On Thursday at her weekly briefing, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed the entire Confederacy as the embodiment of “violent bigotry and grotesque racism” in the condemnation of four ex-Speakers who served in the Confederacy. She’s ordered the immediate removal of Robert Hunter of Virginia, Howell Cobb of Georgia, James Orr of South Carolina and Charles Crisp of Georgia.
“To appropriately observe Juneteenth this year, I write today to request the immediate removal of the portraits in the U.S. Capitol of four previous Speakers who served in the Confederacy: Robert Hunter of Virginia (1839-1841), Howell Cobb of Georgia (1849-1851), James Orr of South Carolina (1857-1859), and Charles Crisp of Georgia (1891-1895),” Pelosi wrote to the Johnson.
“The portraits of these men are symbols that set back our nation’s work to confront and combat bigotry,” she added.
The action is the latest effort by Pelosi to rid the Capitol of relics that celebrate Confederate icons. Her pursuit started during her first speakership when she successfully moved a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee down to the crypt.
Pelosi is also trying to remove 11 Confederate statues from the Capitol but needs others to sign off. However, Pelosi does have the power to move statues around and she’s open to relegating the statues to dark corners of the Capitol if she can’t get them removed.
Confederate statues across the nation have come down in rapid succession in recent weeks in the wake of the death of George Floyd and flood of protests demanding racial justice. Pelosi mentioned the names of black Americans who recently died in her letter requesting the removal of the confederate portraits on Juneteenth.
#BREAKING: Speaker Nancy Pelosi orders Confederate portraits in Capitol removed: "In observance of [Juneteenth] I've sent a letter… to remove the portraits of 4 previous Speakers of the House who served in the Confederacy." pic.twitter.com/fdosCXtk3L
— The Hill (@thehill) June 18, 2020
Source: Fox News
Are they going to remover her portrait also? Maybe just her….