Maine Gov. Paul LePage: Removing Confederate monuments like taking down 9/11 memorial

Maine Gov. Paul LePage equated taking down Confederate monuments to removing the 9/11 memorial in New York City during a radio interview Wednesday. 

The Republican governor, known for his controversial statements, made his comments while defending the argument made by President Trump that both white supremacists and counter-protesters were equally responsible for last weekend’s violence in Charlottesville, Va. 

LePage said the counter-protesters were “equally as bad” as the KKK and white supremacists who marched in opposition to the removal of a monument to Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

Listen: Maine Gov. Paul LePage talks with radio hosts Ken Altshuler and Matt Gagnon on WGAN

“They’re trying to erase history,” he said. “How can future generations learn if we’re going to erase history? That’s disgusting.” 

LePage insisted those opposed to Confederate memorials should “study their history.”

“Listen, whether we like it or not, this is what our history is,” he said. “And to me, it’s just like going to New York City right now and taking down the monument of those who perished in 9/11. It will come to that.”  

One of the radio hosts pointed out that opponents of the Lee statue say it was erected long after the Civil War to “intimidate the African-Americans in the community.” 

“That’s today,” LePage responded. “Next week, George Washington’s gone.” 

Read more: 

America’s ‘Confederate infrastructure:’ Too big to hide, move or raze

President Trump defends Confederate monuments: ‘You can’t change history’

New protests, debate erupt over calls to remove Confederate monuments and symbols

Nancy Pelosi calls for removal of Confederate statues from Capitol

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From left, Ngoc Loan Tran, 24, Peter Gull Gilbert, 36, and Dante Emmanuel Strobino, 35, leave a courtroom in the Durham County Courthouse after their first court appearance after being arrested for the toppling of the Durham County confederate statue during a protest on Aug. 17, 2017, in Durham, NC. 
Casey Toth / The Herald-Sun via AP
Dante Emmanuel Strobino, left, chants with Jason Bowers, center, and Kate Bowers, before a protest outside the Durham County Jail where many lined up to “symbolically” turn themselves in for the toppling of the Durham County confederate statue during a protest, but officials at the jail, where the magistrate’s office is located, blocked their entry into the buildings on Aug. 17, 2017, in Durham, N.C. Protesters then supported Strobino, and three others, who then made their first court appearance for being arrested for the vandalism.  
Casey Toth, The Herald-Sun via AP
Activist Yuleiny Escobar quietly sits on Tuesday during a protest near the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the late former slave trader, Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan member, early Tuesday morning. Escobar and a small group of protestors were told by Memphis police officers to leave the park because it was closed. “All of our events have been nonviolent, peaceful events and it doesn’t matter if only five of us show up, they send twenty plus police officers,” said Hunter Demster of Coalition of Concerned Citizens.
Last October, the Tennessee Historical Commission denied Memphis City Council’s application to relocate Forrest’s statue. A protest held at Health Sciences Park on Saturday continued the call to have the statue removed. The city is preparing to sue Tennessee to remove Memphis’s two Confederate monuments: Forrest, in Health Sciences Park, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, that is located at Mississippi River Park in Downtown, according to City Attorney Bruce McMullen. This news comes a day after Mayor Jim Strickland condemned white supremacists for the violence in Charlottesville. 
Yalonda M. James, The Commercial Appeal

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