Weeks after the state of Arkansas installed a statue of civil rights journalist and activist Daisy Bates next to Mississippi’s Jefferson Davis inside the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall, there are rumblings that lawmakers may soon make a move to replace the two confederate statues that have represented the state in Congress for nearly a century.
While Democrats have long been in favor of switching out Mississippi’s two statues in D.C. – one of which is Davis and the other being Confederate politician and military man James Z. George – most Republicans have not outwardly been against the idea but have not made it a priority. GOP Rep. Fred Shanks of Brandon said Monday that this past session was too engulfed by hot-button topics such as K-12 funding, Medicaid expansion, and economic development to truly consider a change to the statues. But now, with some of those issues passed and off the governor’s desk, lawmakers have time to debate and possibly vote on a pair of new statues being shipped to Washington.
“I got asked about it this session,” Shanks said, pointing back to a resolution introduced by House Minority Leader Robert Johnson to replace Davis and George with civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer and Hiram Revels, the first African American to serve in Congress.
“Being the (House) rules chairman, the way I looked at it at the time – Washington, D.C. is a long way from Mississippi. Does that affect everyday Mississippians? No, it does not. So, I just really kind of pushed it aside. I’ve been asked about it several times since then if I wanted to do something about it, and I said that I will definitely look at it.”
Mississippi installed statues of Jefferson Davis (left) and James Z. George (right) inside the National Statuary Hall in 1931. Photos courtesy of the National Statuary Hall.
Shanks, who added that his constituency has mixed feelings over replacing the statues, would like to discuss further with his peers plus find out how much it would cost to construct and install new statues before any measures are brought up