SPLC Action Fund Applauds Passage of Bill Removing Confederate Holidays; Urges Governor to Sign Without Delay

BATON ROUGE – Last week, the Louisiana Senate passed House Bill 248 to remove Robert E. Lee Day and Confederate Memorial Day from the state’s official calendar of holidays. The bill now moves to Gov. John Bel Edwards for signature.

The following statement is from SPLC Action Fund Chief of Staff and Culture Lecia Brooks:

“The SPLC Action Fund applauds the Louisiana legislature for voting to officially remove two offensive Confederate holidays from the books. While Louisiana has not been celebrating these holidays, the fact that they still exist on the state’s calendar legitimizes traitors to the U.S. as people who should be acknowledged.

“Those who claim that these holidays should remain in place solely to educate future generations should remember that there are still 129 Confederate memorials – including 30 monuments, 72 roadways, and ten schools honoring Confederate leaders – that remain standing across Louisiana. We encourage Louisianans to continue fighting to remove all symbols of white supremacy from their public spaces, and SPLC will continue to support their efforts.

“We urge Gov. John Bel Edwards to promptly sign this bill into law.”

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Earlier this year, the SPLC released the third edition of its Whose Heritage? report, data, and map, which tracks public symbols of the Confederacy across the United States. The report shows that more than 2,000 Confederate memorials are still publicly present in the U.S. and over 700 of those are monuments.