience in the science definitely can help you enormously in thinking clearly about what to do in regards to what is right or wrong. You can identify logical inconsistencies in your position. Announcer sunday at 2 30 p. M. Eastern, Kate Lineberry recalls the life of robert smalls, a went on toe who serve five terms in congress. I was particularly fascinated by the idea i had never heard of him, because i had done, through my work at National Geographic and the smithsonian, had read a lot of stories about the civil war, and i was amazed to find he was not a very known figure. Announcer at 9 00 p. M. On after words, George Malone describes the papers role in shaping america. The journal supported the federal exchange act, again with the idea that this would stabilize money at that point. Local banks could issue money against gold that they supposedly had in their v ault. They created a national currency, the journal supported that, but in the 1920s, they began to have second thoughts. Announcer for more of this weekend schedule, go to booktv. Org. Announcer