Congress Voted Overwhelmingly To Remove Confederate Statues From The Capitol

Yesterday the House passed H.R.7573 which directs "the Architect of the U.S. Capitol to replace the bust of Roger Brooke Taney with a bust of Thurgood Marshall, to remove certain statues from areas of the Capitol which are accessible to the public, to remove all statues of individuals who voluntarily served Confederate States of America displayed in Capitol. The vote was 305-113, every Democrat, as well as 72 Republicans (+ independent Justin Amash) voting in favor. 113 Republicans voted against the resolution including:

Earl Carter (GA)
Doug LaMalfa (CA)
Alex Mooney (WV)
Jason Smith (MO)
Roger Williams (TX)
Ted Yoho (FL)

The Republican House leadership was split, with McCarthy and Scalise voting for the bill and Liz Cheney voting with the racists against it. The bill would cause the removal of 11 Confederate statues which have been publicly displayed and turning loyal Americans' stomachs since the Jim Crow era. Each was contributed by a Southern state. Arkansas has decided to replace its two statues of Confederate traitors with statues of Johnny Cash and civil rights activist Daisy Gatson Bates. Florida is taking back its statue of Edmund Kirby Smith, a Confederate general, and contributing one of civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune. Each state gets to contribute two statues for display in the Capitol.
In case you forgot who Taney was, he's the asshole Chief Justice the Supreme Court (1836-1864, when he died at 87, completely senile). He's best known for the Dred Scott decision, which he wrote and which says that blacks could not be considered citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in American territories. He was pro-Confederacy but did all he could to sabotage Lincoln instead of resigning from the Court. The Dred Scott ruling is widely considered to be one of the worst-- if not the worst-- Supreme Court decisions ever made and Taney is considered the worst supreme Court Chief Justice in history. He wrote that blacks-- free or slaves-- had always been "regarded as beings of an inferior order, altogether unfit to associate with the white race... and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

According to The Hill, "The House has taken additional legislative actions this week to eliminate Confederate imagery. Earlier this week, the House passed its version of the annual defense policy bill with a provision to require renaming military bases honoring Confederate officers. And starting Thursday, the House is slated to take up a government spending package with measures to order the National Park Service to remove “all physical Confederate commemorative works” within 180 days and prohibit using taxpayer funds for construction projects on military installations named after Confederate officers unless they are being changed. House Democrats are further planning to unveil voting rights legislation later this week in honor of Lewis. It’s expected to build upon a bill that Democrats passed in December to restore a provision in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that established a process for states with histories of voter suppression to obtain federal clearance before making changes to election laws."

None of this will pass the Senate until McConnell is either dead or deposed and until Trump is driven out of the White House (or dead).

Progressive Democrat Julie Oliver, running to replace racist Republican Roger Williams in central Texas, told us-- after Williams' vote against removing the Confederate statues-- that "We should hold no place of honor for those who who were in open revolt to the United States of America in defense of slavery and white supremacy. From slavery to Jim Crow, redlining, the War on Drugs, criminalization of poverty, mass incarceration-- racism is this country's original sin. We can't stop fighting for an America based on the principles of racial, economic, and environmental justice. In this moment of national pain, following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and too many others, when thousands of Texans have risked their lives to get in the streets and speak out against racial injustice and institutional racism, Rep. Williams’ vote to enshrine those who glorified racialized chattel slavery is out of step with the majority of Americans, the people in this district and, yet again, puts him on the wrong side of history. Texas deserves so much better."

We spoke with two more progressive Democrats running strong popular races in the South, Lisa Ring (coastal Georgia) and Adam Christensen (north central Florida). Both of the Trumpist incumbents, respectively Buddy Carter and Ted Yoho, voted against removing the Confederate statues. Lisa: "Should we really be surprised that 1st Congressional District Representative, Buddy Carter of Georgia voted against removing statues of Confederates and defenders of white supremacy from the U.S. Capitol? Since 2017, I have been vying for his seat because he refuses to represent the people of Coastal Georgia and has no problem saying so. From telling his constituents that he didn’t care what they wanted when they begged him not to take away their healthcare at one of his last in-person town halls, to being the only legislator in Georgia ready to drill for oil off the Georgia coast, Carter consistently chooses corporate interests that line his pockets, or aligning with the current administration to advance his career rather than listening to the will of the people. Of course Carter remains out of touch with our changing times and the collective will of the American people as he supports 'states’ rights' and a heritage of oppression. I would expect nothing more of him."

Adam Christensen is up for the seat Yoho is abandoning and told us this morning that "Yoho’s vote today is just one of the many times that he has been on the wrong side of history. He has previously has-- disagreed with the reauthorization of violence against women act in 2018 and again in 2019-- he does not want the equal right amendment or the survivor bill of rights to pass. He was 1 of only 2 people to vote against the Emit Till Anti-Lynching bill, and has repeatedly stated that the Civil Rights Act is unconstitutional. Yoho does not represent my community or the people who live here in north central Florida. He is a political hack and he will not be missed when he retires in November. What we are focused on now is dismantling his legacy and the political infrastructure he built here. Because if his donors and backing just puts up another person with his ideology then nothing has fundamentally changed with his retirement."