(Washington) The US House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol in Washington, a measure that has yet to be approved by the Senate and President Donald Trump.
Posted on 22 July 2020 at 20 h 05
France Media Agency
The text adopted by the lower house of Congress (305 votes against 113) plans to “remove all statues of people who have chosen to serve the Confederate States of America from the United States Capitol,” where Congress sits.
During the Civil War (1861 – 1865), the Confederate South had gained its independence from the United States and was fighting to maintain slavery, which was abolished in the rest of the country.
Confederate flags and monuments are now often considered as symbols of racism, even if their supporters, conservatives, say they see in them a simple heritage of the country's history.
Since the death of George Floyd at the end of May, the United States have been engaged in a general questioning of their slavery past, and the pressure around Confederate monuments has only increased.
The American Congress has a dozen statues of Confederate officials.
“My ancestors built the Capitol, but yet there are monuments to the glory of the people who reduced my ancestors to slavery”, declared Wednesday the elected of California Karen Bass, head of the parliamentary group bringing together the black representatives.
PHOTO BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESS ARCHIVES
Karen Bass
These statues, she said, are “an acceptance of white supremacy and racism”.
The text, which received the support of 34 Republican representatives, must now be approved by the Senate , with a conservative majority.
The bill will then have to be promulgated by Republican President Donald Trump, who strongly opposed the removal of Confederate monuments.
