Pelosi demands removal of Confederate symbols but stays silent on father dedicating monument as Baltimore mayor
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday ordered the removal of four portraits of her predecessors from the US Capitol -- saying the former lawmakers served in the Confederacy and symbolized "grotesque racism" -- exactly a week after demanding Confederate statues to be removed from the building. But all this while, Pelosi has remained silent on her father's role in dedicating two confederate monuments during his time as mayor of Baltimore.
In a letter to House clerk Cheryl Johnson, Pelosi demanded the "immediate removal" of the paintings on Friday, June 19 or Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
"There is no room in the hallowed halls of Congress or in any place of honor for memorializing men who embody the violent bigotry and grotesque racism of the Confederacy," the top Democrat declared, noting that she made the request to coincide with Juneteenth to recognize the "moment of extraordinary national anguish, as we grieve for the hundreds of Black Americans killed by racial injustice and police brutality."
Pelosi sought the removal of 11 Confederate statues from the Capitol just last week, including that of Confederacy president Jefferson Davis. She dismissed the statues as “monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end.”
The House Speaker's demands came as violent rioters across the nation exploited peaceful protests in the wake of George Floyd's death and vandalized a series of statues and monuments memorializing the Civil War era and beyond.
“As I have said before, the halls of Congress are the very heart of our democracy. The statues in the Capitol should embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation,” Pelosi said in her June 11 letter to Committee Chair Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Vice-Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-CA).
“Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals,” she continued. “Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage. They must be removed.”
Having said that, it's worth noting that Pelosi's father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., oversaw the dedication of such a statue when he was Mayor of Baltimore in 1948. The monument, dedicated to Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee, was erected in the city's Wyman Park.
The Speaker's father said at the time that people could glean inspiration from Jackson's and Lee's lives, even urging Americans to “emulate Jackson’s example and stand like a stone wall against aggression in any form that would seek to destroy the liberty of the world.”
“World Wars I and II found the North and South fighting for a common cause, and the generalship and military science displayed by these two great men in the War between the States lived on and were applied in the military plans of our nation in Europe and the Pacific areas,” D’Alesandro said at the dedication ceremony, as detailed by the Baltimore Sun.
"Today with our nation beset by subversive groups and propaganda which seeks to destroy our national unity, we can look for inspiration to the lives of Lee and Jackson to remind us to be resolute and determined in preserving our sacred institutions, remain steadfast in our determination to preserve freedom, not only for ourselves but for other liberty-loving nations who are striving to preserve their national unity as free nations," he continued.
“In these days of uncertainty and turmoil, Americans must emulate Jackson’s example and stand like a stone wall against aggression in any form that would seek to destroy the liberty of the world,” he added.
While the monument established by Pelosi's father was removed by Baltimore officials in 2017, the Speaker is yet to comment on the issue.