michael stratford looks at how the fy 2018 budget could impact the education department and policy. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. washington journal is next. ♪ last night, president trump and the first lady returned to the white house back from his first overseas trip as president. we will talk about that this morning. we will start with the actions of a few as mayor, mitch landrieu of new orleans. following through on his effort to remove confederate statues from that city over the last and addressing city residents in a speech and we hope to show you some of this hour as well on the reasoning behind his decision to remove confederate statues from the city.

do you support or oppose removing confederate statues and monuments from your city, state? here's how to join the conversation. democrats 202-748-8000. republicans 202-748-8001. .ll others 202-748-8002 on ourome your posts facebook page and look forward to your tweets. you can send us a tweet at c-span wj. good morning and welcome to washington journal. we will start following up with the president arriving back to washington late yesterday evening. a nine hour flight from italy. saying trump calls his first international trip a home run. wrapping up his first foreign

trip he told the troops in italy saturday that his nine-day international was a home run. we are getting on that very big plane and heading back to washington. other reporting on what's ahead will bepresident, who at arlington national cemetery tomorrow for memorial day. writing aboutimes possible changes in the trump administration, particularly the communications area. president faces growing crisis on russia ties. reports about kushner overshadow return. he was returning to a crisis that had only grown in his absence. the white house canceled a presidential trip to iowa in the coming days and was putting

together a damage control plan to reorganize his communication wall off a scandal that has jeopardized his agenda and threatens to engulf his family. wasprivate legal team preparing to move in washington to face new questions about contact between mr. kushner and representatives of vladimir putin. aides have recruited a series of prominent washington lawyers for mr. trump to interview in hopes they might join the legal team. we look at the washington post in terms of the president staff. trump may retool his staff. tomp and his advisers sicken contain the escalating russia crisis that threatens to consume his presidency, considering retooling of his senior staff in

the creation of a war room in the white house. the first part of the program this morning is on the removal from theerate statues city of new orleans over the past week or so. democrat.00 202-748-8001 republicans. 202-748-8002 others. an opinion piece in the national review from a commentator, bronze plaques matter. he says, who is next? those who have fought to maintain slavery have erased, what about those who owned slaves? their tributes be spared? american slaveowners included

george washington, thomas jefferson and ulysses grant. here's a better idea he writes, let's stop this stalin-esque historically airbrushing and statues in place. darla, good morning. i oppose removing any statues. they were drafted, the gentleman from the south. they are bled, suffered. remove thenk you can past and i think it's very unfortunate that we are removing these statues. host: pennsylvania was a union state. there are some statues north of -- line.-dixon nine caller: we have gettysburg where i live.

there's a battlefield. everyone bled and suffered. people in this country. they have all suffered. we don't have to remove everything in the entire country, the flag, abe lincoln, washington. we will have to remove everything if this continues. i oppose this. people -- are children of the past have bled and suffered. this is the united states of america. -- you can't remove every little thing that everyone complains about. we are going to be removing everything. burning the flag, that should be against the law, by the way. we're going to have to go to washington and go to every statue and monument and say that's not right because the

south and the north or the east and the west. not everybody agrees. we are going to be removing more and more things if this continues. host: from jackson, miss sippy. independent line. you are on the air. thanks for taking my call. the removal because they've been there like 100 years or more. and i live in jackson mississippi. more union monuments that choose than there are confederate. they won the war but as long as they are not hurting anybody. when you go to vicksburg

or gettysburg and you see monuments to both sides what do you think? should i think they leave them alone. it's history. host: jackson, mississippi. 202-748-8000 democrat. 202-748-8001 republicans. 202-748-8002 independents. monumentsntioning the at vicksburg and gettysburg. there are cemeteries affiliated many battlefields across the country. probably the most famous cemetery in the country, arlington national cemetery. history goes back to the civil war. tom cotton writing this morning about efforts to save arlington

cemetery. he writes just was born in the tragedy of the civil war. made a fateful decision to resign from the u.s. army after a sleepless night in what is now known as arlington house in the cemetery. the union shortly thereafter ceased the plantation which occupied the critical high ground above washington. in 1864. the union quartermaster general proposed that 200 acres be converted into a cemetery is a further review. lee made no attempt to reclaim his old plantation, his oldest .on did selling the ownership back to the federal government and gradually the arlington we know took shape.

