After a year of racial reckoning, Black lawmakers believe they can finally eliminate Confederate

[TexasTowelie]

After a year of racial reckoning, Black lawmakers believe they can finally eliminate Confederate Heroes Day in Texas

by Neelam Bohra, Texas Tribune


The day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday honoring a leader of the American civil rights movement, some Texas employees will also take a paid day off this Tuesday for Confederate Heroes Day — a state holiday falling on Robert E. Lee’s birthday, intended to celebrate him, Jefferson Davis and other Confederate soldiers.

For years, a handful of Texas lawmakers have tried in vain to pass legislation that would remove or replace the holiday celebrating leaders of the Confederate army.

But they say this year feels different.

Demonstrators across the nation spent months over the summer protesting police brutality and racial injustice, leading many states to initiate mass removals of Confederate memorials.

“The killing of George Floyd, a Texan, and the killing of Atatiana Jefferson, another Texan, at the hands of law enforcement, certainly do underscore the importance of removing a day of remembrance that brings to the mind slavery and oppression,” said state Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, chairperson of the Legislative Black Caucus.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/01/15/texas-legislature-confederate-heroes-day/

[efhmc]

1. This Texan wants that "holiday" gone.