‘Homage to hate’: Democrats cheer as statue to Confederate General Robert E. Lee is removed from US Capitol
A statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee has been removed from the Capitol. It will be moved to a museum and will likely be replaced with one of civil rights leader Barbara Johns. The move has prompted a polorizing response.
The statue was removed Monday morning by staff from the Architect of the Capitol. The proceedings were attended by Democratic members of Virginia’s congressional delegation: Senator Tim Kaine, Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton and a representative of Congressman Donald McEachin.
“The Robert E. Lee statue honors a legacy of division, oppression, and racism — a dark period in the history of our Commonwealth and our country,” Wexton and McEachin said in a joint statement. “There is no reason his statue should be one of the two representing Virginia in the US Capitol,” they added, calling the removal a “historic and long-overdue moment.”
Also on rt.com Richmond mayor demands ‘emergency’ removal of all Confederate statues on city land ahead of key council vote, citing ‘safety’House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) also commented on the statue being replaced, saying, “The statues within the Capitol should embody our highest ideals as Americans.” She condemned “the bigotry of the Confederacy,” adding that Congress “will continue our work to rid the Capitol of homages to hate.”
Online, however, reaction to the decision has been quite mixed.
Some argued that the statue being replaced was “erasing history,” while others wrote that it would have been better to destroy it. A few saw its removal from the Capitol as “very reasonable,” saying that no matter the historical connotations, “it should never have been there in the first place”.
The erasing of our history. The left continues its march to fundamentally change America. I’m a northerner by birth a Virginian by choice and am saddened that this is being done. The cowards in power who are doing this will be removing the living who offend them next. https://t.co/uyzCftHvFF
— Jamison (@jamisoncoppola) December 21, 2020
It is still history. It should be in the museum.
— Pro Aaron (@ProAaronzh) December 21, 2020
This is very reasonable. The statue should not be destroyed but there is no logic for it to be in the U.S. Capitol when Lee was not only part of the Confederacy but also never a member of the U.S. Congress or executive. It should never have been there in the first place
— Richard Splett (@therealsplett2) December 21, 2020
Lee’s statue was one of the two figures representing Virginia in the Capitol, and the decision to take it down was made by the state's General Assembly last week. It will be relocated to the Commonwealth’s Museum of History and Culture. The selection of a monument to civil rights leader Barbara Johns as a replacement, however, is yet to be approved.
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