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President Trump’s Interior Department is apparently refusing to bow to liberal pressure to remove Confederate memorials on Civil War battlefields, with a spokesman saying that commemorating those that died in those conflicts was “an important part of our country’s history.”

In a statement to E&E News Tuesday, Park Service public affairs officer Jeremy Barnum said the Park Service and the Department of the Interior weren’t going to be removing the statues and monuments any time in the near future.

“The National Park Service is committed to safeguarding these memorials while simultaneously educating visitors holistically and objectively about the actions, motivations and causes of the soldiers and states they commemorate,” Barnum said.

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The remarks came after an attack at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia —  which was originally sparked by the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — claimed the life of one counter-protester this past weekend. On Monday, in Durham, North Carolina, a crowd of leftists toppled a Confederate war memorial monument.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke also said he stood behind the president “in uniting our communities and prosecuting the criminals to the fullest extent of the law,” although he wouldn’t comment specifically on statues and monuments.

“The racism, bigotry and hate perpetrated by violent white supremacist groups has no place in America,” Zinke said. “It does not represent what I spent 23 years defending in the United States military and what millions of people around the globe have died for. We must respond to hate with love, unity and justice.”

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In a speech last month, given at the Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland, Zinke said that “history’s important” when pressed about the Confederate monuments on the battlefield.

“What did the Battle of Antietam bring us?” Zinke told a reporter. “One is that it was the deadliest battle in the history of our country, but also one can argue successfully that it also brought us the Emancipation Proclamation. So there’s goodness that came out of this battlefield, but recognizing two sides fought, recognizing the historical significance of a change in our country. I’m an advocate of recognizing history as it is.”

“Don’t rewrite history,” Zinke said. “Understand it for what it is and teach our kids the importance of looking at our magnificent history as a country and why we are what we are.”

Zinke and the Park Service are taking the right tack. Removing monuments dedicated to those who died on the battlefield won’t undo what men like James Fields or the marchers did in Charlottesville. Instead, it will merely erase a history that we desperately need to contextualize for generations to come.

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H/T The Daily Caller

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