By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Thursday, August 17, 2017, US Senator Luther Strange (R) went on the Fox Business News channel to back up President Trump’s lamenting of the removal of Confederate statues in some areas of the country.
Sen. Strange said, “As a Republican from Alabama … I agree with the president — you can’t erase history,” Mr. Strange said on Fox Business Network. “We learn from history — that’s what it’s all about.”
Birmingham Mayor William Bell, just days before city elections, ordered city workers to cover up Birmingham’s historical Confederate Veterans Memorial in Linn Park.
Sen. Strange said, “We have a fabulous civil rights history here in Birmingham….There’s a monument that was put up in 1905 that’s being covered up by our city government. I think that’s unlawful, number one, but why would you try and erase history when you learn from it?”
Strange asked, “Where does that end? Do you start taking away books that people find offensive? [It’s] just a path that seems very dangerous to me in this country.”
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) has filed suit against Mayor Bell for violating the Alabama Memorials Preservation Act.
Southerners began building Confederate memorials almost as soon as the war ended and for 100 years following the War Between the States southern cities and Confederate veterans groups commissioned artists to build memorials to the Generals that led the South’s quest for independence and to the hundreds of thousands of men who fought and died for that cause.
According to a recent NPR/PBS News Hour poll by Maris 62 percent of Americans support allowing the statues to be left on their places of honor. Only 27 percent support the removal of Confederate statues, however groups in the minority community and on the far left of the political divide have become increasingly strident in their demands that these historical monuments be removed from our public spaces.
President Donald Trump said in three tweets, “Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. 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!”
The President has been criticized by both Republicans and Democrats over the last two weeks for his assertion that both sides were responsible for the violence that injured many and left one woman dead in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday, August 12. The city made the controversial decision to remove the statue of famed Confederate General Robert E. Lee. That sparked protests by historical preservationists, that were rapidly highjacked by far right groups, including Nazis. Far left radicals, including Antifa and Black Lives Matter counter protested and the two groups of radicals clashed, eventually leading to one woman being murdered.
Senator Strange is locked in a battle with former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore for the Senate seat formerly held by Jeff Sessions. Strange is perceived by some as being too moderate to represent the people of Alabama and is eager to defend his conservative credentials.
The Republican Special Primary election runoff will be on September 26.
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