Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has yet to voice objections to violent mobs pulling down the Christopher Columbus statue in Baltimore. When asked by a journalist whether statue removals should be “done by a commission or the city council,” Pelosi responded nonchalantly.
“People will do what they do,” she said as she shrugged.
Journalist referencing the removal of a Columbus statue in Baltimore: "Shouldn't that be done by a commission or the city council, not a mob in the middle of the night throwing it into a harbor?"
Pelosi: "People will do what they do." pic.twitter.com/0OVeaIw2y6
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 9, 2020
Baltimore is Pelosi’s hometown and where her father, Thomas Ludwig John D’Alesandro Jr., was mayor from 1947-1959.
While Pelosi expressed her belief that removal by a city council would be safer, she doesn’t believe a commission is necessary for the decision.
“I do think that from a safety standpoint it would be a good idea to have it taken down if the community doesn’t want it,” Pelosi said. “I don’t know that it has to be a commission, but it just could be a community view.”
Despite her indifference to the desecration and removal of some historical statues, Pelosi noted that other statues and monuments are of figures “who we respect.”
“When you look around, you see statues [of] people and Washington Monuments and the rest who we respect,” she said. “Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, you know. Heroes.”
Just last week, Democrat Sen. Tammy Duckworth referred to some of those same American heroes mentioned in President Trump’s Mount Rushmore speech as “dead traitors.”
“He spent all of his time talking about dead traitors,” Duckworth, a potential Biden vice president pick, told CNN in an interview.
According to Pelosi, historical figures who are considered to have “commited treason against the United States” are fair game for erasing. It’s not clear, however, exactly where and if she would draw the line between keeping a monument and not keeping one, besides currently prevailing public opinion or mob injustice. As Duckworth’s comments underscore, the mob considers figures such as George Washington to be traitors to humanity.
“What are the values, vision and the perspective that we enshrine and how that benefits our children rather than having a big fight about was somebody worth it,” Pelosi said. “We know they aren’t worth it if they committed treason against the United States.”
Just a few weeks ago, Pelosi expressed her indifference about the desecration of statues of St. Junipero Serra in California, despite her Catholic faith, saying in reference to the pioneering saint who served Native Americans, “I think we should all review the statues and make decisions.”
