Republican lawmakers in Georgia appear ready to cave and work with Democrats on the removal of yet another Confederate statue.
“The state legislative effort to remove the figure of Alexander Stephens from the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol and replace it with a likeness of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis will begin in earnest on Wednesday with a bipartisan resolution promoting the change,” according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Lewis passed away in July.
Alexander Stephens was the Vice President of the Confederacy, but it appears that his days are numbered in the National Statuary Hall, where each state is allowed two statues.
The legislation to erase Confederate history, introduced by Rep. Al Williams (D-Midway), is being co-sponsored by House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), who previously spoke in favor of removing Stephens’ statue.
“I like the idea very much,” Ralston reportedly said. “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.”
The change would require approval from Gov. Brian Kemp (R). Kemp voiced his support for erecting a statue of Lewis in the Capitol in July.
“Today, we honored the life of Congressman John Lewis. By putting his statue in the U.S. Capitol, we can celebrate his legacy of service for years to come,” he said on Twitter.
Today, we honored the life of Congressman John Lewis. By putting his statue in the U.S. Capitol, we can celebrate his legacy of service for years to come. pic.twitter.com/ekHzmsl7JO
— Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) July 30, 2020
Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, also a Republican, said shortly after Lewis’ death that he would support replacing Stephens with Lewis, too, noting that it is “time for our state to be represented in the National Statuary Hall by a figure that aligns with our state’s core values — that all are created equal — and I’ll advocate for that figure to be Rep. John Lewis.”
The all-out assault on Confederate history is another issue on which most Republicans have utterly failed.
A few years ago, members of Antifa, a radical left terrorist group, began popularizing the defacement and destruction of Confederate history in the name of “racial justice.” In one prime example, Antifa rioters at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill tore down the school’s famous Silent Sam statue. That statue was erected to honor ordinary, anonymous Confederate soldier.
President Donald J. Trump is perhaps the sole Republican who has taken concrete measures to defend America’s historical monuments.
Last summer, he signed an executive order prioritizing the prosecution “to the fullest extent permitted under Federal law, and as appropriate, any person or any entity that destroys, damages, vandalizes, or desecrates a monument, memorial, or statue within the United States or otherwise vandalizes government property.”
“Anarchists and left-wing extremists have sought to advance a fringe ideology that paints the United States of America as fundamentally unjust and have sought to impose that ideology on Americans through violence and mob intimidation,” the order said. “They have led riots in the streets, burned police vehicles, killed and assaulted government officers as well as business owners defending their property, and even seized an area within one city where law and order gave way to anarchy. During the unrest, innocent citizens also have been harmed and killed.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Georgia Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
