The Democrat-led House is poised to pass on Wednesday a bill requiring the removal of all confederate statues from the halls of the Capitol building.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyers (D-Md.) legislation H.R. 7573, is co-sponsored by Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Texas), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Karen Bass (D-Calif.), G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), and Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee Glenn Thompson (D-Miss.).
“We introduce this bill not only to make a statement but to make a reality of whom we honor in the Congress of the United States, in this temple of liberty,” said Hoyer at a press briefing on Wednesday.
“Defenders and purveyors of sedition, slavery, segregation, and white supremacy have no place in this temple of liberty,” he continued.
Bass told reporters, “the Capitol can never really be for the people with reminders of a painful history that sought to continue the enslavement and our control of the African American population,”
Bass added, “And while statues do reflect an aspect of our history, statues are not just historical markers but are tributes, a way to honor an individual, and these individuals do not deserve to be honored.”
Their bill would mandate that states remove and replace any statues honoring members of the Confederacy in the Capitol National Statuary Hall Collection by removing, “all statues of individuals who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from display in the United States Capitol.” And, “To direct the Architect of the Capitol to replace the bust of Roger Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the United States Capitol with a bust of Thurgood Marshall.”
There are 11 statues of Confederate figures displayed in various quarters of the Capitol.
National Statuary Hall includes two statues that each of the 50 states contributes to, of people that reflect their history, ranging from Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen from Vermont to Helen Keller from Alabama. The bill calls for the removal of statues of John C. Calhoun, Charles B. Aycock, and John C. Clarke, whom it identifies as defenders of slavery and white supremacy.
“These painful symbols of bigotry and racism have no place in our society and certainly should not be enshrined in the United States Capitol. Its past time that we ended the glorification of men who committed treason against the United States in a concerted effort to keep African Americans in chains,” said Rep. Lee said Wednesday, who has been working on this issue 2017.
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