CNN analyst suggests tearing down all George Washington and Thomas Jefferson statues because they were slave owners as protesters deface more memorials and call for the 'Spokesman of the South' Henry Grady to be removed from Atlanta

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CNN commentator Angela Rye has called for all statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to be taken down because the men they enshrine were slave owners, she said Wednesday.

Rye's demands come during nationwide protests spurred by the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, during which Confederate monuments have drawn the ire of demonstrators with dozens defaced and demolished nationwide.

‘American history is not all glorious... George Washington was a slave owner. We need to call slave owners out for what they are,’ Rye declared on the network Thursday. ‘Whether we think they were protecting American freedom or not, he wasn't protecting my freedoms – my ancestors weren’t deemed human beings to him.

‘To me, I don't care if it's a George Washington statue or Thomas Jefferson, they all need to come down,’ Rye concluded.

The attorney’s comments came as part of a segment in which Daily Beast editor John Avlon argued that George Washington had spent his life trying to unite the nation.

‘I'm not going to allow us to say it's OK for Robert E. Lee and not a George Washington. We need to call it what it is,’ Rye continued. ‘I'm not giving any deference to George Washington or Robert E. Lee.’

CNN commentator Angela Rye has called for all statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to be taken down because the men they enshrine were slave owners, she said Wednesday

Rye's demands come during nationwide protests spurred by the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, during which Confederate monuments have drawn the ire of demonstrators with dozens defaced and demolished nationwide (pictured: The statues on the Confederate monument are covered in graffiti and beheaded after a protest in Portsmouth, Va)

Protesters gather at a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee defaced with paint from ongoing anti-racism protests

People stand around the fallen Christopher Columbus statue at the Minnesota state Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday, June 10

Minnesota State Troopers surrounded the statue of Christopher Columbus after it was toppled in front of the Minnesota State Capitol, Wednesday, June 10, 2020, in St. Paul, Minn. The statue was later towed away

The rapidly unfolding movement to pull down Confederate monuments around the US follows in the wake of George Floyd´s May 25 death, which has since extended to statues of slave traders, imperialists, conquerors and explorers around the world, including Christopher Columbus, Cecil Rhodes and Belgium´s King Leopold II.

Protests and, in some cases, acts of vandalism have taken place in such cities as Boston; New York; Paris; Brussels; and Oxford, England, in an intense re-examination of racial injustices over the centuries.

The Navy, the Marines and NASCAR have embraced bans on the display of the Confederate flag, and statues of rebel heroes across the South have been vandalized or taken down, either by protesters or local authorities.

On Wednesday night, protesters pulled down a century-old statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy. The 8-foot (2.4-meter) bronze figure had already been targeted for removal by city leaders, but the crowd took matters into its own hands. No immediate arrests were made.

It stood a few blocks away from a towering, 61-foot-high equestrian statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee, the most revered of all Confederate leaders. Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam last week ordered its removal, but a judge blocked such action for now.

The spokesman for the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, B. Frank Earnest, condemned the toppling of ‘public works of art’ and likened losing the Confederate statues to losing a family member.

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, who has proposed dismantling all Confederate statues in the city, asked protesters not to take matters into their own hands for their own safety. But he indicated the Davis statue is gone for good.

‘He never deserved to be up on that pedestal,’ Stoney said, calling Davis a ‘racist & traitor.’

Pictured: The decapitated stone head of Christopher Columbus after it was lopped off in Camden, New Jersey yesterday 

Pictured: Protesters bash the stone head of Christopher Columbus in Camden, New Jersey yesterday

Pictured: A man sits on the base of the statue as officials begin to tow away the Christopher Columbus statue in Camden, New Jersey yesterday

A man lifts the decapitated stone head of Christopher Columbus during protests against police brutality in Camden New Jersey, yesterday

Also Wednesday, 80 miles away, a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis was torn down along Richmond‘s famed Monument Avenue, above and below 

A police officer stands near the toppled statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, as a person takes images of the statue along Monument Drive, Wednesday night

The Davis statue came as the third to be brought down by protesters in the area after the Christopher Columbus statue in Byrd Park and a Confederate general statue in Monroe Park were also torn down

It stood a few blocks away from a towering, 61-foot-high equestrian statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee, the most revered of all Confederate leaders. Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam last week ordered its removal, but a judge blocked such action for now

A protester spray paints the face of the statue of Christopher Columbus as the small group of protesters walked through Bayside in Miami and defaced bronze statue of Columbus and Ponce de Leon on Wednesday, June 10, 2020

On Wednesday night, protesters pulled down a century-old statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy. The 8-foot (2.4-meter) bronze figure had already been targeted for removal by city leaders, but the crowd took matters into its own hands. No immediate arrests were made

The pedestal where a statue of Christopher Columbus stood is pictured on June 11, Richmond

Who Was Henry Grady?

Henry W. Grady was an American journalist and orator who helped reintegrate the states of the Confederacy into the Union after the American Civil War. 

Grady encouraged the industrialization of the South and also preached white supremacy, emphasizing that it was necessary for whites to remain in social control over the newly free blacks.

