WASHINGTON – On the eve of Independence Day, President Donald Trump used a speech before Mount Rushmore on Friday to condemn protesters across the country for attacking monuments while announcing he would sign an executive order to establish a "National Garden of American Heroes."
"Our Nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children," Trump told a crowd of more than 7,000 people before the national monument in South Dakota.
"Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities."
Trump’s remarks came as federal statues across the country have been targeted for removal by protesters following the death of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis man who was killed when a white police officer pinned him to the ground with a knee to his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Statues of historical figures, including presidents Andrew Jackson, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt as well as Robert E. Lee and Christopher Columbus have been targeted in cities across the country.
The president said he would establish a “National Garden of American Heroes," which he described as a "vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans who ever lived.”
The order, released by the White House on Friday night, said the park will feature statues including several American presidents as well as historical figures including Susan B. Anthony, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Franklin, Billy Graham, Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman and others.
A task force under the Department of the Interior will determine the site of the park, according to the order. It is expected to be open to the public in time for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.
Late last month Trump signed an executive order for violators to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Veterans Memorial Preservation Act, which states that anyone who vandalizes or destroys a monument, memorial or statue can be sentenced to prison for up to 10 years. The order also puts state and local law enforcement agencies on notice that they could lose federal support if they fail to protect such monuments.
The president delivered his speech before some 7,500 people in the shadow of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, whose heads are etched into Mount Rushmore. Both Washington and Jefferson were slave-owners.
"This monument will never be desecrated, these heroes will never be defaced, their legacy will never be destroyed, their achievements will never be forgotten, and Mount Rushmore will stand forever as an eternal tribute to our forefathers and to our freedom," Trump said.
The event, billed as an official White House event, appeared to echo the president's campaign rhetoric, underscoring the social and racial divisions across the country.
"They think the American people are weak and soft and submissive," he said. "But no, the American people are strong and proud, and they will not allow our country and all of its values, history and culture to be taken from them."
Before Trump's arrival, police used pepper spray and arrested protesters for blocking a highway leading up to the monument. Protesters argue that the land in which the monument lies on - Black Hills - was seized from the Lakota Sioux by the U.S. government in the 1800s and Trump's administration opposes the interests of Native Americans and other minority groups.
Statue to be moved: Theodore Roosevelt statue to be removed from Natural History museum; Trump calls move 'ridiculous'
“Today has been a proud day to be Lakota," said Nick Tilsen of the NDN Collective. "We shut down Mount Rushmore. We put this place in lockdown for three hours and we did it in a good way. We got this power from our ancestors.”
The fireworks that followed Trump's speech are the first at Mount Rushmore in more than a decade after a ban was imposed over environmental concerns. Environmentalists are concerned the fireworks could set off wildfires in dry brush in nearby forests. However, local officials have said the risk is low.
Others have raised concerns over the potential spread of the coronavirus. Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said this week that social distancing wouldn't be enforced among the thousands expected to turn out.
Before the president took the stage, Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr. and a top campaign surrogate, tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday before the event, according to Sergio Gor, chief of staff to Trump Victory Finance committee.
Gor said that Guilfoyle was "doing well and will be retested to ensure the diagnosis is correct since she’s asymptomatic." He added that she would cancel upcoming events and Donald Trump Jr tested negative but would also self-isolate as a precaution.
Confederate statue : 'We hear your voices': Jacksonville takes down 122-year-old Confederate monument on historic day in Florida's largest city
Earlier this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned earlier this week that new coronavirus infections could increase to 100,000 a day if the nation doesn’t get its surge of cases under control.
Trump's Mount Rushmore speech kicks of a weekend of events honoring America's founding. The president is scheduled to view the annual fireworks show from the White House and deliver an address on Saturday.
Contributing: Makenzie Huber and Erin Bormett, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMihAFodHRwczovL3d3dy51c2F0b2RheS5jb20vc3RvcnkvbmV3cy9wb2xpdGljcy8yMDIwLzA3LzA0L2ZvdXJ0aC1qdWx5LXRydW1wLWNvbmRlbW5zLXJlbW92YWwtc3RhdHVlcy1tb3VudC1ydXNobW9yZS1zcGVlY2gvNTM3NDQ5NDAwMi_SASdodHRwczovL2FtcC51c2F0b2RheS5jb20vYW1wLzUzNzQ0OTQwMDI?oc=5
2020-07-04 04:18:45Z
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar