West Virginia’s three congressional delegates voted against removing statues representing former Confederates from their current display at the U.S. Capitol.
The bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 285-120. Democrats unanimously supported the bill and were joined by 67 Republicans.
Among the figures honored at the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall are Jefferson Davis and Alexander Hamilton Stephens, the president and vice president of the Confederacy. About a dozen statues could be affected if the bill passes the Senate.
The bill calls on a joint congressional committee with oversight of the National Statuary Hall Collection “to remove all statues of individuals who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from display in the United States Capitol, and for other purposes.”
States are invited to provide and furnish at least two statues of deceased people considered “illustrious for their historic renown or for distinguished civic or military services.”
Language in the bill would revise the current guidance after the military services provision to say “other than persons who served voluntarily in the military forces of the Confederate States of America or in the military forces or government of a State while the State was in rebellion against the United States.”
“I absolutely think it’s the right decision,” said David Fryson, a West Virginia civil rights leader on MetroNews’ “Talkline.” “I think it’s been a long time coming.”
Fryson added, “Those positions at the Capitol are positions of honor in terms of our Democracy, and to have a Confederate statue there that was actually in opposition to the Democracy as we know it, I think it’s the right thing. I am extremely disappointed that the northern state of West Virginia, all three of our representatives voted against it.”
.@Dfry45 speaks with @HoppyKercheval about the vote by the House of Representatives to remove confederate statues from U.S. Capitol grounds. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/FAR9UqCtow
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) June 30, 2021
West Virginia has one of the statues that would be affected. John E. Kenna, one of West Virginia’s statues, was a Kanawha County native who joined the Confederate Army at age 16. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and then to the U.S. Senate before dying at age 45. His statue was erected in the Hall of Columns in 1901.
Congressman David McKinley, R-W.Va., voted against the bill. A statement from McKinley’s office said he wants to keep decisions of who to honor with the states.
“Each state was allowed to place two statues in Statuary Hall. Congress should not usurp the authority of states,” stated McKinley, who represents West Virginia’s 1st Congressional District. “If the West Virginia legislature chooses to replace John E. Kenna with another statue, that is within their authority. Several other states are already considering replacing theirs.”
Representatives Alex Mooney and Carol Miller, also Republicans from West Virginia, voted against the bill too.
They cited states’ rights.
“Rep. Miller voted against the bill because this is a process between states, the Architect of the Capitol, and the Joint Committee on the Library,” Miller’s office stated.
“This was yet another messaging bill that House Democrats pushed to try to gain political points on an issue that Rep. Miller, and her Republican and Democrat colleagues alike, already agree on – There is no place for racism in America.”
Mooney took a similar position.
“I voted against Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats’ effort to remove statues individual states sent to be honored in the Capitol. It is up to individual states to decide which statutes they want to be presented in the Capitol, not Nancy Pelosi and the ever-changing standards of political correctness from the Left,” Mooney stated.
West Virginia’s other statue at the U.S. Capitol depicts Francis Harrison Pierpont, known as “The Father of West Virginia.” Pierpont was governor of the Restored Government of Virginia, representing Union-occupied counties during the Civil War and prior to West Virginia’s establishment as an independent state. His statue was placed in Statuary Hall in 1910.
Statues to be removed would go back to the states that sent them. The statue of Jefferson Davis, for example, would be returned to Mississippi.
Some states have been working already to replace statues. For example, North Carolina has plans to replace a statue of Charles Aycock, a former governor and white supremacist, with one of the Rev. Billy Graham. Removed from the Capitol last year was Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. A state commission in Virginia decided that Lee was not a fitting symbol.
Proceedings for the donation of a statue usually begin in the state legislature with a resolution naming the citizen to be commemorated and citing qualifications, specifying a committee or commission to represent the state in selecting a sculptor, and laying out how to pay for the statue.
The bill [assed by Congress would also replace a bust of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, the author of the 1857 Dred Scott ruling that Black people lacked the rights of citizens, with one of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American justice to serve on the high court.
“If Congress opts to replace Chief Justice Roger B. Taney with Thurgood Marshall that’s within their jurisdiction,” Congressman McKinley stated.