Replacing Bust of Roger Brooke Taney with Bust of Thurgood Marshall

Floor Speech

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Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, let me first thank the gentleman for yielding and for his tremendous leadership and constantly reminding us of the accurate accounting of the United States' history.

Also, I thank our Speaker; our majority leader; our whip, Mr. Clyburn; Chairwoman Bass; Chairman Bennie Thompson; and, of course, Congressman Butterfield for moving this legislation forward with the urgency that it requires.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7573, which would remove shameful reminders of slavery and segregation from the United States Capitol.

Now, in 2017, in the wake of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, I introduced the Confederate Monument Removal Act to remove all statues of people who voluntarily served the Confederacy from the Capitol building. So, thank you for including this in this current bill.

Venerating those who took up arms against the United States to preserve slavery is an affront to the human dignity of all Americans. These painful symbols of bigotry and racism have no place in public places--certainly should not be enshrined in the United States Capitol.

It is past time for Congress to stop glorifying the men who were traitors and committed treason against the United States in a concerted effort to keep African Americans in chains.

The movement to honor Confederate soldiers was a deliberate act to rewrite the very history of the United States and humanize acts designed to dehumanize African Americans. They are symbols of hatred and defiance of Federal authority and should not be held in a place of honor in the United States Capitol.

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Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, I conclude by saying this: In this moment, the horrors of systemic racism are front and center, and the manifestations are before the public each and every day. The removal of the Confederate statues from the United States Capitol is an important step in dismantling the systems that hold us back.

As a descendant of enslaved Americans from Galveston, Texas, and enslaved human beings, I thank you for this bill, and I ask for an ``aye'' vote.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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