CNN's Don Lemon on Tuesday hinted that there will come a day when the United States will have to "rethink" tributes such as the Jefferson Memorial. After a contentious segment with Ben Jones, in which the former Congressman defended the Confederate flag, Legal View host Ashley Banfield brought up the author of the Declaration of Independence.
She reminded, "There is a monument of him in the capital city of the United States. No one ever asked for that to come down." At first, Lemon asserted that the comparison was not "equal" and that Jefferson "was a part of the entire United States." He then added, "There may come a day when we may want to rethink Jefferson, I don't if we should do that. But when we get to that point, I'll be happy to partake in that particular discussion."
A transcript of the June 23 segment:
12:30
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD: But he made a good point in the pre-interviews that we did with [Former Congressman and actor Ben Jones]. And that is this, Jefferson owned slaves. Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, third president of the United States. And there is a monument to him in the capital city of the United States. No one ever asked for that to come down. Is it equal?
DON LEMON: No, I don't think it's equal because Jefferson was a figure that -- who was part of the entire United States, not just the south. And that doesn't mean that Jefferson was perfect or anyone is perfect and our history is perfect. There may come a day when we may want to rethink Jefferson, I don't if we should do that. But when we get to that point, I'll be happy to partake in that particular discussion. But right now I don't think the two are equal. It's not just, you know, "well what about this and what about this and what about this." We're talking about nine people who are dead, who were slaughtered. We're talking people in the south who have been sick of that flag and living under the impression of that flag for generations.
