OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

The Confederate Flag

Floor Speech

Date: July 10, 2015
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Arts, Entertainment, and History

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, we must not display the Confederate battle flag in any Federal park or cemetery or building. The Confederate flag represents racism, slavery, and treason, waging war against the United States, killing American soldiers.

We are told it represents the Southern heritage. It does represent part of the Southern, of the American heritage, a shameful part: the defense of slavery, of owning people body and soul, of the doctrine of racial superiority, and the practice of racial oppression.

Other countries and peoples have shameful parts of their heritages. Germany, for example, has a Nazi heritage. The Germans are properly ashamed of it. They prohibit, by law, the display of Nazi imagery. The First Amendment won't let us go that far, but we should not honor the shameful parts of our history.

As we continue the ongoing struggle to eradicate racism from American life, we must no longer honor racism and treason by allowing the Confederate flag on any Federal property.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT


Source
arrow_upward