Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, departs the Capitol after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., appointed him to lead the new select committee to investigate the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, in Washington, Thursday, July 1, 2021. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
JACKSON, Miss. Mississippians find unity in bragging about the state's influence on American culture. The state prides itself on being birthplace of the blues and home of towering literary figures.
Yet, even as the nation reconsiders the public display of Confederate monuments amid a reckoning over issues of racial injustice, Mississippi a state with a 38% Black population still represents itself inside the U.S. Capitol with still-life images of Confederates.
Each state can have two figures in the Capitol's Statuary Hall collection, and Mississippi donated bronze statues of Jefferson Davis and James Zachariah George in 1931.
Davis served in the U.S. House and Senate from Mississippi before becoming president of the Confederacy. George was a member of Mississippi's Secession Convention in 1861, and he signed the secession ordinance that included these words: "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery the greatest material interest of the world."
On June 29, the Democratic-led U.S. House voted 285-120 in favor of a legislation "to remove all statues of individuals who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from display in the United States Capitol." The proposal awaits a vote in the Senate.
Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson is the only Black member of Mississippi's four-person House delegation, and he was the only of the four to vote in favor of mandating removal of Confederate statues.
Statues "of those who served in the Confederacy or supported slavery or segregation should not have a place of honor in the U.S. Capitol that's why I voted to #RemoveHate today," Thompson wrote that day on Twitter.
Republican Reps. Trent Kelly and Steven Palazzo voted against the legislation. Republican Rep. Michael Guest missed the vote because a family member had died and he was delayed returning to Washington. However, Kelly said in a statement that he had voted against a similar bill last year.
"I would be opposed to the federal government ordering or dictating Mississippi to remove those statues," Guest said in the statement.
Even among the states that tried to secede from the Union, Mississippi is the only with two Confederate figures in the Statuary Hall collection.
One of Alabama's statues is of a Confederate cavalry leader, "Fighting Joe" Wheeler. The other is Helen Keller, and the base of the statue includes an inscription in Braille.
One of Louisiana's statues is of Edward Douglass White, who was a U.S. Supreme Court justice from 1894 until his death in 1921, spending his final 11 years as chief justice. The other is of former Gov. Huey P. Long.
Virginia currently has one figure in Statuary Hall, and it is George Washington. In December, the state removed its statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that had stood in the nation's Capitol for 111 years.
"The Confederacy is a symbol of Virginia's racist and divisive history, and it is past time we tell our story with images of perseverance, diversity, and inclusion," Virginia's Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, said in a statement.
Guest pointed out in his statement that the legislature of each state already has the power to decide which statues to send to the Capitol.
Mississippi legislators have shown no appetite for this debate, but they took a landmark vote in June 2020 to retire the last state flag that included the Confederate battle emblem. They don't need to wait for a directive from Congress to start discussing other historical figures who could become Mississippi's still-life representatives.
They could consider civil rights leaders Medgar Evers or Fannie Lou Hamer.
The arts world offers several prominent Mississippians: B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Margaret Walker Alexander, Eudora Welty, Richard Wright and William Faulkner.
