Monumental Change: The Fight To Take Down Confederate Symbols In the US

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4.5 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2020

⏱️ 18 minutes

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Summary

In recent weeks, there’s been a renewed push to remove symbols of the Confederacy: including flags, statues and the names of some military bases. Some protestors have been tearing statues down. And local officials are also making moves to remove them. We’ll break down why the debate around getting rid of these statues is really a debate about how we understand history- and the legacy of slavery in the US. Also: all 50 states have started reopening. But health experts are warning: COVID-19 is still here. And as cases spike, state and local governments are at odds. And finally, we ‘press pause’ with some sea turtle news. Here are some soothing sea turtles videos to kick off your weekend. On this episode, you’ll hear from: - LeAndrea Mack, Miss Juneteenth 2019 in Kansas City - Dr. Jalane Schmidt, associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia, co-founder of the Charlottesville, VA chapter of Black Lives Matter Let us know what questions you have about what’s going on in the news right now. Email us at audio@theskimm.com or call and leave us a voicemail at: 646-461-6370. You might hear your message on the show. If you want to add theSkimm to your daily routine, sign-up for our free newsletter the Daily Skimm. It’s everything you need to know to start your day, right in your inbox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Shutterfly.
0:06.2	Breaking news in Richmond, the Jefferson Davis monument was pulled down overnight by demonstrators.
0:11.9	Protesters, they spray painted and put signs on the base of the John C. Calhoun statue.
0:17.5	They took to a local park there in New Orleans and eventually ended up throwing a statue of a mid 19th century slave owner into the Mississippi River.
0:26.2	After weeks of continued protests against police brutality and racial bias in the US,
0:31.2	many protesters are now turning their attention to the symbols and statues that represent those deep-seated inequalities.
0:40.7	We're talking about statues of Confederate soldiers, Confederate flags, and even changing the names of active military bases today,
0:48.2	like Fort Hood in Texas, which was named after a Confederate general.
0:53.0	Efforts to change the names of those military bases and remove statues symbolizing that period in American history
1:00.5	have come from some of the highest areas in the government.
1:03.6	They commit treason against the United States and their statues.
1:06.9	I still have because their states put them here.
1:10.3	As well as from protesters and local leaders across the country.
1:13.8	So I am directing the Department of General Services to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee as soon as possible.
1:23.9	So why is taking down these symbols so important?
1:27.5	And what needs to happen next for the US to come to terms with its history?
1:32.0	That's coming up on this week's Schemes.
1:42.6	We should point out that there are a couple of ways in which America is re-acquaining itself with its history these days.
1:48.7	The first has to do with today's holiday, June 10th.
1:53.9	June 10th celebrates the end of slavery in the US.
1:57.8	It marks the occasion in which the Union Army Major General, Gordon Granger,
2:02.3	strode into Galveston, Texas to inform the city that not only had the Civil War ended,
	...

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