Amid protests over the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, a national debate is underway about America’s history.
While there has been bipartisan support in recent years for removing Confederate imagery from government buildings, there is a growing sentiment that monuments dedicated to U.S. founding fathers who owned slaves are also tainted. Democratic Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a reported candidate for vice president, said Sunday that it was time to have a national conversation on possibly taking down statues of the nation’s first president George Washington. Duckworth also accused President Donald Trump of glorifying “dead traitors” during a recent speech at Mount Rushmore. (RELATED: Tucker Carlson Says Tammy Duckworth Is ‘A Fraud’)
“I think we should listen to everybody,” she told CNN. “I think we should listen to the argument there, but remember that the president at Mount Rushmore was standing on ground that was stolen from Native Americans who had actually been given that land during a treaty.”
However, Duckworth previously celebrated Mount Rushmore while running for Senate in 2015.
“All dressd up as historic figures.I just coverd myself in Stars&Stripes.Next year I’m going as Mt.Rushmore!” she tweeted at the time.
All dressd up as historic figures.I just coverd myself in Stars&Stripes.Next year I’m going as Mt.Rushmore! #Murica http://t.co/81LENocKij
— Tammy Duckworth (@TammyforIL) July 4, 2015
The Democratic Party’s Twitter account accused the president of “glorifying white supremacy” over his decision to give a speech at Mount Rushmore ahead of the fourth of July. (RELATED: Protesters Slash Tires, Block Roads At Mount Rushmore Ahead Of Trump’s Fourth Of July Event)
“Trump has disrespected Native communities time and again. He’s attempted to limit their voting rights and blocked critical pandemic relief,” they wrote in a now deleted tweet. “Now he’s holding a rally glorifying white supremacy at Mount Rushmore, a region once sacred to tribal communities.”
In 2016, while campaigning for president, Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders praised the “region once sacred to tribal communities” as the U.S. “at its very best.”
In 2016, CNN’s Jeff Zeleny called Mount Rushmore a “monument to four great American Presidents”
Bernie Sanders said “this is our country at its very best,” called it an “incredible achievement,” and said it “really does make one very proud to be an American.” pic.twitter.com/YQ7ozKKICs
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) July 3, 2020
Some members of the legacy media also appear to have turned against Mount Rushmore. CNN referred to Mount Rushmore as “majestic” when former President Barack Obama visited the monument in 2008, but referred to it as a “monument of two slave owners and on land wrestled away from Native Americans” ahead of Trump’s recent visit.
Fascinating how CNN called Mount Rushmore “majestic” and “quite a sight” in 2008 when Obama visited, but now its a symbol of slavery and stolen landhttps://t.co/3sV1ZEfW9L https://t.co/GTIH9tzOim pic.twitter.com/5Vu6uQp4XS
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) July 3, 2020
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the protests “dumb and disrespectful,” but later apologized.
Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, then the Democratic nominee for vice president, said nobody would kneel for the national anthem if they “really thought about issues and this country.” Kaine recently changed his tune, and falsely claimed that the U.S. “created” slavery.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Mount Rushmore for a photo-op during her 2008 presidential campaign and urged members of the press to learn about the historical monument.
Former Vice President Joe Biden gave an enthusiastic pro-America speech during the 2016 Democratic National Convention, saying that the U.S. is “second to none.” “We do not scare easily, we never bow, we never bend, we never break when confronted with crisis,” Biden said at the time. “We are America, second to none, and we own the finish line.”
Biden also wrote in 2017 that the U.S. should strive to spread its values throughout the world, writing that the nation is “rooted in the belief that every man, woman and child has equal rights to freedom and dignity.”
However, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has struck a more somber tone about the nation recently, saying on July 4th that America has “never lived up” to its ideals, and has promised to “transform” the nation if elected.
All of this comes as statues of U.S. founding fathers, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, have been vandalized by violent protesters throughout the country. While some pundits have described these protesters as part of a fringe movement, it is clear that their voices are growing louder, and have begun to have an impact on some of America’s most powerful leaders.