You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Trump Backs Confederate Base Names as Monuments to Racism Continue to Fall 

HeadlineJul 02, 2020

In Massachusetts, the Boston Art Commission voted Tuesday to remove a copy of the “Emancipation Memorial” sculpture from public display. The statue portrays an enslaved man kneeling at the feet of Abraham Lincoln.

In San Antonio, Texas, officials removed a statue of Christopher Columbus Wednesday. A similar statue was removed from outside City Hall in Ohio’s capital city, Columbus, named after the 15th century Italian mercenary.

In Georgetown, Delaware, city officials have removed an eight-foot-high whipping post from outside the Sussex County Courthouse. Delaware was the last U.S. state to carry out public floggings — as recently as 1952 — with a highly disproportionate number of African Americans receiving the punishment.

Meanwhile, President Trump threatened this week to veto the National Defense Authorization Act if it includes a provision to rename Fort Bragg, Fort Lee and other military bases named after Confederate leaders. On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security said it has set up a task force aimed at protecting monuments, memorials, statues and federal facilities.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top