Sharpton: Confederate Statues Not 'History We Want to Salute'

Rev. Al Sharpton said Confederate monuments are not a part of American history that should be exalted or saluted.

During a Thursday appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sharpton told Joe Scarborough that public statues featuring Confederate soldiers are insulting to African Americans, who along with all taxpayers, are footing the bill for the upkeep of the public monuments.

“One of the things that is not mentioned enough is that these statues are in public places that are maintained by people employed by taxpayer dollars,” Sharpton said. “So [Trump] is, in effect, asking Black Americans, Brown Americans, and all Americans, to pay to help to extol people that literally fought to keep their forefathers enslaved.”

Confederate monuments across the nation have been removed in the wake of calls for racial justice. 

Sharpton said the Confederate monuments should be replaced with statues of people who “fought and defeated them, not the ones who were defeated.”

He then posed a question to World War II veterans in order to explain how many Blacks are feeling.

“How would a World War II veteran feel about paying taxes to have a statue of Mussolini or Hitler in their public square?” Sharpton asked. “That’s how many of us in Black America feel.”

• Filmmaker Ken Burns: 'Confederate Monuments Have to Go'
• Roosevelt, Grant Statues Fall Along With Confederates in National Purge