it's an active cemetery with dozens of funerals daintily. burial in arlington is a healing and the families of the following deserve. that's why it's important we preserve arlington for the next generation. if current trends continue it will run out of space in 25 years. veterans of every con but cannot hope to be very there even if the highest decoration, some metal of honor. about the removal of confederate monuments hotline is next on the democrat line in houston. good morning. caller: i'm from new orleans. i love that city. but those monuments have to be moved because it sets a stigma oldew orleans and those

days. all that is over with. we don't see statues of hitler's up. going to look kind of weird to go around lee circle and not see a statue, but they can put something else there that glorifies the whole usa. new orleans is the best and i love it. host: what do you say to people removes aing statues piece of history and we wind up forgetting that piece of history? we will never forget the horrible history that the civil war brought. i don't think we need statues of that were against the united states of america.

the southerners were against the united states. why have that of? -- up? is on theeth republican line. go ahead. we are rewriting history. the united nations just voted on a new bible and they removed the jewish people from jerusalem, from israel. you cannot rewrite history. all the american presidents that issued orders to kill american indians. 80 to 90 million indians that lived in america were killed. host: we are asking you about the removal of confederate statues because of the efforts in new orleans this week.

202-748-8000 democrats. 202-748-8001 republicans. 202-748-8002 others. mayor mitch landrieu made a speech to citizens of new orleans explaining his reasons. here is that speech. i knew that taking down these monuments was going to be tough. you elected me to do the right thing, not the easy thing. this is what that looks like. relocating these monuments is not about taking something away from someone else. ,his is not about politics blame, retaliation. to solve all of our problems at once. this is about showing the whole ared that we as the city able to acknowledge and understand, reconcile and choose

a better future for ourselves making straight what has been crooked and making right what was wrong. otherwise we will continue to pay a price with discord, and violence. it literally put the confederacy on a pedestal in our most prominent places is an inaccurate recitation of our past, it is an affront to our present and it is a bad prescription for our future. cannot be changed. it cannot be moved like a statue. what's done is done, the war is over. the confederacy lost and we are better for it. surely we are far enough removed to his knowledge the cost of the confederacy was wrong. in the second decade of the 21st century, asking african-americans or anyone else

by property that they own occupied by referential statues of men who fought to destroy the country and deny that person's humanity seems perverse. it seems absurd. new orleans mayor mitch landrieu. you can send us a tweet. there is one. bill tweeps, supported 100%. it's no different than germany erecting monuments of hitler's and his staff. , the u.s. wouldn't be the country it is today. history matters. be part ofey should a historical installation. statues is amoving stupid move. this one says a way to remove history. those who forget are doomed to repeat.

bruce is in fort myers, florida. go ahead. i am not well traveled or anything like that. is there another society or country in the world were a loser of a major war, the losing side's flag is still embraced like the confederate flag is here? i have never heard of it. ofidn't even know the statue , of him standing in defiance of the north. he was a traitor to the united states. statuet know there was a like that that existed. that statue should have never been erected let alone still stand in 2017. alderprevious callers showing is the complete lack of empathy towards other people at all, especially african-americans.

it's appalling that people are getting so upset about these statues coming down. of doesn't being prevent things from happening. nobody's going to forget about slavery. i'm glad they're coming down. it is shameful that people have andear bullet-proof vest masks and all of this. the whole city of new orleans everybody should have been for these things coming down. worker,u can see the roos mentioned the worker in the bullet-proof vest and wearing masks out of concerns for their safety. liz is next in new jersey on the democrat line. caller: i'm calling because i think it's up to the states now that they have been up whether they take them down and new orleans have decided to take theirs down. i would be for that.

what's wrong here is many of our callers probably came since the civil war, their ancestors, they have not lost members of their family tree in the civil war. the fight continued for four years which was gruesome and many of my ancestors did fight, did die, were imprisoned in the south. i don't think we need to commemorate those folks who are guilty of treason for what they did. moving away from the united states of america. if they want to commemorate something hit could be their participation in other u.s. wars when they were part of the united states but they should the civilmemorating war against the united states of

america. talking about how she thinks is it is a state's decision. another state, alabama has a different approach. governor signed a bill can confederateg moderates. it would prohibit local governments from removing historical monuments on public property is in place 40 years or more. it also prohibits renaming buildings and streets with historical names that have been in place more than 40 years. debated similar legislation for years. fred is in huntsville alabama. on the independent line. glad to call in.

