Y’all Politics
Remove statues of George Washington? Hyde-Smith says No. Espy has no comment.
By Frank Corder
Protesters and rioters around the nation have turned their attention to America’s Founding Fathers, targeting the nation’s first President, George Washington.
Their reasoning? He owned slaves.
U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, told CNN “we should listen to everybody” when asked about the calls to extend the push to remove Confederate statues to our forefathers.
Mississippi Democrats shared the interview in a tweet, highlighting Sen. Duckworth’s comment about President Donald Trump spending his time on “dead traitors” instead of Russia and Coronavirus in his Mount Rushmore speech on July 3rd.
Democrat Presidential candidate Joe Biden has reportedly considered Sen. Duckworth as his running mate.
Biden commented on the push to remove statues and monuments to America’s founders in an interview last week.
“The idea of comparing whether or not George Washington owned slaves or Thomas Jefferson owned slaves and somebody who was in rebellion, committing treason, and running trying to take down the Union to keep slavery – I think there is a distinction there,” the former Vice President said.
President Trump said Friday in the shadow of Mount Rushmore, “No movement that seeks to dismantle these treasured American legacies can possibly have a love of America at its heart.”
Y’all Politics sought comment from Mississippi’s U.S. Senate candidates on the ballot in 2020 on the topic of removing such markers honoring the nation’s founders.
U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith’s office responded by saying Mississippi’s junior senator did not support removing the statues.
“Senator Hyde-Smith does not support efforts to remove the likenesses or monuments commemorating our nation’s Founding Fathers,” Hyde-Smith’s office told Y’all Politics. “She trusts that rational minds will prevail as the American people continue to learn from and assess our country’s history, and those who established a nation that allows for the peaceful expression of diverse opinions.”
Democrat nominee Mike Espy did not respond to a request for comment regarding Washington.
In an Independence Day tweet, Espy shared a speech by Frederick Douglass where he said, “The blessings in which you, this day (July 4th), rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.”
Espy added in the tweet, “On #IndependenceDay, we celebrate freedom — and also acknowledge that our country has a long way to go to achieve true equality.”