Sen. Cory Booker says he plans to introduce bill to remove Confederate statues from Capitol
— -- Senator Cory Booker on Wednesday said he would introduce legislation to remove Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol building.
Booker, D-New Jersey, announced his plans on Twitter, but he did not layout a timeline for the proposal.
"I will be introducing a bill to remove Confederate statues from the US Capitol building," he tweeted. "This is just one step. We have much work to do."
The Capitol building’s National Statuary Hall Collection features at least a dozen monuments that honor Confederate soldiers and politicians, according to records maintained by the Architect of the Capitol.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have also called for the monuments to be removed from the Capitol.
“We will never solve America's race problem if we continue to honor traitors who fought against the United States in order to keep African Americans in chains. By the way, thank god, they lost," CBC Chairman Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-Louisiana, told ABC News in a statement on Monday.
Booker’s announcement comes in wake of a violent weekend protest in Charlottesville, Virginia -- which began in protest of the planned removal of a monument of Confederate General Robert E. Lee -- that left one dead and 19 injured after a car-ramming attack. Police arrested James Alex Fields, 20, and charged him with second-degree murder in the incident.
Confederate monuments are being removed around the country under pressure from those who consider them symbols of racism and white supremacy.
Four Confederate-era monuments were removed late Tuesday night and early Wednesday in Baltimore, Maryland, and the governors of Virginia and North Carolina requested the removal of Confederate monuments in their states this week.
President Donald Trump, however, has pushed back against the initiatives to remove the memorials, saying the removal of such monuments is "changing history."
“This week it's Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder is it George Washington next week and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?” Trump said in a press conference on Tuesday.