leave them alone. of whatve as a reminder we don't want to go back to. we take them down, we might forget about them. leave them up. have changed. the men had changed. leave them up. host: let's hear from a red is -- resident of new orleans. what has the mood in the city been? caller: good morning. our mayor has become a very inclusive person in our city and decided we love everybody. we are not prejudiced. we don't pick on a certain group because of their color or their creed.

monuments to these death and slavery to come down. it is something that should've happened years ago and i say god bless our mayor and keep up the good work. we have had people come in here from all over the country. the president we have now has -- theup the old right alt-right, the nazis and the racists to bring them here and picket and -- protest something they aren't even involved in. they came with ak-47s hung from the neck to protect themselves 600 feet from the school. do you know what we did? we brought out a brass band. we played songs.

we didn't come out with guns. that's the kind of people we are down here. we are not prejudiced. we don't condone prejudice. god bless mitch landrieu. he did the right thing. they're not going to take the statue down in jackson park. caller: no. there were four statues that were brought up to the city council. on,statues that were voted the only statues that will come down are the ones that are already down. are not talking about andrew jackson or anybody else.

the ones that were planned on coming down are down. to let everybody know we love everybody here. orleansgelo from new asking about the removal of confederate statues in particular in new orleans. your thoughts, do you support or oppose that. the government of alabama signing legislation that would from the removal of statues over 40 years old, in effect grandfathering confederate statuary across the state in alabama. allensenator gerald lending his support, saying i appreciate the governor standing up for thoughtful presentation

of the governor's history. the memorial preservation act is all ofd to preserve alabama's history so our children and grandchildren can learn from the past. caller: good morning. i believe it's a little bit more haven't included all of our history and we want to glorify the history in our country rather than being honest and showing all of the history. one example is the inican-americans that fought world war ii. they didn't come over here from mexico. they were in texas their whole lives. when they came back they weren't even allowed to eat in a restaurant. there were mexican-american attorneys that fought for their rights. we need statues of them. in oklahoma, the indians that struck oil. we had doctors and elected

officials that word at the american -- murdered the american indians because they struck oil. we need to be more inclusive and have more of the history rather than glorifying our history. host: are there confederate statues in gainesville or near theyn florida you caller: have one at the courthouse right here in gainesville. and a confederate soldier they can give him away. they have tried to give it to the museum, they can't afford to move it. addlieve they need to another statute and of someone that worked to protect the african-american people here. to tell the whole story. another statue of someone

who did good. who fought for the rights of everyone. of to reflect those that stood up and spoke up for justice. host: from maryland on the independent line. good morning. i have mixed feelings about this. i think if they take them down to replace them with jesus. about judas? caller: i said if they take any monuments down, replace them with jesus. everybody loves jesus. i just want to say to all the people, if a statute is going to hurt you, you are going to have a lonely life. you are not going to live long. livestatue or monuments your life for you. my father is full-blooded cherokee indian and he loved everything.

everything was beautiful. god makes everything perfect and everything on this earth is perfect. if you start singing monuments live your life you're going to have a lonely life and you are not going to live long. host: we are asking about the removal of statues in new orleans. of newitch landrieu orleans spoke to city residents about his decision and the history of some of the statues. >> let's start with the facts. the historical record is clear. robert e lee, geoff davis, pgt beauregard statues were not directed to honor these men, but as part of a movement which became known as a cult of a lost cause. this cult had one goal only -- to rewrite history to hide the , which is that the confederacy was on the wrong

side of humanity. first erected 166 years after the founding of our city, 19 years after the civil war. these monuments were meant to rebrand the history of our city and the ideals of the confederate he. it is self-evident that these men did not fight for the united states of america. they fought against it. they may have been warriors, but in this cause they were not patriots. statues are not just stone and metal. they are not innocent remembrances of a benign history. fictionalrate a sanitized confederacy, ignoring the death, enslavement and terror that it actually stood for. after the civil war, these monuments were part of that terrorism as burning a cross on someone's lawn. we were erected purposefully to send a strong message about who

