Just to set up a timeline, it was 2015 when then-Gov. Nikki Haley ordered the Confederate flag flying on the State House grounds in South Carolina taken down, which is the first we remember of Confederate imagery becoming a front-page national issue. (CNN even put up one of its famous countdown clocks.) It took until August 2017 for Rep. Nancy Pelosi to issue a statement calling on then-Speaker Paul Ryan to remove all of the Confederate statues from the Capitol Building.
“The Confederate statues in the halls of Congress have always been reprehensible,” Pelosi wrote, adding that if Republicans were serious about rejecting white supremacy, they’d do it right away. Seeing as Pelosi’s been in Congress since the late ’80s, it’s funny she’d wait until 2017 to declare that the statues had always been reprehensible. It wasn’t until this summer when she had the potraits of former speakers who were Confederates taken down (failing to mention that they were all Democrats).
Now it’s closing in on 2021, and Gov. Ralph Northam of all people is pleased to announced that Virginia’s statue of General Robert E. Lee has been removed from the U.S. Capitol.
Last night, Virginia removed its statue of Robert E. Lee from the U.S. Capitol.
This is an important step forward—it is past time we tell our story with images of perseverance, diversity, and inclusion. pic.twitter.com/zyR99ukiIz
— Ralph Northam (@GovernorVA) December 21, 2020
Speaking of images of inclusion …
Just a periodic reminder that Ralph Northam dressed up in both Klan regalia and blackface so often that he couldn't remember which person he was in a photo of him featuring both. pic.twitter.com/ZHEIbSIaeL
— InTheRightColumn (@TheRightColumn) December 21, 2020
Recommended
Oh, okay, Governor Blackface.
— Gran Kraken (@GranTweets2) December 21, 2020
Does the story include blackface and Klan hoods or nah?
— Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) December 21, 2020
Now if we can just get people who wore blackface removed from Virginia #BLM
— President Elect Doctor Kraken (@Victory58269666) December 21, 2020
Still can't get the Lee Monument down, eh Ralph? lol
— The ?FOO (@PolitiBunny) December 21, 2020
He never will. If they try, ownership of the property reverts to the family that donated it.
— ParsingAmerica (@NoChromeHD) December 21, 2020
Getting rid of a perspective of history held by millions…
….is “inclusion”.
GFY, blackface.
— oregano (@chucktowngent) December 21, 2020
This doesn’t actually fix any of the REAL issues.
— Mrs. Holly Jolly???? (@Keomaste) December 21, 2020
Not sure what this does other than show a clear lack of diversity. Lee, Aristotle, Obama, Churchill all uniquely different people settled in very different times. They live on in history. A statue can be many things. A reminder. Art. Honor. Not petty grandstanding.
— Peter La Seau (@la_seau) December 21, 2020
Can I have it for my front yard?
— ??Gina?? (@NrsLaLee00) December 21, 2020
Can I have it. I wanna have it in my living room to show my Dixie pride
— Locus Ambulare (@Locus_Ambulare) December 21, 2020
I wonder what they do with all these statues just leave em in a closet?
— Alexander M. (@MannMang) December 21, 2020
Apparently it’s going into a museum where it can be placed in the proper context.
Related:
Working group put together by DC’s mayor recommends removing, relocating, or ‘contextualizing’ these statues and memorials https://t.co/3ZZavgYjA6
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 1, 2020
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