VA Gov McAuliffe: Confederate Monuments Are ‘Symbols of Hatred’ — ‘Let’s Take Them Down’

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) said in the wake of violence in Charlottesville, VA, Confederate monuments had become “symbols of hatred” and that should come down.

McAuliffe said, “When I gave that speech is when I had taken executive action and removed the Confederate flag from all the license plates in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It was a very controversial move when I did it because I said, listen, this is a divisive symbol that is on the license plate and as governor, I took executive action. Many individuals disagreed with my action at that time.”

“So this was the first step and now what we of soon after Charlottesville and around the country that those statues have very similar significance to what went on when I took the Confederate flag off our license plates,” he continued. “They are — monuments should be unifiers. They are now symbols of hatred, and I have said let’s take them down. I do not have the authority as governor. The local jurisdictions do and the general assembly. Let’s take them down and move forward.”

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