House eyes votes to remove symbols of Confederates from Capitol
By Cristina Marcos - 07/06/20 06:00 AM EDT
House Democrats will be pressing forward with votes on multiple fronts this month to take down artwork and monuments honoring people who upheld slavery as they seek to keep up momentum on the nation’s reckoning over racism.
While police reform legislation in response to the nationwide protests over racial injustice is stalled, Democrats will vote on a defense policy bill that requires renaming military bases named after Confederate generals.
They are also expected to vote on legislation to replace a bust at the Capitol of Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, who wrote the Dred Scott decision that Black people did not have the rights of citizens.
“I think in this moment more people are beginning to recognize the nature of racism and how these people fought to continue enslaving people,†said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who is among the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members who have called for removing Confederate emblems from the Capitol and elsewhere for years.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/house/505740-house-eyes-votes-to-remove-symbols-of-confederates-from-capitol
