Ducey responds to calls to remove Confederate monuments
Ducey encouraged people interested in the issue of confederate monuments to participate in the process, because he wants the people to decide.
New Orleans Police separate two men after the two tussled, at the Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard monument in City Park in New Orleans, La. Tuesday, May 16, 2017. Workers in New Orleans took down a Confederate monument to Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard early Wednesday. (Matthew Hinton/The Advocate via AP)
(Matthew Hinton/The Advocate via AP)
PHOENIX — Gov. Doug Ducey is responding to requests to remove Arizona’s six Confederate monuments.
“I don’t think that one person should decide these issues,” Ducey told Mac & Gaydos on KTAR News 92.3 FM. “I’m not going to be going around tearing down monuments and memorials.
“There’s a citizen review process that we have to get a memorial built and there’s a citizens review process to have memorials removed.”
Ducey encouraged people who are interested in the issue one way or another to participate in that process.
Most of Arizona’s monuments are spread around the state in rural areas, with the exception of the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza marker near the State Capitol.
“Arizona, I want to always be a welcoming place,” Ducey said. “I think the history of this is something that of course happened.”
Arizona was briefly a Confederate territory and a Confederate force occupied Tucson for a few weeks during the Civil War. The state joined the union in 1912, according to the state historian.
“I don’t want to erase history,” Ducey said. “I think often times talking about what happened in the past and then putting it in context, and then talking about the decisions and sacrifices that were to improve our country to make it more of a place for equality for all of our citizens is important.
“And at the same time, I understand why there are strong feelings on both sides of this.”
Maricopa County NAACP President Ann Hart was one of the members of the group calling on the governor to remove the monuments, as part of a nationwide push.
“To many African-Americans, the Confederate flag is a symbol of racial terrorism,” Hart said.
“It represents the battle fought over the enslavement of black people [and] a symbol of resistance to the civil rights of African-Americans,” she said.
KTAR News’ Kathy Cline and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Comments
23 Comments
Everyone is so quick to get rid of the parts of history that was not so pleasant. The fact is, those parts are the reason why we are here today....Our children will now learn only parts of history and not the whole story. There is a reason for everything....
They will so regret it, just like giving participation trophies to all participants, you saw where that got you....
When you're a rebel and you win a war, you're a hero. When you're a rebel and you lose a war, you're a traitor. Americans rebelled against England and were traitors, until they won the revolution, then they became heroes. Removing monuments doesn't remove history, no matter how bad you want it to. Removing monuments, however, does remove the reminders that people fought for something in their time. There were black confederate soldiers, so you're removing their history too.
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The civil war wasn't all about slavery. The war was primarily about reserving the union and federal oversight of the nation. Lincoln only made it about slavery because he wanted to win the war so badly; in arrives the push for emancipation to save the day. There's plenty of evidence to suggest that slavery was coming to an end, even in the confederate states. It was already beginning to fall out of favor across the nation because that's the way progress works. Lots of books and websites to support the assertion.
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The school books will tell you just a little part but you have to really research to find that less than 1/3 of the confederate states had slaves and most who did have them only had a few and they worked side by side with them. Most of the union still thought of blacks as inferior. Also, black confederate soldiers were paid equal to white soldiers whereas union black soldiers were paid less than white union soldiers. Both the union and confederacy were reluctant to enlist black soldiers and only did so because they were short on white enlistees.
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My problem with this whole thing is the removal of historical reminders; the good and the bad. History is significant and how do people learn from history if all identifiers are removed. Many people today don't exactly look back on history as evident by the discussions in social media; even though it's right there at their finger tips.
Why not remove the naacp.