Conservative leader Matt Schlapp condemns removal of Confederate monuments, warns 'Statues of Jesus are next'
Hordes of Black Lives Matter protesters have defaced and torn down a number of monuments honoring Confederate leaders located in Virginia, North Carolina, California, Oregon, and Alabama. Commenting on the incidents, Matt Schlapp, Chairman of the American Conservative Union, warned that the spate of Confederate monuments being taken down meant that "statues of Jesus are next."
"Statues of Jesus are next. It won't end. Pray for the USA," Schlapp tweeted.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Saturday officially ordered the removal of all Confederate monuments on Capitol grounds after a series of protests across the United States.
"Monuments to white supremacy don't belong in places of allegiance and it's past time that these painful memorials be moved in a legal, safe way," Cooper said in an official statement. "I am concerned about the dangerous efforts to pull down and carry off large, heavy statues and the strong potential for violent clashes at the site," he added.
Meanwhile, Birmingham, Alabama, Mayor Randall Woodfin has asked protesters to stop their attempts to demolish the century-old 52-foot-tall Confederate Sailors and Soldiers Monument in Linn Park for safety reasons -- reassuring them that he would finish the job himself.
"Allow me to finish the job for you," the mayor said to a crowd of protesters at the end of May. "I wanted you to hear it directly from me. But I need you to stand down."
City officials later removed the vandalized statue from the location, prompting the Alabama attorney general to bring legal action against Woodfin for dismantling said monument.
According to the report, the mayor's orders were in breach of the 2017 memorial preservation law, violators of which face a one-time $25,000 penalty.
Nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice were sparked last month after the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes despite repeated cries that he couldn't breathe.
As a result, a series of statues across the globe have been targeted by violent protesters in solidarity with the controversial Black Lives Matter movement. These include effigies of various historical figures who profited off the Atlantic slave trade.
Protesters in Richmond, Virginia took down a statue of Christopher Columbus, while demonstrations in Bristol, England saw an effigy of slave trader Edward Colston torn down.
Following the destruction of the Colston monument, British Prime Minister Boris John said that removing statues was equivalent to lying "about our history."
"We cannot now try to edit or censor our past. We cannot pretend to have a different history," he explained. "The statues in our cities and towns were put up by previous generations. They had different perspectives, different understandings of right and wrong. But those statues teach us about our past, with all its faults. To tear them down would be to lie about our history and impoverish the education of generations to come."
Over in New Zealand, authorities in the city of Hamilton took down a bronze figure of Captain John Hamilton before it could be vandalized by protesters. According to the report, Hamilton was a British naval captain who spearheaded a colonial regiment while fighting against the indigenous Māori people in the 1860s.
Following the incident, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of the Māori party, has called for an inquiry to identify and remove other monuments and names that "symbolize racism and oppression."
