Pingree, King: States should reconsider Confederate statues in the U.S. Capitol
Source: Bangor Daily News
Two members of Maine’s congressional delegation said this week that southern states should consider replacing statues of Confederate figures in the U.S. Capitol following last weekend’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The weekend’s events started as a white nationalist protest against removing a statue of Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general during the American Civil War. On Saturday, a car allegedly driven by a Nazi sympathizer plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one. Two state troopers were also killed in a helicopter crash.
That has fueled more talk of removing more statues of Confederate figures, including 12 in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall. Each state gets two statues and those honored are selected by state legislatures. Maine is represented by its first governor, William King, and Hannibal Hamlin, who was Abraham Lincoln’s first vice president.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, announced that he’ll submit a bill to remove the confederate statues. But some Republicans, including President Donald Trump and Gov. Paul LePage, have said removing statues is an affront to history.
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Read more: http://stateandcapitol.bangordailynews.com/2017/08/18/pingree-king-states-should-reconsider-confederate-statues-in-the-u-s-capitol/
