Local state senator seeks an end to Texas' Confederate Heroes Day
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Texas continues to honor the Confederacy with a holiday that usually falls on the same week the country celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.'s racial justice and civil rights legacy.
Catch up fast: Marking Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's birthday, the holiday — which is also meant to honor Confederate President Jefferson Davis — has its roots in the Jim Crow period.
- And in some years, as in 2015, the holiday actually falls on MLK Day.
The big picture: Ten states — all in the South — celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and observe at least one Confederate holiday during the rest of the year, per an Axios analysis.
Yes, but: Sen. Nathan Johnson from Dallas is among the state lawmakers seeking to abolish Texas' Confederate Heroes Day.
- Johnson is leading the cause with Senate Bill 91.
- "This day doesn't belong in our books. It creates divisions, whether we want it to or not, between people. It creates resentment, it causes damage," he said at a news conference yesterday.
Meanwhile: Houston state Rep. Jarvis Johnson, whose family lineage includes a slave owner who fought for the Confederacy, is urging passage of House Bill 51 — which would abolish the holiday in Texas.
Of note: This is Jarvis Johnson's third attempt to end Confederate Heroes Day.
- He has warned that keeping the holiday could hurt the state economically as companies weigh which states are worth doing business in.
- "When we talk about what Confederate Heroes Day is, it is a remembrance of a horrible past, a past that has done irreparable damage to many of the residents of the state of Texas," he said.