Senator Cory Booker on Wednesday said he would introduce new legislation to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol building in Washington.
“I will be introducing a bill to remove Confederate statues from the US Capitol building,” he tweeted. “This is just one step. We have much work to do.”
His comment comes days after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va. turned violent. The rally was in protest of the planned removal of a monument of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The day left one dead and 19 injured after James A. Fields rammed his car into a group of peaceful counter protesters.
The Capitol building’s National Statuary Hall Collection holds over a dozen statues honoring Confederate soldiers and politicians, ABC News reports.
The process of removing these statues is already occurring around the country. The governors of Virginia and North Carolina have asked for the removal of Confederate monuments in their states. And Baltimore took down four Confederate-era monuments in the dead of night this week.
But President Trump does not agree. “This week it’s Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down,” he said during his shocking press conference on Tuesday. “I wonder is it George Washington next week and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after?
“You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?”