Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, condemned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., over her refusal to criticize those who tore down a statue of Christopher Columbus in Baltimore, the city where both her father and brother served as mayor in the mid-1900’s.
Pelosi, when asked Thursday about the tearing down of the statue on July 4, said that she supported the removal of statues of those who served the Confederacy and mentioned that she “doesn’t care much about statues.”
She added that the tearing down of the statue “doesn’t diminish my pride in my Italian-American heritage” and that “people will do what they do. I do think from a safety standpoint it would be a good idea to have it taken down if the community doesn’t want it. I don’t know that it has to be a commission, but it just could be a community view.”
“It’s disappointing that Speaker Pelosi has lost touch with the Baltimore community that her family served,” he said in a statement. “While efforts towards peaceful change are welcome, there is no place in Maryland for lawlessness, vandalism, and destruction of public property. Our state and our nation need room for more constructive dialogue, not destruction. We will not let mobs ‘do what they do.’ They do not represent Baltimore.”
The comments from Hogan on Thursday continued his theme of railing against those seeking to remove public displays, in this case the rioters who tore down the Columbus statue and threw it into the city’s inner harbor, an action he called “the antithesis of democracy.”
“While we welcome peaceful protests and constructive dialogue on whether and how to put certain monuments in context or move them to museums through a legal process, lawlessness, vandalism, and destruction of public property is completely unacceptable,” Hogan said on Sunday. “That is the antithesis of democracy and should be condemned by everyone, regardless of their politics.”
Pelosi, for her part, has been on the forefront of the movement to take down tributes to Confederates amid recent protests — which at times turned into riots — against police brutality and racial injustice.
“I think it’s very important that we take down any of the statues of people who committed treason against the United States of America,” Pelosi said Thursday.
She’s taken concrete steps in that direction herself, in honor of Juneteenth, taking down the portraits of former House speakers who served the Confederacy.
Members of Pelosi’s caucus have also inserted language into multiple spending bills that would remove tributes to the Confederacy. Those bills, however, almost certainly will not pass in their current form as Congress appears to be headed toward continuing resolutions — stopgap measures to keep the government funded that are often used during election years. It’s not clear whether the provisions could make their way into the continuing resolutions.
Baltimore Mayor Bernard Young said there would be consequences for those who tore down the Columbus statue, saying “if we identify them, they will be brought to justice,” according to the 360aproko,
And Hogan Thursday also tore into a Baltimore politician for his comments on another public tribute — this one for fallen police officers.
“I am disgusted by Baltimore City Councilman Ryan Dorsey’s vile remarks about removing the public memorial saluting Baltimore’s fallen police officers, which was funded and championed by their family members,” Hogan said. “Though recent weeks have prompted discussion about how we should remember controversial historical figures, there is nothing controversial about honoring heroes who have lost their lives protecting the rest of us.”
