The US House of Representatives voted on Wednesday July 22 to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol in Washington, a measure that still needs to be approved by the Senate and President Donald Trump.
The text adopted by the lower house of Congress (305 votes to 113) provides “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 gained its independence from the United States and fought to retain 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, explain that they see them as a mere legacy of the country’s history.
“An acceptance of white supremacy”
Since the death of George Floyd at the end of May, the United States has been engaged in a general questioning of its slave past, and the pressure around Confederate monuments has only increased.
The US Congress has a dozen statues of Confederate officials.
“My ancestors built the Capitol, but yet there are monuments to the glory of those who reduced my ancestors to slavery”, declared Wednesday the elected of California Karen Bass, at the head of the parliamentary group gathering the black representatives. These statues, she said, are “An acceptance of white supremacy and racism”.
The text, which received the support of 73 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.