was still in charge in this city. host: lots of comments on twitter. thing, good riddance to all monuments that celebrate politicians and warriors who sought to destroy the united states. the confederacy were traitors and losers who do not deserve to be held. it's illegal to fly a swastika in germany. theirsays, blow them off pedestals like the swastikas at nuremberg. richard saying, it fails at .epresenting put them in a museum and move on. running around with torches and because of a statue seems barbaric and dumb. el paso, texas on the republican line. good morning.

i oppose removing the statues because i have been to numerous battlefields around not just the united states, new mexico, texas, gettysburg and everywhere. i like to walk the battlefield and take the tour's, walk with those men walked. go to the seat of power at the time for the confederacy. like to walk and go to the places where these men fought and died, whether they were right or wrong. stationed inas europe, i went to all the battlefields of world war i and turkey.r ii, back into i think the mayor should concentrate more on getting working onand

unemployment and jobs to new orleans. in your experience going to battlefields in the u.s. and overseas, your thinking is you to walknor -- caller: in the footsteps and see the places. i was stationed in japan, i followed the japanese and everywhere on open our. nawa. oki no host: does a monument honor the cause or individuals who have died in that battle? caller: it was a part of history. it was a part of history you cannot erase. -- they werewere wrong, but still, you would like

to go and see it from both sides, the perspective of the confederate, the can -- perspective of the union. the civil war is the most written about war in our history. host: certainly there has been no talk about removing confederate statuary from areral battlefields, we asking about cities, particularly in new orleans. we go to gainesville, florida to hear from stephen honor can -- democrats line. caller: good morning. we have old joe down here at our courthouse and my problem is, it is the rewriting of history. of this southeath was losers, it was a constitutional issue. england had the same issue when they went to abolish slavery and the big issue was hanging the people who owned slaves.

slavery was an institution of the united states of america, not of the south. 1853, dred scott was a u.s. supreme court decision. i don't want them to say the south are dirty people. what we have in new orleans is a mayor who is grandstanding and instead of getting read of his corrupt phone -- police force, is pushing his agenda to look over here. he is the one that is guilty of rewriting history. go out to sturgis, go out to cody or all the places that raped the american indians. buffalo soldiers, since they were enslaved, they went out west and just killed indians. there are a lot of things we can't be proud of in our history and i've lived in the south all my life. black people to me, armie. i don't see any difference.

,'m probably rare in that area but to remove the statues is to and saveite history the good only takes over, not the bad. god bless you, have a good memorial day. host: it is an issue facing st. louis. st. louis, missouri, a story from the new york times about a statue in the great forest park. a point of contention. they write the angry and this hasfight over swept over south carolina, alabama in new orleans. -- debate made its way up some 600 miles north of the mississippi river to st. louis, the home of a confederate memorial many residents did not know was in their midst. here in a graceful public part since the grand mind him and to the confederacy, a granite column adorned with an angel and bronze sculpture.

it arises in a thicket of trees next to a trail teaming with bicyclists and wanderers. many residents say until very recently, they had no idea the 103-year-old memorial honored confederate soldiers. not until they started making it saidhat hooplah over larry randall who was biking near it. i've been coming here for years and i never paid it no mind. mr. randall said he understood why some people are calling for it to be removed. if it is causing problems, they should get rid of it or maybe just polish the words off. i could give a hoot. we hear from larry in tuscaloosa on her democrats line. caller: how are you doing? host: good, how are you. caller: i support the removal of the monument and the battle flag. the reason why is because the

supreme court ruled i believe when texas went before the supreme court and tried to get the confederate battle flag to a tag and the supreme court struck it down and said they had to remove it based on it infringed on people's rights when it is on public property. i support the removal. i think the confederate flag and the monuments should be in a building -- a historic building where it can be out of the sight of people, where it won't be infringing on folks. i think the alabama governor .ere is making a deadly mistake there might be a court battle. president trump made a statement that he was trying to bring the peoples together. how can you bring them together when we have steve bannon up there making a statement last year about black people?

