ONLY IF SHE IS SPANKING A WHITE BOY OVER HER KNEE
Ariana Baio
Fri, June 14, 2024
Hakeem Jeffries condemned his Republican colleagues who attempted to restore a Confederate statue (AP)
Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House, reprimanded 192 of his Republican colleagues who voted in favor of restoring a Confederate statue, depicting a Black “mammy,” in Arlington National Cemetary — calling the decision “shameful.”
“What is this rationale?” Jeffries said in a news conference on Friday. “In a time where America is facing a dangerous world with challenges all across the globe, to decide you want to restore a confederate monument to Arlington National Cemetary.”
On Thursday evening, the group of House Republicans, led by Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, voted to restore the Reconciliation Monument as part of an amendment to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. But the measure ultimately failed with a 192-230 vote.
The statue, which was taken down in December, was commemorative of the Confederacy and features a Black “mammy” holding the child of a white officer. Black “mammies” were stereotypical portrayals of enslaved women in the American South who were depicted as happy and loyal to white families.
“What exactly is the confederate tradition that extreme MAGA republicans, in 2024, are upholding and you want to use the National Defense Authorization Act to turn back the clock on progress that has been made,” Jeffries said on Friday.
He added, “Is it slavery, rape, kidnap, Jim Crow, lynching, racial oppression or all of the above?”
Jeffries specially called out his Republican colleagues from New York — Anthony D’Esposito, Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams — for voting in favor of the amendment.
“In the United States of America, it’s shameful,” Jeffries said.
The Confederate statue in Arlington was one of many around the country that were re-evaluated after a national push to remove or rename monuments that commemorate the Confederacy.
The National Museum of African American History & Culture says that the presence of Confederate statues highlights “the honor and virtue of the Confederacy” and frames the South’s struggle as one “against a federal government infringing on its rights” while ignoring the key role that the issue of slavery played.
“What’s lost in this story is what the south was also fighting for: the protection of a true, white America,” the museum says.
Workers dismantle the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery December 20, 2023, in Arlington, Virginia (AFP via Getty Images)
In response to Jeffries, Clyde released a statement saying it “pains” him “to see the fabric of our nation unraveling and the history of our country crumbling by the day.”
“Many founding principles and symbols that make the United States the greatest country in the world have been demonized to sow discord for nefarious political gain,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constituion.
Clyde called the removal of the Reconciliation Monument a “powerful example of this deliberate division.”
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Don Beyer, of Virginia, denounced his Republican colleagues’ attempt to hold onto a “humilating portrayal” of enslaved people.
“Today is not the 1920s, it’s not the 1950s, so it’s so disheartening to see a lost cause amendment come before the House in the year 2024,” Beyer said.
He added, “An enslaved woman is depicted as a mammy. She is holding the infant child of a white officer, and an enslaved man is following his owner to war. It is very difficult to see how the humiliating portrayal of a slave woman and a slave man represents reconciliation.”
230-192: A GOP-sponsored effort to restore a Confederate monument to Arlington National Cemetery fails in the House.
The Recount
Fri, June 14, 2024
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday rejected an effort to restore a Confederate monument to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia by a 230-192 vote.
Twenty-four Republicans, including two of the four Black House Republicans, joined all present Democrats to vote down an amendment from Rep. Andrew Clyde that would have restored the Confederate memorial to one of the country’s major military cemeteries. The Georgia Republican introduced the amendment to the House’s $883 billion defense programs and policy bill for the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act.
The monument, first constructed in 1914 and removed in 2023, depicts a Black woman tending to the child of a Confederate soldier. Its relocation was recommended by a Department of Defense commission, which began in 2021 in the wake of the 2020 racial justice protests and has also been responsible for renaming formerly Confederate-named military bases. With the vote’s failure, the monument is set to be moved to a nearby historical park.
Almost 9 In 10 House Republicans Voted To Put A Confederate Memorial Back At Arlington National Cemetery
Fri, June 14, 2024
Hakeem Jeffries condemned his Republican colleagues who attempted to restore a Confederate statue (AP)
Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House, reprimanded 192 of his Republican colleagues who voted in favor of restoring a Confederate statue, depicting a Black “mammy,” in Arlington National Cemetary — calling the decision “shameful.”
“What is this rationale?” Jeffries said in a news conference on Friday. “In a time where America is facing a dangerous world with challenges all across the globe, to decide you want to restore a confederate monument to Arlington National Cemetary.”
On Thursday evening, the group of House Republicans, led by Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, voted to restore the Reconciliation Monument as part of an amendment to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. But the measure ultimately failed with a 192-230 vote.
The statue, which was taken down in December, was commemorative of the Confederacy and features a Black “mammy” holding the child of a white officer. Black “mammies” were stereotypical portrayals of enslaved women in the American South who were depicted as happy and loyal to white families.
“What exactly is the confederate tradition that extreme MAGA republicans, in 2024, are upholding and you want to use the National Defense Authorization Act to turn back the clock on progress that has been made,” Jeffries said on Friday.
He added, “Is it slavery, rape, kidnap, Jim Crow, lynching, racial oppression or all of the above?”
Jeffries specially called out his Republican colleagues from New York — Anthony D’Esposito, Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams — for voting in favor of the amendment.
“In the United States of America, it’s shameful,” Jeffries said.
The Confederate statue in Arlington was one of many around the country that were re-evaluated after a national push to remove or rename monuments that commemorate the Confederacy.
