Lawmakers react to Charlottesville events, Trump statements

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., reacted Thursday to President Trump's tweets that the removal of Confederate statues around the country is foolish and would damage the nation's history and culture.

Burr and U.S. Rep. David Price, D-4th, were the only members of the state's delegation to Congress who talked about Trump's most recent statements about Confederate monuments.

Burr, some his fellow Republicans in the U.S. House and the state's three Democratic House members also have publicly discussed the Charlottesville events amid a renewed effort to remove Confederate statues from public property across the country.

In a series of tweets, Trump wrote partly that, "the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!" He also tweeted, "Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson — who's next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish!"

Burr told WXII Television in Greensboro that "I'm not sure that removing every historical marker in America heals the country. That doesn't heal the country."

On Wednesday, Burr termed Trump's statement that both sides of the protesters in Charlottesville share equal blame for the violence "misguided."

Members of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and pro-Confederate groups gathered in Charlottesville last Saturday to rally against that city's decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a downtown park. Counterprotesters gathered to oppose the white nationalists' rally, and some members on both sides fought.

Heather Heyer, 32, a counterprotester, was killed when a car plowed into counterprotesters after authorities broke up the white nationalist Unite the Right rally. James Alex Fields, 20, of Maumee, Ohio, and a Nazi sympathizer, has been charged with murder and other offenses in Heyer's death.

Some Republican senators and House members have criticized Trump for failing to initially identify the white nationalist groups by name on Saturday. The president identified those groups Monday, but said again on Tuesday that both sides share equal blame for the violence in Charlottesville.

In the wake of Saturday's events, elected leaders in many cities and towns across the country have said that Confederate statues should be removed from public property. Gov. Roy Cooper, D-N.C., joined that chorus Wednesday as he called for the removal of all Confederate monuments on public property in North Carolina.

In addition, U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, D-12th, has called for the removal of Confederate statues in North Carolina and in Washington, D.C.

Cooper also said that a state law that requires state officials to approve any action to remove those statues should be repealed.

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th, pointed to her Saturday tweet about the mayhem in Charlottesville in which she said that the violence and bigotry displayed there was an affront to American values.

"My position on the attack of our shared American values remains unchanged," Foxx said in a statement Thursday. "I am repulsed by the violence promulgated in Charlottesville by white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups.

"I offer my deepest condolences to the family of Heather Heyer, and I will continue to pray for all of those affected by the tragedy in Charlottesville," Foxx said.

U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, R-6th, criticized right-wing hate groups in a statement.

"The message of white nationalists, supremacists and other groups that project hate is evil and contrary to God's call to love all mankind and that every life is valuable," Walker said. "I hope the voices of Americans — especially those of faith — will be loud enough to drown out every voice of hate. As a state and as a nation, we should focus on the things and ideas that bring us together, rather than further division."

Price criticized Trump's tweets about the Confederate statues.

"What this president can't seem to comprehend is that the darkest parts of our history are best learned through teachers, textbooks, and museums, not statues put on pedestals in town squares and public buildings," Price said. "Communities, including those in states like North Carolina, should be able to remove the icons they deem offensive without interference from the state legislature or reprimand from Donald Trump.

"We don't get to choose our history, but we do get to choose the history we celebrate," Price said.

U.S. Rep. George Holding, R-2nd, said he condemned slavery, but he supports keeping the Confederate monuments in place.

"There are moments in American history we can point to with pride, and there are other moments when men made mistakes and when what they did was wrong," Holding said. "And, often, the same men who did good also made mistakes.

"Slavery was one of our terrible mistakes," Holding said. "It was wrong. But we also can be proud of how, at Appomattox, Lincoln and Grant and Lee put our country on the road to healing and unity.

"That is why I do not believe we should take down memorials to the soldiers who fought in the Civil War," Holding said. "Instead, we should learn from history, as Lincoln said in 1865 a month before Appomattox, ‘With malice toward none, with charity for all.'"