Georgia House to consider replacing Confederate statue with statue of John Lewis
Source: The Hill
A bipartisan push in the Georgia legislature would replace a statue of Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens with one of the late congressman and civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall.
State House Speaker David Ralston (R) will co-sponsor the measure with state Rep. Al Williams (D), according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The effort has secured bipartisan support among Georgia's Congressional delegation as well, with U.S. Reps. Tom Graves (R) and Sanford Bishop (D) both writing in support of it, according to the newspaper.
Gov. Brian Kemp (R) would have to approve the switch, but he has previously expressed support, as has Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R), the president of the state Senate.
"I like the idea [of changing the statues] very much," Ralston said last July shortly after Lewis's death. "I always admired Congressman Lewis and told him so many times. Georgia has a long history, so much more than just the Civil War, and John Lewis has been an important part of that."
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/georgia-house-to-consider-replacing-confederate-statue-with-statue-of-john-lewis/ar-BB1cIGNL?li=BBnbfcQ&ocid=DELLDHP
Glorfindel
(9,726 posts)As an added bonus, Speaker Ralston is my state representative. I have known him and his family all my life. Now, if he'd just switch from rePuke to the Democratic Party, that would be great! Somebody is going to have to write a book: "Georgia - the Great Re-Awakening."
brer cat
(24,560 posts)K&R
secondwind
(16,903 posts)Phoenix61
(17,003 posts)onetexan
(13,036 posts)have relatives in Atlanta area.
packman
(16,296 posts)Stephens delivered the notorious 1861 "Cornerstone Speech," in which he explicitly described chattel slavery and white supremacy as foundational to the Confederacy.
Several states have switched out statues of Confederate figures in the hall over the years, including most recently Virginia's statue of Robert E. Lee. Virginia lawmakers voted to replace Lee with Barbara Rose Johns Powell, a plaintiff in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education civil rights case.
Yeehah
(4,587 posts)Let's start honoring those who deserve it and stop honoring traitorous scum.
marble falls
(57,079 posts)... become a lightening rod.
But we sure can not back down now.