#Emmanuel Macron rejects racism but says statues won’t be torn down

French President Emmanuel Macron rejected racism in a speech to the nation but insisted that he will not allow for history to be rewritten and statues of France’s colonial leaders be removed as protests over the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police spread around the world.

“I will be very clear tonight, compatriots: the Republic won’t erase any name from its history. It will forget none of its artworks, it won’t take down statues,” Macron said during a televised speech on Sunday – the first time he addressed Floyd’s death.

Protests in France have addressed the country’s role in colonizing Africa.

Macron vowed to be “uncompromising in the face of racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination.”

The French president acknowledged that a person’s “address, name, color of skin” can bear on their chances at succeeding in French society and urged a struggle to ensure that everyone can “find their place” despite ethnic origin or religion.

Macron also said everyone in the country “should look at all of our history together,” including its history with Africa, with an aim to find the “truth” instead of “denying who we are.”

Demonstrations against Floyd’s death on May 25 after a police officer kept his knee pressed into Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes erupted in Paris on Saturday.

With Post wires