Sharpton: ‘Certainly’ the Jefferson Memorial ‘Ought to be Removed’

Charlie Rose and CBS News provided Al Sharpton with the opportunity to attack Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father and the third President of the United States.

Because Jefferson owned slaves on his Virginia plantation, Sharpton has singled him out for having a memorial that should no longer be funded by taxpayers.

The Jefferson Memorial on the Tidal Basin in Washington D.C. is one of the more prominent D.C. historical landmarks along with the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial nearby. It’s a majestic tribute to freedom and liberty that should be visited and treasured by all.

Because he is personally offended, Sharpton believes that the Memorial, one of the most visited tourist attractions in the nation’s capital, should no longer be supported and maintained with federal funds.

When you look at the fact that public monuments are supported by public funds you’re asking me to subsidize the insult of my family. I would repeat that the public should not be paying to uphold somebody who has had that kind of background.”

Someone with that “kind of background” is someone who authored the documents that provided the basis for the spread of individual freedom and liberty worldwide. It certainly gave abolitionists a strong argument to eliminate slavery. What a horrible background to have!

Of course, Sharpton couldn’t let the moment go by without reinforcing one of the great lies of our time: that Thomas Jefferson fathered children with one of his slaves.

The fact is that was never conclusively proven. It was a claim that originated with an opponent when Jefferson ran for the presidency.

Much has been made of the fact that 1998 DNA testing showed that descendants of Sally Hemings, the slave in question, had DNA characteristics of the Jefferson family, but not Thomas Jefferson specifically.

That hasn’t stopped left-wing revisionists from propagating the myth that Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings were lovers and had children together. Serious historians believe that the children were more likely fathered by Thomas Jefferson’s younger brother, Randolph, who was known to have sexual relations with slaves.

Continuing with his contrived outrage regarding Jefferson, which Sharpton hadn’t expressed until now, he kept coming back to how he’s personally insulted that Jefferson has a federal memorial.

I think that people need to understand when people that were enslaved and robbed of even the right to marry, and had forced sex with their slave masters, this is personal to us.”

Rose tried to broaden the discussion to include all people associated with slavery who have public monuments. Sharpton deflected to indicate those involved should be honored only in private museums.

Both Sharpton and Rose left the can of worms open, having focused on personal offense as a grounds for changing or removing monuments.

Would that include removing the statue for former Ku Klux Klan leader, West Virginia Senator and Democrat Majority Leader Robert Byrd from Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol? He certainly offended and still offends a number of Americans.

As President Trump has noted, where does this end? Should this trend continue, the federal government might have to establish a state religion, the Church of the Perpetually Offended.

Meanwhile, the Trump agenda of job growth, tax reform, national defense, tax cuts, infrastructure repair, border security, immigration reform and health care reform gets bogged down by irrelevant side issues fueled by a cynical, hostile media and left-wing extremists.

Source: The Daily Caller