Sen. Tim Kaine suggested Monday that Virginia should be represented by Pocahontas instead of Robert E. Lee in Statuary Hall in Congress.
Kaine, D-Va., said on MSNBC in response to the push to remove Confederate statues around the country that there are “probably some statues that need to be taken down.” But he said most states shouldn’t have problems finding more contemporary people to honor, or at least, people other than Confederate military men.
“I think a state with Pocahontas, a state with Doug Wilder, the grandson of a slave, Korean War decorated combat veteran, first elected African-American governor …” he suggested.
“In 2017, is it really Robert E. Lee that we would say is the person that we want to stand for who Virginia is?” he asked. “I’m not sure it is.”
“What, we haven’t had anything good in the last 150 years that we think should represent us in Statuary Hall?” Kaine added.
He said choosing Confederate heroes also ignores the vast history of slaves in states like Virginia.
“Why did the four years of the Civil War merit so much more attention than 250 years of blood sacrifice by hundreds of thousands of slaves who built up our state, who lived in our state, who died in our state, who were sold through our state and who aren’t recognized?” he said.
Kaine added that Lee himself argued against Confederate memorials.
“He said in 1869, do not put up memorials to Confederates,” Kaine said. “He didn’t want any recognition of the Confederacy. He said we’re one nation now.”
The issue of memorials has come up after violent protests led to the death of one woman in Charlottesville, Va., who was protesting a rally attended by many white supremacists. That rally was meant to protest a decision to remove a Robert E. Lee statue.
