Confederate monuments alone do not teach Americans our history and removing them does not change the past, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said Sunday.
"The president's gotten this all wrong as to what we're trying to do," Cardin told "Fox News Sunday." "We're not changing history. We want to learn from history. There's no question about that. That's an important aspect."
President Donald Trump has warned this week about the slippery slope of taking down American monuments, but Cardin maintained it is not something we should worry about because of ties to slavery.
"You don't need a monument to learn history," Cardin told host Bill Hemmer. "Monuments are put up for different purposes. Some are more modern than others."
"Monuments should represent the contemporary needs of our society. And I think what Baltimore did and what Maryland is doing is appropriate. But, we will not avoid history, and we certainly want to learn from it," he continued.
Cardin pointed to Antietam and Harriet Tubman National Park in Maryland as those which can show "the tragic history of our civil war" and the underground railroad.
"I want our young people to learn from all parts of our history," Cardin said.
". . . We have places in Maryland that I think are critical to learn the good, bad, and ugly about America's history and path toward our democratic society. You don't need to have a monument that is offensive to certain parts of our history being glorified to fully appreciate that," he added.
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