As the trend of tearing down statues gains steam, one leader is taking a stand and making it clear that no statues are coming down no matter what the subject of the statue did during their lifetime.

French President Emmanuel Macron released a video statement that made it clear that racism is deplorable but that France’s history is what it is. As such, no statue will be torn down regardless of the reasoning for it.

“We will be inflexible when it comes to tackling racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination, and new strong decisions will be made to reinforce the egality of chances,” Macron said in the video. “But this noble fight is perverted when it turns into communitarianism, into a false rewriting of history.”

“This is unacceptable when it is picked up by separatists. I tell you very clearly tonight my dear fellow citizens, the Republic will not erase any trace or name from its history,” he continued. “It will not forget any of its deeds or take down any statue. What we need to do is to look all together with lucidity on all of our history and all our memory. Our relation to Africa in particular so we can build a present and a possible future from one to the other side of the Mediterranean.” //

Emmanuel Macron has the right idea, but this shouldn’t be considered a bold stance. It should be more along the lines of common sense. //

civil_truth • 4 hours ago

I guess the history of the French Revolution and its aftermath is still being impressed on French citizens enough that their president, for all his faults, knows how tearing down statues and rejecting history ends up. What remains to be seen if whether he has the support of enough of those who hold political power in the country to maintain his position.