The House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation Wednesday to remove Confederate statues from the United States Capitol, arguing that monuments to white men who tried to keep African Americans enslaved should no longer be praised in the halls of Congress.
The vote was 305-113. Seventy-two Republicans and a libertarian, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, joined all Democrats in passing the legislation.
Several members of the Black Caucus of Congress personally spoke about the painful history of slavery and oppression in the United States, which has been in the national consciousness since George Floyd’s death sparked global protests for racial justice.
HOME TO VOTE ON WEDNESDAY BY WITHDRAWING CAPITOL CONFEDERATED STATUES
“Imagine what it feels like to be an African American knowing that my ancestors built the Capitol, but that there are monuments to the same people who enslaved my ancestors,” said Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif. “… These individuals do not deserve to be honored.”
Representative Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, said the vote can begin a healing process for those who have suffered so much hardship and discrimination.
“It is appropriate and appropriate that those individuals who fought to keep many of our ancestors in slavery do not have to be recognized in a place where people who do good expect to be recognized,” Thompson said. “This is not a way to erase history. It is a way to correct history.”
The measure is now directed at the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, has previously rejected efforts to “airbrush the Capitol” and believes the decision on the statues should be left to the states, which can send two statues each to exhibit on Capitol Hill.
Taking a more aggressive approach, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, already deleted on June 4 the four portraits of former House Presidents who served the confederation and said this legislation would target 12 statues. of Confederate officials and four other statues honoring people who similarly exemplified “bigotry and hatred.”
“How can we try to end the scourge of racism in the United States? We allow the worst perpetrators of that racism to be praised in the halls of Congress,” Pelosi said on the floor of the House.
Democrats backing the legislation said the effort has been long overdue and should not be a substitute for more substantial legislation to combat systemic racism and police brutality that protesters across the country are demanding.
Critics who have criticized protesters across the country by tearing down and destroying statues supported their more orderly approach to remove symbols of the Confederacy.
PELOSI ORDERS THE ELIMINATION OF PORTRAITS OF FORMER SPEAKERS WHO HAVE BEEN IN CONFEDERATION
Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill. He said Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday sent a strong message about American values.
“The statues on the United States Capitol represent to visitors from around the world what we stand for as a nation,” Davis said.
FILE – In this June 24, 2015, file photo, a statue of Jefferson Davis, second from left, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865, is on display at the Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington. The House voted on July 22, 2020 to remove statues of Confederate figures like Jefferson Davis from the United States Capitol. (AP Photo / Susan Walsh, File)
The legislation would remove all statues of individuals “who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from display on the United States Capitol.” Among the statues expected to be attacked are Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens, the former president and vice president of the Confederate states who were charged with treason against the United States.
NOT ALL STATUES ARE THE SAME: PELOSI SAYS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ELIMINATING CONFEDERATED LEADERS, FORMER PRESIDENTS
The legislation would also replace the bust of Roger Brooke Taney in the Capitol Chamber of the Old Supreme Court with a bust of Thurgood Marshall, who in 1967 became the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court.
Taney, a Maryland native and judge from 1836 to 1864, wrote Dred Scott’s decision that blacks were not American citizens.
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., Said Tared’s Dred Scott decision was the “worst decision ever made by the Supreme Court.” However, McClintock still opposed legislation to remove his statue and others, fearing that the statues would soon be exchanged as “collectible cards.”
“If we remove the monuments to every person in this building who ever made a bad decision, and theirs was the worst, well, this would be a very arid place indeed … Our nation’s history should be made of more things severe. ” McClintock said.
The bill specifically calls for the removal of the Taney Monuments, Charles B. Aycock, former North Carolina governor and white supremacist; John C. Calhoun, the former vice president for slavery; John C. Breckinridge, a former Vice President who became the Confederation Secretary of War; and James Paul Clarke, the former Arkansas governor who held racist views.
If approved by the Senate, the legislation would direct the Capitol Architect to identify and remove other statues of individuals who served as officers or volunteers in the confederation and who will turn those statues over to the Smithsonian Institution.
