Pelosi: Remove Confederate Statues From US Capitol 'Immediately'
SAN FRANCISCO (CBSLA.com/AP) - House Minority Leader and California Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi is calling for the removal of Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol.
Pelosi released a statement Thursday urging House Speaker Paul Ryan "to join Democrats to remove the Confederate statues from the Capitol immediately."
"There is no room for celebrating the violent bigotry of the men of the Confederacy in the hallowed halls of the United States Capitol or in places of honor across the country," said Pelosi.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) announced he would be introducing legislation on removing the dozen or so Confederate statues at the Capitol. The Senate is scheduled to reconvene in early September.
Pelosi's statement comes as another statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was defaced Thursday, this time at a chapel on the campus of Duke University in North Carolina.
Three people were reportedly arrested for the vandalism, which was directed at a Lee statue in the entryway to Duke Chapel. The statue had scuff marks on it and part of its nose was visibly damaged.
Lee's likeness is one of 10 historical figures lining the main entryway to the neo-Gothic church. The others include religious leaders and two other historical figures of the American South, Thomas Jefferson and poet Sidney Lanier.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
