CNN Contributor: Statues of Washington, Jefferson Should Be Taken Down

CNN contributor Angela Rye on Thursday said statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson should be taken down.

"American history is not all glorious... George Washington was a slave owner,” Rye said during a discussion on Race in America Thursday on CNN.

“We need to call slave owners out for what they are. Whether we think they were protecting American freedom or not, he wasn't protecting my freedoms. To me, I don't care if it's a George Washington statue or Thomas Jefferson, they all need to come down," she concluded.

President Donald Trump in 2017 said U.S. culture was being ripped apart by Confederate memorial removals.

“Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments,” he wrote in a series of three tweets at the time. “You can’t change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson - who’s next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish! Also the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!”

Rye is a political strategist and advocate who also describes herself as an “empowermenteur.”

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