Ingraham: Durham Protesters Who Toppled Statue Seek ‘Eradication of History’

LifeZette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham said protesters who tore down the statue of a Confederate soldier in Durham, North Carolina, Monday night don’t care “about racial healing or racial unity” but rather seek to “control the historical narrative,” during an appearance Tuesday on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”

The Durham protesters claimed they were retaliating after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that took place Saturday and left one woman dead and 20 other people injured. After tearing down the statue, the Durham protesters took pictures beside the toppled statue and received widespread acclaim from the Left and the mainstream media.

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“This is madness. This is not about what they claim it is,” Ingraham said. “This is not about any type of unity or getting past the racial divide. This is about controlling the historical narrative, which we see happening all over the world.”

She added: “We see it with the Taliban pulling down Christian historical sites. We’ve seen this in the old Soviet Union. We see this with the Stalinists. But in America we have a way of discussing issues and bringing out more viewpoints that I think really does lead to greater understanding and recognition. But you didn’t see that in Durham last night. You saw criminality.”

After Charlottesville, protesters across the country targeted Civil War statues and monuments depicting Confederate soldiers. Several cities and mayors also announced their intentions to expedite the processes for removing Confederate statues and monuments.

“Towns and localities — they can do what they want. I believe in federalism and local rule,” Ingraham said. “We have different ways to recognize history.”

But when protesters take it upon themselves to tear down a statue and celebrate it, that serves no productive purpose, she argued. Even North Carolina’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, criticized the protesters for how they handled their outrage.

“The racism and deadly violence in Charlottesville is unacceptable but there is a better way to remove these monuments,” Cooper tweeted Monday night.

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Ingraham said the country must push for “a national recognition that we ultimately have to come together to understand that all history is complicated.”

“It’s difficult at times, but it doesn’t mean you eradicate it and make it better. You actually have to continue to improve as a society,” she said. “And tearing things down, in my view, is not the way to build a new future.”

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“I think when you see people who have no idea, it seems, about the history of this country just roundly denouncing anyone who had any connection to the South, we’re in very precarious times,” Ingraham added. “What else will be subjected to their eradication and denunciation? This is not about racial healing. This is about the control of the narrative and the destruction of historical recognition. That is terrifying.”

Noting that Trump received criticism for failing to use the terms “white supremacist” and “neo-Nazi” in his initial denunciation of the Charlottesville violence, she said that his Monday statement in which he explicitly condemned those particular groups “was a good reset.”

” I think he needed to say what he said yesterday. And I think the conversation now should really be focused on how we’re going to treat history in the United States,” said Ingraham. “When you see bands of criminals — which is what they were yesterday — ripping down public property and being celebrated in the American media for doing so, we have a real problem on our hands.”

“This is not about racial healing or racial unity when you see property being destroyed. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about the eradication of history and an acknowledgment that we had really difficult, horrible moments in our country’s history that we were able to overcome,” she said. “It’s a game they’re playing, and it’s a cynical, sick and twisted game. I don’t know where it stops, and I don’t think it stops anywhere good.”