FRANKFORT, KY (AP) – Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin says he “absolutely” disagrees with removing Confederate symbols and monuments from government property, calling it the “sanitization of history.”
“If we don’t want to repeat the mistakes of our past, then we better teach it to our young people,” Bevin said. “It better be known. It doesn’t have to be celebrated, as in that this was something we did and we should do again.” He suggested it’s the wrong approach “to pretend it didn’t happen, to remove from society – because where do you draw the line?”
Bevin’s comments come as state and local government leaders across the country consider removing Confederate symbols following violent protests at a weekend white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where three people died.
Tuesday, the mayor of Kentucky’s second-largest city will ask local leaders to take the first step toward removing two Confederate statues from prominent spots in the city. But Bevin said removing such symbols would be “dangerous” because it would encourage people to “pretend it didn’t happen.”
In 2015, when Bevin was the Republican nominee for governor, he said it would be appropriate for state officials to remove a statue of Jefferson Davis from the rotunda of the state’s Capitol. At the time, Bevin’s comments came less than a week after the racially-motivated killings of nine people at a South Carolina church.
“It is important never to forget our history, but parts of our history are more appropriately displayed in museums, not on government property,” Bevin said at the time.
Bevin’s communications office did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.