Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he had a 鈥渧isceral reaction against鈥� the removal of the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that was once the focal point of the deadly 2017 鈥淯nite the Right鈥� rally in Charlottesville, Va.
Kennedy said with podcast host Tim Pool on Friday that he opposes 鈥渄estroying history鈥� when asked about the Charlottesville City Council鈥檚 decision in 2021 to remove the town鈥檚 statute of Lee and melt it down to create new public art. Kennedy, who went to law school at the University of Virginia, said he had a personal reaction to seeing the statue removed.
鈥淚 have a visceral reaction against the attacks on those statues,鈥� Kennedy said. 鈥淭here were heroes in the Confederacy who didn鈥檛 have slaves, and you know, I just have a visceral reaction against destroying history. I don鈥檛 like it.鈥�
鈥淚 think we should celebrate who we are,鈥� Kennedy added. 鈥淲e should celebrate the good qualities of everybody.鈥�
The 2017 decision to remove the statute of Lee from a park in Charlottesville sparked outrage, including from White nationalist sympathizers who gathered at the 鈥淯nite the Right鈥� protest that August and violently clashed with counter-protesters. Heather Heyer, a counter-protester, was killed when a man drove his car into a crowd.
Kennedy said he doesn鈥檛 鈥渢hink it鈥檚 a good, a healthy thing for any culture to erase its history,鈥� and suggested historical figures like Lee should be celebrated for their positive qualities even if they also took actions that are now 鈥渞egarded as immoral 鈥� or wrong.鈥�
鈥淲e need to be able to be sophisticated enough to live with, you know, our ancestors who didn鈥檛 agree with us on everything, and who did things that are now, you know, regarded as immoral, you know, or wrong,鈥� Kennedy said. 鈥淢aybe they had other qualities that we want to celebrate.鈥�
鈥淐learly, Robert E. Lee had extraordinary qualities of leadership,鈥� he added.
Kennedy also defended his past celebration of , a holiday celebrated on Columbus Day borne out of Native American advocacy to honour Indigenous peoples who inhabited the Americas. Pool, the podcast host, accused Kennedy of seeking to erase Christopher Columbus鈥� legacy by celebrating Indigenous Peoples鈥� Day, but Kennedy argued both holidays can be honoured alongside each other.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important for us to be part of a community where we can recognize all kinds of people. We can recognize Italian Americans to whom that is an important holiday, and at the same time, we can recognize the indigenous people who were, you know, made the ultimate sacrifice of one of the greatest genocides in the history,鈥� Kennedy said.
At a rally in Philadelphia in October, during which he formally announced his switch from running in the Democratic primary to running as an independent, Kennedy said it鈥檚 鈥渁 hopeful sign鈥� that the U.S. celebrates Indigenous Peoples鈥� Day. Prior to his remarks, Kennedy was introduced by Lewis GrassRope, a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a hopeful sign now for our country that we celebrate Indigenous Peoples鈥� Day,鈥� Kennedy said last October. 鈥淚t shows that our country is now ready to explore and to tell each other the untold histories of those dispossessed people who have previously languished on the margins.鈥�
