On Sunday, former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson appeared on ABC’s This Week. During an exchange with host Martha Raddatz, Johnson claimed that Confederate monuments are a rallying point for white supremacists, and therefore a “security risk,” which is why they need to be taken down:
What alarms so many of us, from a security perspective, is that so many of the statues, the Confederate monuments, are now, modern-day, becoming symbols and rallying points for white nationalism, for neo-Nazis, for the KKK. And this is most alarming. We fought a world war against Nazism. The KKK rained terror on African-Americans for generations.
And so a number of Americans, rightly, Republican and Democrat, are very concerned and very alarmed. And I salute those in cities and states who are taking down a lot of these monuments for reasons of public safety and security. …
And that’s not a matter of political correctness. That’s a matter of public safety and homeland security and doing what’s right.
Here’s the problem — intentionally or not, Johnson is using circular logic to inform his opinion. He claims that Confederate monuments are “becoming symbols and rallying points for white nationalism, for neo-Nazis, for the KKK.” What he fails to mention is that the reason these statues have become “rallying points” is because state and local officials are threatening to tear them down.
The reason white supremacists and neo-Nazis held the Charlottesville rally, which ultimately led to the death of Heather Heyer at the hands of James Alex Fields Jr., was due to the city’s stated intent to have a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee taken down.
After years of discussion, various petitions, and differing ideas as to what the city could and should do regarding the monument, The New York Times reports that “in February, the City Council voted to remove the statue from the park. Opponents of the move sued in March, arguing that the city did not have the authority to do so under state law.”
While litigation is ongoing, the through-line of events is clear. The monument was declared improper, and the city voted to take it down. It was the vote for removal that propelled white supremacists to hold a protest in Charlottesville. The protest proceeded, and violence broke out between white supremacists and members of Antifa, ultimately leading to the death of Heyer.
These sites are not “rallying points” because they feature monuments to the Confederacy, they are rallying points because those monuments are being threatened with removal.
If Jeh Johnson is truly concerned with security, then removing more monuments is not the answer for which he’s looking. Given the previously established timeline, it follows that further removals will lead to further protests and violence.
To be clear, this analysis is in no way an endorsement of the violence seen in Charlottesville, or the evils of white supremacy; it is merely a correction of Johnson’s erroneous argument.