There is one thing to recognizing that there are some parts to your history that are not the best and then there is the whole notion of acting like it didn’t exist.
That is something that nobody should ever do. Let’s face it, the Civil War was not exactly our nation’s shining moment but there were a lot of people on the other side of that thing that got caught up in it.
They did it for loyalty to their state, which was a much bigger thing then than it is now. Which is why if the government forgave them, we should do the same.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she is ordering the removal from the Capitol of portraits honoring four previous House speakers who served in the Confederacy.
In a letter to the House clerk, Pelosi ordered the immediate removal of portraits depicting the former speakers Robert Hunter of Virginia, James Orr of South Carolina and Howell Cobb and Charles Crisp, both of Georgia. The portraits were to be removed later Thursday.
Calling the halls of Congress “the very heart of our democracy,″ Pelosi said, “There is no room in the hallowed halls of Congress or in any place of honor for memorializing men who embody the violent bigotry and grotesque racism of the Confederacy.″
Pelosi noted that Friday is Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when many African-Americans learned of the end of slavery.
She called Juneteenth “a beautiful and proud celebration of freedom for African Americans” and noted that this year’s celebration comes “during a moment of extraordinary national anguish, as we grieve for the hundreds of Black Americans killed by racial injustice and police brutality, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and so many others.”
Orr, who served as speaker from 1857-59, swore on the House floor to “preserve and perpetuate” slavery in order to “enjoy our property in peace, quiet and security,” Pelosi wrote in her letter.
