The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives continues to push a very progressive political and legislative agenda, but it has also joined the “cancel culture” in looking to rewrite American history, particularly buildings and memorials naming past confederate leaders and segregationists.
Texas Congressman Al Green (D), who many Republicans have called a “race-baiter” over his ongoing pro-Black agenda, says “it’s time to change the name” of the Russell Senate Office building because it was named after the late Georgia Senator and segregationist, Richard B. Russell Jr.
Rep. Green makes a good point considering that Russell never apologized for his racist ways, nor did he take his foot off of the segregation pedal.
Sen. Russell was a devout racist who absolutely hated civil rights and black equality, pushing for the preservation of the famed Jim Crow segregation laws.
Russell opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and proposed that Blacks be moved out of the Deep South, arguing “it is only fair and right that the Negro population be spread more evenly over all sections of the nation.”
So why would any governing body even consider naming a federal building after him?
Did Senate Republicans press to name one of its office buildings after a devout racist?
No.
It was the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate in 1972 led by former KKK Klansmen, Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, who offered a resolution to rename the existing Senate office buildings after former legislators, including Russell.
This is the same Sen. Byrd that President Joe Biden famously eulogized after his death.