Read the original post:
Mississippi might have to rethink Confederate statues in US Capitol - Stars and Stripes
- Letter to the editor: Honor Black citizens with grand counterpoint to Confederate monument - The Augusta Chronicle - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- Graham Selby: Here's why the Confederate battle flag is offensive - Conway Daily Sun - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- Andy Schmookler: The issue of the Confederacy in America today - Northern Virginia Daily - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- Gwinnett County to vote today on removing Confederate monument in Lawrenceville - 11Alive.com WXIA - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- Name of Virginias Camp Pendleton will be changed from that of Confederate general; new recommendation due next month - WAVY.com - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- Debate to remove the Confederate Monument outside of the Iredell County Government Center - Greensboro News & Record - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- Confederate relics still standing at many Texas universities - The Texas Tribune - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- Review: How an ex-slave and a Confederate hero joined forces during the Jim Crow era - Waterbury Republican American - February 11th, 2021 [February 11th, 2021]
- The Real Reason the Confederate Flag Bothers Me | Opinion - Harvard Crimson - February 11th, 2021 [February 11th, 2021]
- An Atlanta Suburb Removed a Confederate Monument That Featured an Apparently Fake Winston Churchill Quote About Heritage - artnet News - February 11th, 2021 [February 11th, 2021]
- 2 Confederate statues were removed in Georgia within 3 days - CNN - February 11th, 2021 [February 11th, 2021]
- 6 Confederate memorials could be removed from the Texas Capitol if state bill passes - KXAN.com - April 20th, 2021 [April 20th, 2021]
- Local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp to hold memorial - The Albany Herald - April 20th, 2021 [April 20th, 2021]
- Allendale shouldnt have a Confederate statue any longer: Activists call for its immediate removal - MLive.com - May 29th, 2021 [May 29th, 2021]
- Social Studies: Hollywood economics, the power of Confederate street names, and untimely arrests - The Boston Globe - May 29th, 2021 [May 29th, 2021]
- The Confederate Flag A Symbol of Twisted Thinking - Voices of Monterey Bay - May 29th, 2021 [May 29th, 2021]
- There are 9 Confederate memorials among the military academies, but their fate is unknown - Military Times - May 29th, 2021 [May 29th, 2021]
- Death threats and the KKK: Inside a Black Alabaman's fight to remove a Confederate statue - Reuters - May 29th, 2021 [May 29th, 2021]
- Neo-Confederates worked with other far-right groups in failed efforts to preserve monuments - The Guardian - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- 'Drug deal gone bad' leads to shooting on Confederate Drive - Port City Daily - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- More heat in the West, Wimbledon finals, Confederate statues' removal: 5 things weekend - USA TODAY - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- Charlottesville Removes Confederate Statues That Sparked A Deadly Rally - NPR - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- Confederate flag enthusiast loses attempt to stop the return of beachfront property to the black family from which it was wrongly taken - Boing Boing - April 28th, 2022 [April 28th, 2022]
- Settlement reached after Jefferson City sued for removing Confederate-related stones - KOMU 8 - April 28th, 2022 [April 28th, 2022]
- The Wolf of Crypto and the Confederate Statue Remover: The Week in Narrated Articles - The New York Times - April 28th, 2022 [April 28th, 2022]
- Tennessee County Gets Permission to Remove Confederate Flag from Seal - The Root - April 28th, 2022 [April 28th, 2022]
- Williamsburgs historic Bruton Parish Episcopal Church to ... - April 28th, 2022 [April 28th, 2022]
- '53% Of' review examining the similarities on different sides of the aisle - New York Theatre Guide - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- What would you have done if a freedom seeker had knocked on your door? - York Daily Record - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- How to open your eyes to racism in the United States | Opinion - Deseret News - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Reactions to a post-Roe world and more Virginia headlines - Virginia Mercury - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Civil War buffs to gather Saturday in Westminster for annual commemoration of Corbit's Charge, a Civil War battle fought on Main Street - Baltimore... - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Fairfax could rename Lee Highway, other roads due to Confederate ties - FOX 5 DC - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- West Badin residents want street names linked to Confederacy renamed - The Stanly News & Press | The Stanly News & Press - Stanly News &... - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- CoastLine: Tony Rivenbark, 1948-2022: "All I've done is theater my whole life." - WHQR - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Warren Buffett's company part of historic deal after claims of racist jokes and redlining - Daily Kos - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- 62nd N.C. infantry: The remnant who fought on - The Mountaineer - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Confederate flag spurs Olmsted County rental change, but commissioners don't see need for further action - Rochester Post Bulletin - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- US Army division to keep patch referencing the Confederate Army - Fox News - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Oklahoma history: Why the Tribes sided with the Confederacy - Norman Transcript - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- WATCH LIVE: General counsel to meet with Jacksonville City Council over Confederate Monuments - Yahoo News - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- Council to consider limiting powers of the mayor after removal of Confederate statue | Jax Daily Record - Jacksonville Daily Record - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- Wisconsin was Home to a Confederate Spy, Thomas Jefferson's Illegitimate Son and a Failed Hollywood Producer - Shepherd Express - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- Gastonia's Confederate Monument: A Symbol of Division Amid Legal and Political Strife - BNN Breaking - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- Next battle: The Confederate monument bill that supposedly isn't about Confederate monuments - The Florida Times-Union - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- 'Are they trying to push people out of here?': Confederate flag with 'Welcome to Harrison' sign sparks debate - WCPO 9 Cincinnati - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- What those Confederate statues really symbolize - Tampa Bay Times - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]