S.20.3-11: Confederate Statue Removal Act (Law'd)

[tmthforu94]

Confederate Statue Removal Act

1. All physical statues commemorating Confederate leaders shall be moved to museums or Civil War Battle sites.
2. This act shall apply to statues on regional government property that are not presently located at a museum or Civil War battle site.
3. $25 million shall be appropriated from reserves for the transfer of statues.
4. This act will take effect on October 1, 2020.

Sponsor: Tmthforu94

Minimum 48 hours for debate.

[tmthforu94]

A similarly worded version of this was introduced by me on the "Protecting our History Act" but was rejected as delegates felt it should be separate legislation, so here it is. I'm reposting the argument I made when I initially offered the amendment:

I agree that destroying public property should not be tolerated. I don't agree with the regional government compensating local police departments for a decision that is being made at a local level, but would support the compensation if there is a regional mandate on statues....which is what I am proposing we do. The best way to protect the statues of Confederate historical figures, as is the intent of the bill, is to move them out of public parks/areas.

Confederate statues do not belong in our parks and out in public. I believe this is an important decision the regional government should lead on, rather than take the passive approach of punting the ball on the issue and leaving it to the local governments - I find that weak since we don't even have local governments in Atlasia who could act on it, aside from Lumine writing a GM story. These statues are a symbol of racism and represent people who sought to tear our country apart so that they could keep their slaves. The intent of these statues was never to honor and remember our history, but rather as a symbol of white supremacy and of our racist past. 538 recently published an opinion piece that I believe perfectly sums up why they don't belong:

An overwhelming majority of Confederate memorials weren’t erected in the years directly following the Civil War. Instead, most were put up decades later. Nor were they built just to commemorate fallen generals and soldiers; they were installed as symbols of white supremacy during periods of U.S. history when Black Americans’ civil rights were aggressively under attack. In total, at least 830 such monuments were constructed across the U.S, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which maintains a comprehensive database of Confederate monuments and symbol

Source: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/confederate-statues/

This amendment moves all public monuments to museums/battle sites so that they can be better protected and used as part of understanding the true history of the Civil War. This protects property rights of those who have statues on private land and ensures anyone who vandalizes said property receives proper punishment. As a region, we don't have a great history on this issue. We are the only democratically elected body of this region - it is our responsibility to take action.This is an opportunity for us to do better.

[fhtagn]

Many museums and Civil War Battle sites are on government property...

Also worth noting timing after a war to put up a monument isn't even a valid talking point since many memorials are put up long after the war it commemorates has ended. For example, the WWII Memorial was opened to the public in 2004, almost 60 years after the war ended.

[tmthforu94]

I think the current version is adequate, but to further address/clarify the first point fhtagn made, I am offering an amendment:

Confederate Statue Removal Act

1. All physical statues commemorating Confederate leaders shall be moved to museums or Civil War battle sites.
2. This act shall apply to statues on regional government property that are not presently located at a museum or Civil War battle site.
3. This act will take effect on October 1, 2020.

24 hours for objections.

[tmthforu94]

The amendment is adopted, debate resumes. Does anyone have feedback/comments/suggestions?

[fhtagn]

Do we know how many statues would be considered "regional property", and the cost of removing and relocating the statues?

[tmthforu94]

I don't have a statistic on numbers of regional property since it isn't comparable in RL. In terms of funding, I've looked into this and still need to make more determinations on what an appropriate amount would be.

[diptheriadan]

"rather than take the passive approach of punting the ball on the issue and leaving it to the local governments - I find that weak since we don't even have local governments in Atlasia who could act on it, aside from Lumine writing a GM story."

We don't? I was always of the understanding that under us there were state legislatures and city and county governments under them.

[tmthforu94]

"rather than take the passive approach of punting the ball on the issue and leaving it to the local governments - I find that weak since we don't even have local governments in Atlasia who could act on it, aside from Lumine writing a GM story."

We don't? I was always of the understanding that under us there were state legislatures and city and county governments under them.

To clarify, I meant that we don't have Atlasian politicians acting in those lower roles to enact. We as a regional legislature are the smallest form of government able to act on these things.

