‘YOU HAVE TO LEARN’
Donald Trump warns black protesters toppling statues not to erase slave era or ‘you’ll go back to it sometime’
DONALD Trump has warned black protesters who want to topple statues of slave owners and Confederate figures not to erase past history or risk "going back to it sometime".
After weeks of demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd, calls to remove statues of people linked to the Confederacy and slavery have been increasing.
9
9
But the US president urged protesters to think again, saying "we should learn from the history".
Trump told Fox News: "My message is that we have a great country, we have the greatest country on Earth.
"We have a heritage, we have a history and we should learn from the history, and if you don't understand your history, you will go back to it again.
"You will go right back to it. You have to learn.
HERITAGE
"Think of it, you take away that whole era and you're going to go back to it sometime. People won't know about it. They're going to forget about it. It's okay."
Across the country, local and state leaders have been listening to calls to reexamine their controversial statues.
In the past few weeks, locations such as Richmond in Virginia, Jacksonville in Florida and Indianapolis have removed Confederate statues and memorials from public spaces.
9
9
Historians and civil rights groups had previously said these statues had been put in place to emphasize white supremacy over black people during the 19th century.
At least 45 statues have been removed across the US, with more set to be removed in coming weeks, a map published by shows.
People have toppled and defaced Confederate statues in Virginia, Minnesota, Louisiana and Alabama during the protests following the death of George Floyd in police custody.
Some protesters have also taken down and defaced statues of figures linked to colonialism, slavery and racial violence and disparity in their cities.
A statue of Christopher Columbus in Richmond was torn down by protesters, set on fire and then submerged into a lake.
9
It was toppled less than two hours after protesters gathered in the city's Byrd Park chanting for it to be taken down.
But Trump said he thinks many protesters "don't even know what they are taking down".
He said: "I see what's happening on television, and they are ripping down things they have no idea what they are ripping down, but they started off with the Confederates and now go to Ulysses Grant so what is that all about?"
in Portland, Oregon, on June 19.
9
9
Photos and video on social media show the defaced figure pulled down in while surrounded by up to 40 people.
Trump said he had been upset about questioning of George Washington's legacy.
He said: "You have to understand history, and our culture, and so many other aspects. But you can't take down George Washington."
Trump said he was open to the idea of erecting new statues "to great people, people that have done something."
He added: "But you don't want to take away our heritage and history and the beauty, in many cases, the beauty, the artistic beauty."
Most read in news
It comes as Trump is reportedly preparing to assign US marshals to guard statues.
Federal troops were told to protect the contentious monuments during the protests stemming from George Floyd's death.
The plan to bring in the Marshals emerged on Wednesday last week, as lambasted "looters" toppling these statues.
A timeline of slavery in America
During the 17th century, European settlers in North America turned to enslaved Africans as a cheap and plentiful labor source. In the 17th and 18th centuries, slaves worked mainly on the tobacco, rice and indigo plantations of the southern coast. Most slaves lived on large plantations or small farms. Many masters owned fewer than 50 enslaved people.
Some historians have estimated that six to seven million people were imported from Africa to the New World as slaves during the 18th century alone.
1619
Many consider 1619 to be a significant starting point to slavery in America. It was then that the privateer The White Lion brought 20 African slaves ashore in the British colony of Jamestown, Virginia.
1641
Massachusetts became the first North American colony to recognize slavery as a legal institution.
1662
A Virginia law passed in 1662 stated that the status of the mother determined if a black child would be enslaved.
1688, February 18
Pennsylvania Quakers adopted the first formal anti-slavery resolution in American history.
1705
The Virginia Slave Code codified the status of slaves, further limited their freedom and defined some rights of slave owners.
1712, April
A slave revolt in New York City, during which nine white men died, led to increased restrictions on slaves.
1770
Crispus Attucks, a former slave, was shot and killed in what became known as the Boston Massacre during the American Revolution.
1775, April 14
The Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery was founded.
1775, December 30
General George Washington ordered recruiting officers to accept free blacks in the American Army.
1776, July 4
The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
1793, February 12
The Congress passed the first fugitive slave act, making it a crime to harbor an escaped slave or to interfere with the arrest of a slave.
1800, August 30
The first major slave rebellion was organized in Richmond, Virginia, and about 1,000 slaves were expected to take part. However, it had to be postponed due to a thunderstorm.
1808, January 1
Laws banning the African slave trade went into effect in the United States and in all British colonies.
1816, December 28
The American Colonization Society was founded to transport freeborn blacks and emancipated slaves to Africa. This led to the creation of a colony that became the Republic of Liberia in 1847.
1820, March 3
The Missouri Compromise was approved by Congress. Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slave state, Maine entered as a free state and slavery was prohibited in western territories north of Missouri's southern border.
1831, August 21-22
Nat Turner led the most brutal slave rebellion in United States history, attracting up to 75 slaves and killing 60 white people.
1839
A slave revolt aboard the Amistad resulted in the 1841 United States Supreme Court decision affirming that the schooner's African captives were free individuals with the right to resist "unlawful" slavery.
1850
The Compromise of 1850 brought California into the United States as a free state, banned public sale of slaves in the District of Columbia.
1852, March 20
The anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was published and, by year's end, 300,000 copies were sold in the United States.
1857
The United States Supreme Court ruled that blacks were not citizens of the United States and denied Congress the ability to prohibit slavery in any federal territory.
1860-1861
Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, southern states seceded and the United States Civil War began. The 1860 census showed the black population of the United States to be 4,441,830, of which 3,953,760 were enslaved and 488,070 free.
1863 January 1
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made it clear that a Union victory in the Civil War would mean the end of slavery in the United States. He made it official that “slaves within any State, or designated part of a State…in rebellion,…shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”
1865, December 6
The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, outlawing slavery.
Source: and
9
9
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368.
Topics