about how they don't work? how can you bring them together? i think it is wrong here in alabama, mississippi and i think they ought to take it down and put it in a building somewhere. host: larry in alabama. a couple of florida callers put out the statue in gainesville -- pointed out the statue in gainesville. i think we have a look at the statue in front of the courthouse there. the statue is causing some interesting people in the area. dan honor independent line. caller: good morning. there was a democratic female caller a few moments ago said it right. don't move the statues, put someone who is -- who was of a

steam and put up a statue against the confederacy. since president obama went to japan and apologize for our actions in the war, are we going the raising ofwn the flag on mount sarah bocce? carli lloyd you raise the euro zone and give it to japanese so they can have a war took -- are we going to raise the arizona and give it to the japanese so we can have -- they can have a war token? ont: a couple of comments twitter, people are doing an analogy to nazi germany. here's a tweet from carol who said robert e lee was no hitler's. from everything i have read, he was respected before and after the civil war. jan says taking the statue down is not rewriting history.

you can make an installation to teach history. this one says pretending confederates were glorious warriors and naming our parkways after them sends the wrong message. --t enough from penn pennsylvania, go ahead. caller: i don't think they should be able to take them down. i feel that that is how the people felt. for the mayor to say that they were wrong, he wasn't part of the time. i do not believe in slavery, i what was can't be erased. it was part of our culture and what happens if it was the opposite? where they wanted to take our flags down? i'm really sad about the disrespect of how everyone feels

as opposed to somebody else's objections to how we feel. take do you think when we the statues down, do you think history gets lost? people say we are racing history when we take down the statues. caller: i'm feeling like history is getting lost to the media every day of our life. there are too many people objecting and becoming the people who state what we see. we all know what happened during the civil war. i would say the majority of people were for the north. but it does not mean the people who lost their children's lives and people were northerners that lost their families. that was there part of history and it should not be erased. enough -- was just

fromtina -- justina pennsylvania. do you support or oppose cities removing confederate statues? for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans and 202-748-8002 for independents and all others. we are showing you the comments of the mayor of new orleans. in his speech, he talked about what he said was the real history of the confederacy. , let us againart state clearly for all to hear, the confederacy was on the wrong side of history inhumanity. it stock -- sought to tear apart our nation and subjugate americans to slavery. this is a history we should never forget and one we should pedestal toput on a

be revered. as a community, we must recognize the significance of removing the confederate monument. that our knowledge meant now is a time to take stock of and move past a painful part of our history. anything less would render struggle andf soul-searching a truly lost cause. host: mayor mitch landrieu of new orleans talking about the removal of four concentric -- confederate statues. we are getting your reaction of what the use of port or oppose that. georgia has an issue itself in years -- near stone mountain. a story in salon pointing out the headline georgia civil war museum shuts down rather than surrounding its confederate flags. museum curators blame confederate -- political correctness running amok. is from salon, they write that rather than comply with the

request to remove confederate flag from public property, a civil war museum is shutting down. in a facebook message, board members of the nash farm battlefield and museum lamented the venue will shutter on june 1. officials claimed the closure was forced by local commissioner request that all confederate flags be removed from the museum. the authors take pains to imply that political correctness gone wild is to blame, stay in the commissioner's quest was made in effort not to offend anyone. commissioner clemens however contradicted the version of events. -- robinsonrts spoke, saying the commissioner had received some complaints and concerns from constituents. in response, clemens reportedly sent in email to the museum in march requesting a confederate flag which flew on public, county owned land in front of the building next to the georgia state flag and american flag be taken down.

your thoughts, let's hear next from jackson, michigan. we are hearing from jean in michigan. republican line. think they should leave the statues up, but they one of general lee where he was surrendering to the federal government and i think all through the south they should put up statues of general sherman. that is what they really need to be reminded of. host: what would those two statues remind the south of? that they lost a war that they should never have and to show people andral lee was surrendering therefore, admitting the south was wrong in what they were doing. host: let's hear from louisiana.

mary is on her democrats line. i was born and raised in new orleans, louisiana. host: mary, we're going to let you go and ask you to watch her comments. it is not conducive to a civil conversation. leave those comments off of c-span and elsewhere. we will hear from richfield, michigan -- richfield, minnesota on our republican line. thank you very much for a land to get in on this conversation. know witht to let you my experience i traveled around the mediterranean back in the day in 1977. i found out a lot of the american white people were -- theyway differently

were treated bad versus the black people i was traveling with. i found out that black people are not hated all over the world and a lot of things going in on -- going on in our country, they know about. they know about our history are ready. taking down those monuments is a reminder of how far we have made so much progress. and stop trying to suppress the votes and start treating each other better. what's wrong with that? .e can move forward behind this thank you for letting me get my comment in. host: back to louisiana on the republican line. hello to hunter. caller: i just wanted to point out to the listeners that first of all, i've read about slavery enough to really have an understanding of how horrible it was with slave ships and how african people were abducted, change to one another head to

foot, it was barbaric, it was worse than what we are seeing out of isis today. ,t borders, in terms of heinous it borders on what the japanese were doing to troops illegally in world war ii. it was a terrible institution and to develop slowly. it started as a fair practice under a pre-usa status, but it developed into something quite heinous overtime. that said, i would also like to point out the northern states brought it in. rhode island was the first state , they did revoke slavery eventually in 1804, but it was not until they had begun to , a.k.a. theories birmingham, england industrial age factories. then they decided to revoke slavery. the norther is in my opinion, are a bunch of hypocrites. i don't think removing the statues or anything makes a lot of sense.

better,kes people feel i'm all for it. that's all i'm going to say. host: steve is on democrats line. caller: thank you for taking my call. my comment was that history really hasn't changed that much. back then, it is about greed and power between the whites and the blacks, but now it is between the rich and the poor. the only thing that has changed is that the republicans are for slavery where they were against slavery back then. , itsame thing is going on is all about greed and power and that is what the whole civil war was about. host: how do you think today's republicans are for slavery? because it is about greed, they want to take all the money and they want to keep all the money and all the power at all costs.

everybody else can go to hell as far as they are. this firstuestion hour, do you support or oppose the removal of confederate monuments? 202-748-8000 the number to call in our democrat line. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents and others, 202-748-8002. we are asking the question in the efforts of the new orleans mayor to remove statues from the city. city residents, telling them what he thinks makes america great. >> in our blessed land, we come to the table of democracy as equals. we have to reaffirm our commitment to a future where each citizen is guaranteed the uniquely american going gifts of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. this is what makes america great and today it is more important than ever to hold fast to these values. we have evident truths that we

of one, that is why we reclaim these for the united states of america, because we are one nation, not two. indivisible with liberty and justice for all, not some. we are part of one nation and pledge allegiance to one flag. the flag of the united states of america. [applause] >> here is the kicker. have given all the way. it is in this union, this truth that real patriotism is rooted and flourishes. a four-yearevering brief historical aberration, we can celebrate all 300 years of our rich history as a place named new orleans and set the tone for the next 300 years.

host: about 10 more minutes of your calls and comments on the issue of removing confederate statues. a couple of tweets here. this one from sammy who says these generals memorialized soldiers and battles and death. the descendents deserve to honor their family's service. randy says while removing statues, we are still slowly killing each other with problems. stand tweeting us the whole idea to a race u.s. history in order to replace it with the new ideology on the left. this one saying don't forget lady liberty. freedom is dead and liberty is a myth. a couple of items on the news before we get to your calls. on the president's decision on the climate change agreement. that u.s.s confidants will quit the climate deal. they write that president trump has privately told multiple people, including scott pruitt,

that he plans to leave the paris agreement on climate change according to three sources with direct knowledge. publicly his decision is he has not made up his mind. when asked about private comments, the white house said i think his tweet was clear. he will make a decision this week. the deathyesterday, of former senator jim bunning. hall of fame pitcher turning cantankerous senator dies at 85. they write he wrote -- threw fastballs, curveballs and sliders seeking to intimidate batters with a gruffness that would be a hallmark with his time in congress. they write the jim bunning as senator was a staunch opponent of president obama's health-care legislation, but he was the only -- the final rollcall

