MORGANTOWN – A two-hour House debate on a bill doesn’t necessarily mean the vote will be close, and it wasn’t close on the so-called Confederate monuments bill Friday. HB 2174 passed 70-28 and goes to the Senate.
But it stirred a lot of amendments and passionate speeches.
Democrats failed to persuade colleagues to defeat the bill but they did succeed in getting most of their amendments passed.
HB 2174 is called the West Virginia Monument and Memorial Protection Act. It lists a number of items: monuments, memorials, nameplates, plaques, schools, streets, bridges, buildings, parks, preserves and reserves.
It says if they’re built or named in honor of military figures, events or organizations from all wars since the French and Indian War to now, and it’s located on public property, it can’t be relocated, removed, altered, renamed, rededicated or otherwise disturbed.
Other provisions wrap in things honoring labor unions, African-American civil rights and Native Americans.
An entity having control of the public property on which one of these items is situated may petition the state Historic Preservation Office for a permit to remove, alter or relocate it.
Amendments were offered before the full debate. Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, succeeded with one to remove schools from the list, allowing local school boards to retain control of school names.
Delegate Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, offered one that will allow private citizens to petition the controlling entity for a permit and then directly petition the Historic Preservation Office if the entity refuses.
Delegate Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, succeeded with two. One changed the reference to the “War between the states” to the American Civil War. The other removed a confusing and, it was learned, irrelevant sentence about the date the various items were put in place.
One amendment stirred some debate. It proposed to exempt an monument or item honoring “any person, group or event that owned slaves or was motivated by racism, bigotry or hate against our citizens, our form of government, or its institutions.”
Government Organization chair Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, argued the amendment was too subjective and too broad – it could extend back to the Revolutionary War.
Delegate Caleb Hanna, R-Nicholas, said 12 U.S. presidents owned slaves, eight of them while in office. And regarding the second half of the amendment, “Who knows how much its going to cost to rip Robert C. Byrd’s name off of every building in this state?”
The amendment failed 24-74.
Delegate Jonathan Pinson, R-Mason, offered one protecting items honoring events of historical religious significance that was adopted 97-1. One Democrat voted against it.
Turning to the debate, Delegate John Doyle, D-Jefferson, said many of the Confederate statues were erected by white supremacists who were part of the Lost Cause Movement and refused to recognize the freed blacks as citizens after the Civil War.
The monuments were an intimidation tactic to keep them from voting, he said. “It worked. This was an early version of cancel culture.”
All four Monongalia County Democratic delegates opposed the bill.
Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer said the bill is really about Confederate monuments. Those monuments honor slave owners who were willing to tear the country apart to maintain ownership.
In addition, she said, the state has no good process for dealing with historic objects on state property. And they shouldn’t be micromanaging local governments. They need a broader conversation, which could best be done if the bill was referred for an interim study.
Delegate John Williams said with this bill he sees the door slowly shutting on the opportunity to bring young people here. While he disagrees with elements of current cancel culture, the Confederacy and slavery were 19th century cancel culture. “It is unpalatable and unthinkable that we would act to dignify their cause.”
Delegate Evan Hansen talked about having to walk by the Stonewall Jackson bust in the lower rotunda every day while going to and from his office. It’s offensive to many, including his Mon County colleague Delegate Danielle Walker. “I think we need a little more empathy in this body,’ he said.
Walker said the bill led to awareness, democratic participation and conversations.
“Hate is not heritage, she said. Noting the many decades of oppression of blacks, she said, “Power plus privilege equals racism. Black people cannot be racist.”
Then she talked about voting. “The red button will move our state forward. … The green button will promote hate in our state. The green button will celebrate the years of oppression, of free labor, hangings beatings, shackles and chains.”
Delegate Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, represents Wheeling, the first capital and birthplace of the state. “Imagine being from West Virginia, a state legislator, and debating whether we should protect the Confederacy,” he said.
Only a few spoke in favor of the bill. Delegate Mark Zatezalo, R-Hancock, said, “This country is truly a remarkable place.” The Civil War was bloody and terrible but the country reunited afterward.
“We need to have the conversation about what fits and what doesn’t,” he said. Tearing down an Abraham Lincoln statue on the West Coast says a lot about the where the country is now. The bill offers a process to have a thoughtful conversation about what we will and won’t take down.
Delegate Chris Phillips, R-Barbour, reminded his colleagues that the first land battle of the Civil War was fought in his county. The county was named for Phillip Barbour, who served on the U.S. Supreme Court as a speaker of the House of Representatives.
He was a slave owner. And many counties are name for people with dark histories, Phillips said. “Conisider what the future will be like if we continue eliminating history.”
Steele said the bill doesn’t have much to do with the Civil War. It establishes a process. It sets up the means to remove something offensive and will be decided by historians.
“This is not a racist bill,” he said. “Hitting green on this bill is not a racist move.” Green indicates a willingness to have an honest debate, and not descend to looting and mobs. “A yes vote today is a vote for courage.”
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