[tmthforu94]

Offering amendment, I'm seeing a rough estimate of $500k for a removal. Most statues are on more local properties, but I came up with a rough estimate of 50 statues that would be considered "regional."

Confederate Statue Removal Act

1. All physical statues commemorating Confederate leaders shall be moved to museums or Civil War Battle sites.
2. This act shall apply to statues on regional government property that are not presently located at a museum or Civil War battle site.
3. $25 million shall be appropriated from reserves for the transfer of statues.
4. This act will take effect on October 1, 2020.

24 hours for objections. I'm also asking that if anyone has an amendment/feedback to make it known as well, as I'd like to move on to a final vote quickly after if not.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

A lot of the places today, particularly the ones that are causing most of the controversy, had these statues erected at a time when the city was either 1) Majority White or 2) Majority Black but for obvious reasons they weren't allowed to vote obviously.

Now, with current demographics, if a city holds a democratic election, and a majority of that city votes to remove or change a statue that is their decision to make. The problem comes when a higher power steps in, overrides or hamstring the cities, nullifying the local democracy in favor of central (relatively speaking) authority leaving absolutely no legal recourse.

If Conservatives and local control advocates practiced what they preached, on respecting the lower authority and not allowing the central authority to override them, you would not have 90% of the problems that we have had here. If the Civil War was about resisting central authority, then on what grounds can you deny a city's democratic choice, via fiat from above? And don't give me that state sovereignty crap, that is just a legalist cop out to justify selective application of principle.

For example, if the left used state power, to demand that you put up a statue of Lenin in all city parks, we would be up in arms over the violation of local control.

90% of all of this nonsense IRL with the riots and the stuff is almost exclusively caused because Conservatives selectively deviated from small gov't principles. The extremists and the radicals then come in afterwards and feed on the mess we created.

[reagente]

I will support this bill with this amendment.

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

"rather than take the passive approach of punting the ball on the issue and leaving it to the local governments - I find that weak since we don't even have local governments in Atlasia who could act on it, aside from Lumine writing a GM story."

We don't? I was always of the understanding that under us there were state legislatures and city and county governments under them.

To clarify, I meant that we don't have Atlasian politicians acting in those lower roles to enact. We as a regional legislature are the smallest form of government able to act on these things.

What is the purpose for NPC elections then?

[tmthforu94]

"rather than take the passive approach of punting the ball on the issue and leaving it to the local governments - I find that weak since we don't even have local governments in Atlasia who could act on it, aside from Lumine writing a GM story."

We don't? I was always of the understanding that under us there were state legislatures and city and county governments under them.

To clarify, I meant that we don't have Atlasian politicians acting in those lower roles to enact. We as a regional legislature are the smallest form of government able to act on these things.

What is the purpose for NPC elections then?

Yes.

[diptheriadan]

So one more thing: what exactly counts as being "regional property"?

[tmthforu94]

So one more thing: what exactly counts as being "regional property"?

Offices of any regional agencies. An example would be the regional capitol grounds in Nashville.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Confederate Statue Removal Act

1. All physical statues commemorating Confederate leaders shall be moved to museums or Civil War Battle sites, except for ones by which their presence is protected via legal contract, such as one between an individual or group of individuals and a state government.
2. This act shall apply to statues on regional government property that are not presently located at a museum or Civil War battle site.
3. $25 million shall be appropriated from reserves for the transfer of statues.
4. This act will take effect on October 1, 2020.

proposed amendment

[tmthforu94]

My earlier amendment is adopted. 24 hours for objections to Tim’s.

[reagente]

I have no problem with Tim's amendment.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

I also support Tim's amendment.

[tmthforu94]

Tim’s amendment has been adopted, debate resumes.

[tmthforu94]

Any more feedback before a final vote?

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

this is pretty much my ideal for this issue. I see no problems with this.

[tmthforu94]

Calling for a final vote, 24 hours to object.

[tmthforu94]

A final vote has started, please vote AYE, NAY or ABSTAIN.


Aye