IT BEGINS: CNN Commentator Calls for Removal of George Washington Statues

A prominent CNN commentator turned heads on Thursday when she called for the removal of not only Confederate memorials, but any statues honoring Thomas Jefferson and George Washington as well; arguing they shouldn’t be celebrated because they owned slaves.

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Angela Rye made the startling comments while speaking on CNN, discussing the ongoing controversy surrounding the removal of Confederate war memorials throughout the United States.

“I think that we have to get to the heart of the problem here. And the heart of the problem is the way in which many of us were taught American history. American history is not all glorious,” said Rye. “I couldn’t disagree more about George Washington. George Washington was a slave-owner. And we need to call slave-owners out for what they are. Whether we think they were protecting American freedom or not, he wasn’t protecting my freedom.”

“My ancestors weren’t deemed human beings to him. So to me, I don’t care if it’s a George Washington statue or a Thomas Jefferson statue, or a Robert E. Lee statue, they all need to come down,” she added.

“I’m not going to allow us to say that it’s ok for a Robert E. Lee but not a George Washington. We need to call it what it is,” said the commentator. “And I’m not saying that they don’t deserve to be taught about. We definitely need to learn about it so that we don’t repeat it, because we’re very close to repeating it right now.”

“But I’m not giving any deference to George Washington or to Robert E. Lee,” she added.

Watch the CNN Commentator call for the removal of all Jefferson statues above.