Local pol introduces legislation to rename Confederate monuments

A Brooklyn congressmember announced on Thursday, August 17 legislation that serves to remove Confederate monuments from military bases.

Congressmember Yvette Clarke, who represents Brooklyn’s Ninth Congressional District, introduced the “Honoring Real Patriots Act of 2017,” which would mandate that the Department of Defense rename any military installation and property under its control that is currently named after individuals who either supported the Confederacy or fought against the United States during the Civil War.

“The time has come for the Army to remove from Fort Hamilton and other military installations the disgraced names of men who waged war against the United States to preserve the evil institution of slavery. Monuments to the Confederacy and its leaders have always represented white supremacy and a continuing attempt to deny the basic human rights of African Americans,” said Clarke.

The legislation comes in the wake of requests from Clarke and other local leaders to change the name of two streets in Bay Ridge’s Fort Hamilton Army Base that are named for Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. According to Clarke, the legislation is even more urgent due to the recent violence in Virginia.

“As recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia, have made perfectly clear, these monuments are nothing more than symbols of white supremacy and a pretext for the violent imposition of an evil ideology that should never have persisted into the 21st century,” said Clarke.

The bill is co-sponsored by Congressmembers Jerrold Nadler,  Nydia Velázquez, Hakeem Jeffries, Frank Pallone, Jose Serrano, Gregory Meeks, Sean Patrick Maloney, Grace Meng, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Adriano Espaillat, among others.

Click here to read a copy of the bill.