on the bill. a spokesman said the senator had family commitments. the new york times wrote procedural -- says mr. bunning wrote procedural objections while demanding finance from the economic stimulus program and he single-handedly delayed its passage. during the debate, he complained about missing a basketball game. republican,entucky mitch mcconnell, declined to endorse him for a third term admits concern that summer -- among republicans over his fund-raising ability and his evidently declining popularity back home. jim bunning, former senator and hall of fame pitcher dead at the age of 85. mail in fort myers. caller: thank you taking my call. taking my call. i understand the importance for these monuments, i do support

their removal, but at the same time, i am getting tired of people using symbolic measures to handle substance. in the black community, we have way bigger things to worry about . when dr. king was marching, he did not march to remove confederate flags. when rosa parks wanted the right to sit where she wanted to sit, she wasn't fighting about confederate flags. we have gotten to a point where everything else can get out the way and is speaking about regular black democrats. agree thatt people the civil war was about slavery. to black democrats, think about it for a moment, why do you always get the symbolic, but you never get the substance? show thecommunity can state of north carolina over a bathroom bill, but you can't have the state of florida change

the standard ground law because nobody fought with you? aren't you tired of that? stop celebrating symbolism. you need substance and you have been getting cheated for the last 40 or 50 years. thousands of people may not listen to me, but two people really need to listen. thank you for the call. we are hearing from josie next. democrats line, indiana, pennsylvania. caller: as a former history teacher and a student of history all my life, i need to say that what we have to remember is that statues are symbols and those statues are symbols of an oppressive time in our history. we must understand also that the south chose to fire up on fort sumter. they chose to take up arms against their country. in the constitution, that is

defined as treason. to treasonous acts of such take down a statue is certainly something that can be done and should be done. go to a museum. i have no opposition to that. but to have that as a monument in a city that is thriving and changing, i think the mayor is absolutely right to do it and i would like to see more statues removed threat the country. of ank it is a reminder very dark time in our history. the confederate flag has become also a symbol of hatred, oppression. those who fly it say they are for liberty, which is ironic to me because the history was to enslave people, not to allow the freedoms for all. host: what grade level did you teach history? caller: eighth and ninth grade

history. war and havecivil been a student of the civil war i was nine years old. i find -- i'm finishing again a on lee and grant at appomattox. i think the magnanimous decision by lincoln and grant at that surrender is what should be symbolized. the coming together of americans. symbols that totally divided us as a nation. host: i will point you in the direction of our 2015 commemorative covering the 150th anniversary of the surrender at appomattox which you can find on c-span.org. civil war history showing up in arizona. writingona republic about it. should arizona dump its confederate history? u.s. civil war

memorials honoring confederate soldiers has raged across the nation for the past couple of years, reaching a kiss -- percent of new orleans with the mayor and city employees pulling out statues. the issue isn't only a southern one. arizona has half a dozen confederate memorials and a south -- small highway southeast of apache junction is named after jefferson davis. despite activity elsewhere, there is no real effort to remove them. the most public memorial is located across the -- across from the state capital in wesley bolin memorial plaza. another memorial marks the arizona location of the civil war's most western battle. ho peak ae of picac curried -- occurred about 60 miles south of phoenix. philadelphia, independent line. caller: if you want to keep the

statues, they should be taken down and put in a museum. i have no problem. if you will keep them around, tell the whole history. lynchingw statues of or boys with their white hoods on. you all have a great day. host: silver spring, maryland on a republican line. the democratic party supported slavery and segregation. if you're going to get rid of flags and statues and get rid of the name democrat and change it to something else. they supported segregation, slavery and fought for it and died for it. that is about all i have to say. host: zoo coming up more worl. attorney general jeff sessions called for stricter sentencing guidelines. we will talk with the u.s. justice action network holly harris. and later on the national

iranian american council will join us to discuss the future f u.s.-iran relations. newsmakers this week talked with patrick leahy the top democrat on the appropriations committee about the president his first budget. here's what senator leahy said on the budget and appropriations process going forward. >> i like appropriations. i like the mechanics of it and i like the fact that we often work in a bipartisan fashion. but yet a bill through, as you know, just a month ago to make sure we didn't have a shutdown was entirely different than what the white house said as we were negotiating. they were long negotiations, bipartisan negotiations. the white house had these dram dramatic cuts unless there's money to build the the wall along the mexican border they