A former managing editor of the Atlanta Constitution, Grady has been heralded for his vision of the 'New South' while also condemned for aligning himself with and promoting Georgia leaders who were considered to be white supremacists.   

Henry Grady

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In Richmond’s Byrd Park, a police memorial statue was also vandalized, with protesters dousing a bronze figurine of a cop carrying a small child in red paint. Workers were later seen removing the statue from the park entirely where it will now be relocated to an undisclosed location.

Elsewhere, in the South, authorities in Alabama removed a massive obelisk in Birmingham and a bronze likeness of a Confederate naval officer in Mobile. In Virginia, a slave auction block was removed in Fredericksburg, and protesters in Portsmouth knocked the heads off the statues of four Confederates.

The monument is believed to be located where a slave whipping post once stood, and removing it is a small step in the right direction, Portsmouth activist and organizer Rocky Hines said.

‘It's not a history that we as a nation should necessarily be proud of. For us, the history is a lot of history of slavery and hatred,’ he said. ‘It's bothered people for a long time.’

Protesters in Atlanta Georgia have gathered outside on the Capitol lawn for the last six days calling for lawmakers to a monument to John B. Gordon, a Confederate general and a former Governor of Georgia, which was erected in 1907.

‘Gordon was a man who stood for racism and he stood for the Confederacy, and we no longer live in those times,’ one protestor told 11Alive.

Gordon was a general for the Confederate Army, a Democratic Senator, and the 53rd governor of Georgia, but some also believe he was also involved in the KKK.

On Monday, State Rep. Bob Trammell sent a letter to Gov. Brian Kemp requesting the statue's immediate removal, citing its ‘nexus to hate in our state is overwhelming’ and ‘its presence is both divisive and offensive.’

But a law Kemp signed last year would complicated such a process. Under that ordinance, if a monument is removed, it ‘must be relocated to a site of similar prominence, honor, visibility, and access within the same county or municipality.’

The law also states ‘they can’t be moved to a museum, cemetery, or mausoleum unless that’s where it was originally placed.’

Kemp’s office have said they’re looking into the matter but offered no further comment at this time.

In the meantime, protesters have scrawled ‘Tear it down’ and ‘Black Lives Matter’ across the base of the statue. 

Demonstrators have also previously defaced a statue of 'Spokesman of the South' Henry Grady, an American journalist and known white supremacist who helped reintegrate the states of the Confederacy into the Union after the American Civil War. 

Earlier this month the statue had been covered in graffiti, with 'KKK' written at the top of its stone plinth and 'kill all pigs' written at the bottom. Calls to remove the statue from the city entirely now are regathering momentum.

In Richmond’s Byrd Park, a police memorial statue was also vandalized, with protesters dousing a bronze figurine of a cop carrying a small child in red paint

Workers were later seen removing the statue from the park entirely where it will now be relocated to an undisclosed location

Protesters in Atlanta Georgia have gathered outside on the Capitol lawn for the last six days calling for lawmakers to a monument to John B. Gordon, a Confederate general and a former Governor of Georgia, which was erected in 1907

Protesters stand on a statue of Henry Grady during a protest against the death in Minneapolis police custody of African-American man George Floyd, in Atlanta, Georgia

A former managing editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Grady was also a known white supremacist

Earlier this month the statue had been covered in graffiti, with 'KKK' written at the top of its stone plinth and 'kill all pigs' written at the bottom

In Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it is time to remove statues of Confederate figures from the U.S. Capitol and take their names off military bases such as Fort Bragg, Fort Benning and Fort Hood.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday rejected the idea of renaming bases. But Republicans in the Senate, at risk of losing their majority in the November elections, aren´t with Trump on this. A GOP-led Senate panel on Thursday approved a plan to take Confederate names off military installations.

Supporters of Confederate monuments have argued that they are important reminders of history; opponents contend they glorify those who went to war against the U.S. to preserve slavery.

The Davis monument and many others across the South were erected decades after the Civil War during the Jim Crow era, when states imposed tough new segregation laws, and during the Lost Cause movement, in which historians and others sought to recast the South´s rebellion as a noble undertaking, fought to defend not slavery but states´ rights.

For protesters mobilized by Floyd´s death, the targets have ranged far beyond the Confederacy. Statues of Columbus have been toppled or vandalized in cities such as Miami; Richmond; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Boston, where one was decapitated. Protesters have accused the Italian explorer of genocide and exploitation of native peoples.

A Christopher Columbus statue situated in Houston, Texas’ Bell Park, was covered in red paint, with a sign reading: ‘Rip the head from your oppressor’ tapped to its torso.

A statue of Columbus was also toppled and burned in Richmond, Virginia, earlier this week. That figure also had a sign, this one reading, ‘Columbus represents genocide.’

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is Italian American, said he opposes removal of a statue of Columbus in Manhattan´s Columbus Circle.

‘I understand the feelings about Christopher Columbus and some of his acts, which nobody would support,’ he said. ‘But the statue has come to represent and signify appreciation for the Italian American contribution to New York. So for that reason I support it.’

Protests in Albany led to a statue honoring Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler – reportedly the largest owner of enslaved people in Albany during his time – removed from outside City Hall.

Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan signed an executive order Thursday afternoon, directing the statue to be removed and given to a museum or other local institution, where it can be displayed with ‘the appropriate historical context.’

‘It has become clear that now is the time to act and confront the unfortunate history of our nation,’ Sheehan added.

Police guarded Columbus Circle in New York City Thursday as statues viewed as symbols of oppression were torn down across the United States

Statues with racist connections have been targeted by protesters around the world speaking out against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd 's death

Governor Andrew Cuomo said he supports the statue of Christopher Columbus, saying come to represent and signify appreciation for the Italian American contribution to the state

A statue of Christopher Columbus is shown vandalized at Bayfront Park in Miami, Thursday, June 11, 2020. Miami police say that several people were arrested for vandalizing the statue

Demonstrators spray painted statues of Columbus and Ponce de León (above), another Spanish explorer who landed in Florida, in Bayfront Park with the letters 'George Floyd,' 'BLM' (Black Lives Matter), and a hammer and sickle, news outlets reported. De León was responsible for the widespread genocide of the Taino people in what is now Puerto Rico

The statue of Christopher Columbus is seen on the ground after it was pulled down by protesters, in Richmond, Virginia on June 9

Overnight in Boston on the North End's waterfront another statue of Christopher Columbus was beheaded

Graffiti is seen on a vandalized statue of Christopher Columbus at the Bayside Marketplace

There is 'zero tolerance for those who hide behind the peaceful protesters to incite riots, damage property, and hurt members of the public or our officers,' police added in a news release announcing the arrests in Miami

The pedestal where a statue of Christopher Columbus stands is seen vandalized at Bayfront Park in Miami

Seven people were arrested in Miami Wednesday after they vandalized statues of Christopher Columbus and Juan Ponce de León.

The arrests happened after a chaotic evening unfolded in the city where police were seen using excessive force with protesters.

Demonstrators spray painted statues of Columbus and Ponce de León, another Spanish explorer who landed in Florida, in Bayfront Park with the letters 'George Floyd,' 'BLM' (Black Lives Matter), and a hammer and sickle, news outlets reported.

De León was responsible for the widespread genocide of the Taino people in what is now Puerto Rico.

Also Wednesday, protesters wrecked a statue of Philadelphia abolitionist and philanthropist Matthias Baldwin, covering it in paint and writing the world ‘colonizer’ on the sculpture’s pedestal.

There was even an attempt to topple the statue of Baldwin, who fought against slavery, fought for black voting rights, and built schools for black children – paying out of his own pocket.

‘He hired blacks in his shops when that was not the norm,’ said Joe Walsh, a member of the Friends of Matthias Baldwin Park to National Review. ‘He was BLM [Black Lives Matter] before there was a slogan.’

‘The irony of vandalizing a monument to those who died to end slavery is lost on the morons who don’t know their history,’ he added.

Similarly, in Boston, activists defaced a monument to the 54th Union Army regiment, the first all-volunteer black regiment.

Protests in Albany led to a statue honoring Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler – reportedly the largest owner of enslaved people in Albany during his time – removed from outside City Hall

Historians have differing views of the campaign to remove controversial monuments.

‘How far is too far, in scrubbing away a history so that we won't remember it wrong - or, indeed, have occasion to remember it at all?’ asked Mark Summers, a University of Kentucky professor. ‘I´ve always felt that honor to the past shouldn't be done by having fewer monuments and memorials, but more.’

Scott Sandage, a historian at Carnegie Mellon University, noted that Americans have a long tradition of arguing over monuments and memorials. He recalled the bitter debate over the now-beloved Vietnam Veterans´ Memorial in Washington when the design was unveiled.

‘Removing a memorial doesn´t erase history. It makes new history,’ Sandage said. ‘And that´s always happening, no matter whether statues go up, come down, or not.’

Who was Christopher Columbus and why have people targeted his statue? 

Christopher Columbus, (1451 - 1506)

Christopher Columbus, (1451 - 1506) born in the Republic of Genoa (now Italy), was a 15th century navigator who began European incursions into the Americas. His practices would lead to centuries of indigenous genocide.

Like Aristotle and others, Columbus believed that the world was round. He theorized that the distance between Spain's Canary Islands and Japan was only around 2,300 miles (3,701 kilometers) and felt he could sail west to reach Asia for a new sought-out route for spices. It was really about 12,000 miles (19,321 kilometers). Columbus based his incorrect calculations on mystical texts, and ended up landing in the present-day Caribbean on Oct. 12, 1492. 

Columbus convinced Spain's Queen Isabella to fund his voyage by promising that the riches he'd collect would be used to finance a crusade to 'reclaim' Jerusalem for Christians. Instead, he found new foods, animals and indigenous people who, he wrote, were childlike and could be easily turned into slaves.

As indigenous populations revolted against brutal Spanish treatment, Columbus ordered a ruthless crackdown that included having dismembered bodies being paraded in public. Eventually, Columbus was arrested on mismanagement and brutality charges and died soon after.

Around 60 years after Columbus' arrival, the Taino indigenous population of the Caribbean had been reduced from an estimated 250,000 people to a few hundred because of slavery and death from new diseases.