Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is expressing his support for the move to rename Army bases named after confederate leaders.
The host of CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Margaret Brennan, noted there is a new consciousness about “symbols” and “systemic racism.”
She pointed out Joint Chiefs Chairman Army Gen. Mark Milley’s latest comments on the issue.
Milley acknowledged the Army is twenty percent black and said soldiers serving on bases named after confederate generals can be reminded those generals fought for the institution of slavery that may have enslaved one of their ancestors.
Brennan asked Powell if the United States needs to rename these bases.
“I would rename the bases. We really hadn’t thought about it a few years ago, but now with Black Lives Matter and all the issues that are before us, I think it is a good idea to rename the ten bases on the United States Army that are named after Confederates,” Powell said.
Check out his comments below:
NEWS: Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell tells @margbrennan that he would rename Army bases currently named after Confederate leaders.
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 19, 2020
“I would rename the bases,” he tells @margbrennan. Adds that he agrees with current JCOS Chair Mark Milley. pic.twitter.com/UnaeiyrG6M
Powell reiterated his support for Milley’s push to rename the bases and said he hoped he would not face any difficulty with the Trump administration in doing so.
“I think this is something we should do and we should do it as quickly as we can,” Powell said.
Powell fired back at President Donald Trump for defending Confederate monuments, as IJR previously reported.
During an interview with MSNBC, Powell was asked if he thought Trump was racist.
Powell called Trump “intolerant” and said “he doesn’t understand our history at all.”
Protests have broken out across the nation calling for the end to racism and police brutality and along with that the removal of symbols embodying those things.
During an interview with CBS News’ Catherine Herridge on Tuesday, Trump defended Americans’ right to display the Confederate flag, as IJR previously reported.
He claimed Americans “love” the Confederate flag and are not necessarily “thinking about slavery.”