AUSTIN, Texas — Although it's fallen on deaf ears in previous legislative sessions, lawmakers hope this time around their rallying cry will move others to vote to remove Confederate Heroes Day as a holiday in the state.
Rep. Jarvis Johnson of District 139 hosted a news conference to discuss the efforts to do this in the 2021 legislative session through House Bill 36.
“We’ve been working on this the last few sessions,” said Johnson. “Before me, it was Rep. Howard in the 85th and then I picked it up in the 86th and I think it’s just important at this time in America and in Texas where we have to rid ourselves of harmful reminders of our very negative, hurtful past — a hurtful past of slavery and a hurtful past of the damage that it has done.”
Since 1973, Confederate Heroes Day has been quietly celebrated as some Texans don’t even know the holiday exists. It also comes a day after many across the country pay their respects to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Jan. 18.
“We celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr., because of his desire and his ability to unify, [today] some Texans are going to celebrate a holiday that is very divisive and harmful and hurtful,” Johnson said. “None of the rhetoric that Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about, none of his ideologies talked about hurting any one group of people over another. But, this actual holiday on Jan. 19, is a hurtful legislation.”
Confederate Heroes Day specifically honors Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. Lawmakers decided to consolidate two days remembering the Confederate general and president of the Confederate States, creating Confederate Heroes Day.
“I think it’s the right time, the right place and the right moment to rid ourselves of this horrible past that we have,” said Johnson. “We shouldn’t celebrate the Confederacy. The Confederacy lost. The Confederacy represented an ideology that none of us agree with. While we may agree with state’s rights, we didn’t agree with the state’s rights to own slaves.”
For those who take issues with the erasure of the Confederacy’s history, Johnson notes that it won’t go away entirely with the removal of the holiday.
“We’re not getting rid of our history, because it’s going to always be in the history books where it belongs...not to celebrate,” he said.
During Tuesday’s news conference, multiple lawmakers of the House Democratic Caucus expressed their displeasure at the holiday on the state’s calendar. Sen. Nathan Johnson insisted the state of Texas should celebrate “things that lift [Texas] up not the things that pushes [it] down.”
“We’re celebrating the wrong things,” Johnson said. “So, what should we be celebrating instead of this dark part of our past? We should be celebrating the great leaps forward. How about voting rights? How about the 19th Amendment that finally gave women the right to vote? How about the 1965 Voting Rights Act? 1964 Civil Rights Act? Two of the greatest things our country has done to ensure not only that people have the right to vote, but that practically they can vote. These are things we can celebrate.”
A bill hoping to eliminate Confederate Heroes Day was first introduced in 2015 by Rep. Donna Howard of District 48 after she was approached by then 13-year-old Jacob Hale, who proposed the idea. Ever since then, Hale has spoken on behalf of the bill each legislative session.
“To me, it’s really about who we are as a state because who we choose to celebrate is a reflection of our values,” said Hale. “Like [yesterday], we celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. and in celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. we’re saying that racial justice and the Civil Rights Movement are in line with our values and that’s 100 percent true. But, then for some reason today we’re going to say that the defense of slavery and that white supremacy are consistent with our values. I think it’s an affront and I think it’s a glaring error on our state calendar that needs to be corrected as soon as possible.”
Hale, now a 19-year-old sophomore studying at Vanderbilt University, hopes change for his beloved state comes in this year’s session and he doesn’t plan to stop his efforts of mobilizing support for the bill until it finally passes.
“I can’t stand to have our state government officially endorse the Confederacy,” Hale said. “That’s honestly why it’s such a big deal to me. Our state leadership does not feel the need to address this issue. There haven’t been enough people talking about it to where they feel embarrassed enough to get rid of this holiday. It has been heard by committees on two separate occasions and neither of them voted on it.”
But, for Johnson, Rep. Howard, and other lawmakers, there is optimism that this time is the right time for their colleagues to vote in favor of change.
“There is no justification whatsoever to honor those who fought against our country to maintain slavery and racism,” said Howard. “This is not about erasing history this is actually about remembering history and making sure we remember what happened and we don’t let it happen again. The time is now. The time is past, now, to do this.”
Texas, along with nine other states, has a state holiday paying homage to Confederate heroes. The list includes Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Mississippi and Georgia also celebrate MLK Day and Robert E. Lee day, jointly.
“I hope that all of our colleagues will join us and make sure that what we just had happen here with the holiday/celebration that we’re having now is the last one that we ever have on the books in Texas,” Howard said.