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Virginia Governor Calls For Removing Statue of Robert E. Lee From U.S. Capitol

   DailyWire.com
A statue of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee is seen in the crypt of the US Capitol in Washington, DC on August 24, 2017.
Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

In late December, Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam joined two Democratic members of Congress in demanding that the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee be removed from the United States Capitol building. The statue, located in the U.S. Capitol Crypt as part of 100 statues honoring two people from each state, is joined by a statue of George Washington as the two people representing Virginia.

The Hill reported, “The governor filed a drafting request for legislation that would outline a process to remove the statue on Monday, Dec. 23, in addition to choosing a replacement for the confederate leader, Northam spokeswoman Alena Yarmosky confirmed to The Hill in a statement.”

Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) and A. Donald McEachin (D-VA) had penned a letter to Northam urging the Statuary Hall Collection to remove Lee’s statue. They wrote:

The statue of Lee, which depicts him in his Confederate uniform, was donated by the Commonwealth during the period from 1900 to the 1930s when dozens of Confederate monuments were erected across the country. These statues aimed to rewrite Lee’s reputation from that of a cruel slave owner and Confederate General to portraying him as a kind man and reluctant war hero

After citing Virginia’s history, the representatives continued, “The ramifications of this institutionalized racism are still seen today through racial disparities in income, health care, schooling, and many other areas in the Commonwealth.”

The representatives discussed various individuals in Virginia’s history whom they thought more deserving of the honor than Lee, then continued:

There are countless commendable Virginians who would better represent our Commonwealth in the U.S. Capitol than a Confederate General, including the Virginians mentioned above. To that end, we urge you to include the replacement of the Robert E. Lee statue in the U.S. Capitol as part of your agenda for the 2020 Legislative Session.

They concluded:

As part of this responsibility, we must strive for a more complete telling of history by raising up the voices, stories, and memories of minorities and people of color. In doing so, we should consider what monuments we can add to acknowledge the horrors of slavery, expose the injustices of institutional racism, and honor those who dedicated their lives to fighting for equality.

As outlined in the attached Procedures and Guidelines for Replacement of Statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection by the Architect of the Capitol, the current replacement procedure calls for authorizing legislation to be passed through the General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor. The request must then be communicated to the Architect of the Capitol. Several southern states have recently utilized this process to replace their state’s statutes in the collection; Alabama and Florida have each removed statues honoring Confederate military officials, and Florida and Arkansas are adding statues depicting civil rights activists Mary McLeod Bethune and Daisy Bates.

Our offices are ready to work with you to move Virginia forward.

Yarmosky stated, “ … we look forward to continuing to work with them and all others who are committed to making Virginia open, inclusive, and equitable.”

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