Jeh Johnson: Confederate Monuments Are ‘Rallying Points for White Nationalism,’ They Should Come Down

Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” President Barack Obama’s former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Confederate monuments were “rallying points for white nationalism, for Neo Nazis, for the KKK.”

Therefore, they should be removed for safety concerns he argued.

Johnson said, “President Trump said this week that Jefferson and Washington were slave owners, where does it stop? Where does it end? I think most Americans understand, most African-Americans understand that many of the founders of our nation were slave owners. But most of us are not advocating that we take them off the currency or drop Washington’s name from the nation’s capital. I have first cousins, cousins whose names are Washington. They’re not changing their names. They’re proud of their name.”

He continued,” What alarms so many of us from a security perspective is that so many of the statues, the confederate monuments are now modern-day becoming symbols and rallying points for white nationalism, for neo-Nazis, for the KKK. This is most alarming. We fought a world war against Nazism. The KKK rained terror on people for generations. People are alarmd. I salute those in cities and states taking down monuments for reasons of public safety and security. That’s not a matter of political correctness. It’s a matter of public safety and Homeland Security and doing what’s right.”

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