The National Museum of African American History & Culture says that the presence of Confederate statues highlights “the honor and virtue of the Confederacy” and frames the South’s struggle as one “against a federal government infringing on its rights” while ignoring the key role that the issue of slavery played.
“What’s lost in this story is what the south was also fighting for: the protection of a true, white America,” the museum says.
Workers dismantle the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery December 20, 2023, in Arlington, Virginia (AFP via Getty Images)
In response to Jeffries, Clyde released a statement saying it “pains” him “to see the fabric of our nation unraveling and the history of our country crumbling by the day.”
“Many founding principles and symbols that make the United States the greatest country in the world have been demonized to sow discord for nefarious political gain,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constituion.
Clyde called the removal of the Reconciliation Monument a “powerful example of this deliberate division.”
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Don Beyer, of Virginia, denounced his Republican colleagues’ attempt to hold onto a “humilating portrayal” of enslaved people.
“Today is not the 1920s, it’s not the 1950s, so it’s so disheartening to see a lost cause amendment come before the House in the year 2024,” Beyer said.
He added, “An enslaved woman is depicted as a mammy. She is holding the infant child of a white officer, and an enslaved man is following his owner to war. It is very difficult to see how the humiliating portrayal of a slave woman and a slave man represents reconciliation.”
230-192: A GOP-sponsored effort to restore a Confederate monument to Arlington National Cemetery fails in the House.
The Recount
Fri, June 14, 2024
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday rejected an effort to restore a Confederate monument to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia by a 230-192 vote.
Twenty-four Republicans, including two of the four Black House Republicans, joined all present Democrats to vote down an amendment from Rep. Andrew Clyde that would have restored the Confederate memorial to one of the country’s major military cemeteries. The Georgia Republican introduced the amendment to the House’s $883 billion defense programs and policy bill for the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act.
The monument, first constructed in 1914 and removed in 2023, depicts a Black woman tending to the child of a Confederate soldier. Its relocation was recommended by a Department of Defense commission, which began in 2021 in the wake of the 2020 racial justice protests and has also been responsible for renaming formerly Confederate-named military bases. With the vote’s failure, the monument is set to be moved to a nearby historical park.
Almost 9 In 10 House Republicans Voted To Put A Confederate Memorial Back At Arlington National Cemetery
Jonathan Nicholson
Updated Fri, June 14, 2024
The overwhelming majority of House Republicans voted to have a memorial to Confederate soldiers reinstalled at Arlington National Cemetery, drawing a sharp rebuke from Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Congress’ highest-ranking Black lawmaker.
The vote Thursday was on an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that’s seen as a must-pass piece of legislation. It would have required the secretary of the Army to reinstall the memorial in its original location in the nation’s most celebrated military veteran graveyard and not designate it as anything other than a “reconciliation” memorial or monument.
The amendment, though, failed to get a majority, as Democrats voted unanimously against it and were joined by 24 GOP House members. But 192 Republicans, or about 87% of the party in the House, voted in favor, drawing fire Friday morning from Jeffries.
“What is the rationale?” he asked, dismissing arguments proponents had made about the historical role of the monument.
“What Confederate tradition are you upholding? Is it slavery? Rape? Kidnap? Jim Crow? Lynching? Racial oppression? Or all of the above? What exactly is the Confederate tradition that extreme [Make America Great Again] Republicans in 2024 are upholding?”
A defense policy bill that passed over then-President Donald Trump’s veto in the waning days of his administration required the monument’s removal.
The art piece was unveiled in 1914 and sculpted by a Confederate veteran, Moses Jacob Ezekiel. Made of bronze and resting on a 32-foot granite pedestal, it featured a woman symbolizing the South holding a laurel wreath, a plow handle and a pruning hook, a reference to the biblical promise of a time when swords would be turned into plowshares.
Below her was a frieze of 32 figures, which “depict mythical gods alongside Southern soldiers and civilians,” according to the cemetery’s website. Among those figures are a Confederate soldier handing off his infant to an enslaved African American woman for caretaking and an enslaved man in uniform following his owner into battle.
In December 2023, the bronze elements making up most of the memorial were removed while the now-empty granite pedestal was left intact to avoid disturbing graves nearby.
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), the amendment’s sponsor, said on the House floor that the memorial had been intended to help bring Americans together and had historical significance.
“Let us unite against the destruction of our history. Let us fight for the principles of healing and unity, which is exactly what this memorial was created to accomplish,” he said.
Asked about Jeffries’ criticism Friday, Clyde said calling the sculpture a Confederate memorial was unfair.
“If you go back and you look at the speeches when that monument was dedicated, you will see it was all about unity, healing,” he said. “That’s what it was about. And to say anything else is disingenuous. And honestly, a flat-out lie.”
Arlington National Cemetery, however, begs to differ, calling the monument simply a “Confederate Memorial” on its website and noting its “highly sanitized depictions of slavery.”
In the debate on the amendment, Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.) said the memorial’s dedication in 1914, well after the Civil War and Reconstruction, and its subject matter show it was not meant to be unifying.
“When this monument was placed, the gentleman said it was for reconciliation, but for who? Not for the Black Americans who saw that monument then, and even today, and see the images of a mammy and a loyal slave following his master into battle. They know what that means,” she said.
“It conjures up the stereotypes that were used to help build the lie of white supremacy, and the stereotypes that were used to help convince Black people to stay in their place,” McClellan said.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) agreed.
“It is very difficult to see how the humiliating portrayal of a slave woman and a slave man represents reconciliation,” he said.
Arthur Delaney contributed reporting.
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