Senate Joint Resolution
No. 14
CHAPTER 240
Relative to Confederate names and statues.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 11, 2018.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 14, Glazer.
Confederate names and statues.
This measure would urge the Congress and the President of the United States to rename any federal buildings, parks, roadways, highway markers, landmarks, or other federally owned property, such as United States military bases, that bear the names of elected or military leaders of the Confederate States of America and would urge the Congress that statues or busts of elected or military leaders of the Confederate States of America in the United States Capitol be removed and placed in museums where they can be viewed in proper historic context.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee:
NO WHEREAS, The Confederate States of America and its secessionist movement were rooted in the defense of slavery; and
WHEREAS, The United States of America continues to struggle with racial equality and tolerance; and
WHEREAS, Using the names of elected or military leaders of the Confederate States of America for federal buildings, parks, roadways, or other federally owned property only deepens the pain of those living under the legacy of slavery; and
WHEREAS, The continued use of names of elected or military leaders of the Confederacy in public places is offensive to Americans who treasure the United States as one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all; and
WHEREAS, References to the elected or military leaders of the Confederacy belong in history books and museums, where their place in American history is viewed and discussed in proper context; and
WHEREAS, In 2015, the California Senate and Assembly approved legislation prohibiting the names of Confederate military and political leaders for state buildings, parks, roadways, or other state-owned property; and
WHEREAS, In 2016, the California Senate and Assembly approved a resolution urging the 114th Congress to rename any federal buildings, parks, roadways, or other federally owned property that bear the names of elected or military leaders of the Confederate States of America; and
WHEREAS, August 2018 marks the one-year anniversary of the violent, racist protest in Charlottesville in which one counter-protester was killed; and
WHEREAS, The sight of people carrying swastika banners and Confederate flags at Charlottesville, Virginia—rallying against the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee—was a reminder that we have much more to do to bring Americans together; and
WHEREAS, Any movement that welcomes Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists needs to be treated as a threat to our long-held principles of diversity, equality, and opportunity for all; and
WHEREAS, The death of Heather Heyer, who was peacefully counter-protesting the white supremacist rally, remains a tragedy for America; and
WHEREAS, The use of Confederate leaders’ names in buildings, parks, roadways, or other federally owned property in the United States only serves to further the discriminatory agenda of current sympathizers of the ideology of the Confederate States of America, and is antithetical to the United States’ mission of racial equality and tolerance; and
WHEREAS, The City of Alexandria, Virginia recently responded appropriately, by renaming the Jefferson Davis Highway to Richmond Highway; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully urges this new 115th Congress and the President of the United States to rename any federal buildings, parks, roadways, highway markers, landmarks, or other federally owned property, such as United States military bases, that bear the names of elected or military leaders of the Confederate States of America; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature respectfully urges the United States Congress that statues or busts of elected or military leaders of the Confederate States of America in the United States Capitol be removed and placed in museums where they can be viewed in proper historic context; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.