Gov. Matt Bevin told a radio station that serves northeastern Kentucky that he opposes the “sanitization of history” by removing Confederate symbols and monuments from government property.
"If we don't want to repeat the mistakes of our past, then we better teach it to our young people," Bevin told WVHU’s Tom Roten in an interview on Tuesday. “It better be known. It doesn't have to be celebrated, as in that this was something we did and we should do again."
Mayhem at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where three people died over the weekend, has prompted state and local government officials to take a fresh look at whether to remove Confederate monuments.
State Rep.Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, said he intends to file legislation for the 2018 legislative session that, if passed, would strike Confederate-related holidays from the list in the state’s statute. On the chopping block would be Robert E. Lee Day on Jan. 19, along with Confederate Memorial Day and Jefferson Davis Day, both of which are observed June 3.
Nemes said his bill will not include removing statues across the state, he said.
“Those are put there for historical understanding and context, and I support that,” Nemes said. “But putting things in a place of veneration is different, and I think a state holiday is a designation of something we want to venerate or celebrate. I don’t think Jefferson Davis Day comes close to meeting that threshold.”
Bevin told Roten, a well-known talk radio personality in the tri-state area where Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia join, that he absolutely opposes the removal of monuments that remind Americans of their history.
“Where do you draw the line?" he asked.
Later Tuesday, Bevin told reporters in Frankfort: "What I do think is appropriate is to call down any racism, any bigotry, to call it out for the heinous stance that it is, regardless of what corner it comes from. It doesn’t matter if it comes from a white supremacist; it doesn’t matter if it comes from an anarchist; it doesn’t matter if it comes from Black Lives Matter person; wherever hatred and bigotry comes from, it should be called out. It should be scorned and shut down. There should be no tolerance of it in society.”
When asked about the Jefferson Davis statue, Bevin said: "Hatred and bigotry has no place in Kentucky."
Lexington Mayor Jim Gray is pushing for the removal of two Confederate statues on display in his city.
Bevin said such actions could be "dangerous," that people shouldn’t be encouraged to "pretend it didn't happen."
Among the statues in Kentucky's Capitol rotunda are former President Abraham Lincoln, who signed the emancipation proclamation, and Davis, who was president of the Confederacy. The statue, with the inscription “patriot – hero – statesman” was moved into the Capitol in 1936. There have been multiple efforts in recent years to have it removed.
In 2015, Bevin joined other political leaders in supporting the removal of the Davis statue. The Historic Properties Advisory Commission opted to keep the statue in 2015, but to provide more historical context for it. That context still hasn’t been provided.
Officials in Louisville removed a Confederate monument near the University of Louisville and relocated it to Brandenburg, about 40 miles away.
Roten has a standing interview with Bevin on the second Tuesday of every month.
“He can be a lightning rod,” Roten said. “He doesn’t hold back.
Bevin told Roten that what happened in Charlottesville was "disgusting" and "heartbreaking.”
"Truth be told, I have no idea what brought them there or what their true ideology is," Bevin said. "It was an environment they were not discouraged from, mashing and clashing with one another. That's where the huge mistake was made. Much more effort should have been made to discourage that type of activity."
There has to be a better way of expression, he said.
"I think it's time for Americans to get past the foolishness of viewing differences verbally and doing what is being done physically and start to remember we are one nation, under God, indivisible."
(Photo taken July 24, 2017, and shows James Hendrickson, of Corbin, taking a "selfie" with the Jefferson Davis Statue following a rally in support of keeping the statue of Confederate president Jefferson Davis in the Capitol. Photo courtesy of Charles Bertram/Lexington Herald-Leader via AP and Kentucky Today)
