The House Tuesday passed legislation to remove from the Capitol the bust of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, who authored an infamous pro-slavery decision, as well as to banish other Confederate statues.
The bill got bipartisan support with a 285 to 120 vote following speeches on the House floor on how white supremacists should not be glorified in the halls of Congress.
The House last July approved a similar measure to remove the statues of Gen. Robert E. Lee and other Confederate leaders in a 305-113 vote, but the legislation didn’t go anywhere in the GOP-controlled Senate and White House.
Backers are hoping this year the statue removal will gain more traction with Democrats in charge of the Senate and with President “The people’s house can never truly be for the people if it is lined with tributes to those who fought to continue the enslavement of Black people in this country,” said Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., one of the sponsors of the statue removal legislation. “My ancestors built this building. Imagine how they would feel knowing that more than 100 years after slavery was abolished in this country, we still pay homage to the very people that betrayed this country in order to keep my ancestors enslaved.”