Pelosi Calls for Congress to ‘Immediately Take Steps’ to Remove Confederate Statues in the Capitol

As demonstrators take to the streets in the U.S. and around the world to protest racism and police brutality, several statues are being defaced and torn down from their pedestals.

Now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is calling for lawmakers to take action to remove eleven statues of Confederate leaders from the National Statuary Hall in the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

“The halls of Congress are the very heart of our democracy,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to the leaders of the Joint Committee on the Library which is tasked with managing the monuments in Statuary Hall.

She continued, “The statues in the Capitol should embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation. Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals. Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage. They must be removed.”

While she said it is “imperative that we never forget our history lest we repeat it,” she added that there is “no room for celebrating the violent bigotry of the men of the Confederacy.”

“Let us lead by example. To this end, I request the Joint Committee on the Library direct the Architect of the Capitol to immediately take steps to remove these 11 statues from display in the United States Capitol,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi’s comments come as several public officials and organizations have taken steps to remove racist symbols in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced last week that the state would remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee which he argued was erected to “undo the results of the Civil War by other means.”

However, a Virginia judge issued an injunction to block that statue from coming down.

And on Wednesday, NASCAR announced that it would ban Confederate flags from its events. 

In a statement, NASCAR said, “The presence of the confederate flag at NASCAR events runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans, our competitors and our industry. Bringing people together around a love for racing and the community that it creates is what makes our fans and sport special.”

The statement added, “The display of the confederate flag will be prohibited from all NASCAR events and properties.”

President Donald Trump, however, says he will “not even consider” changing the names of military bases named after Confederate forces, as IJR reported.