Florida legislators will discuss the controversial bill HB-395, which addresses the protection of historical monuments and memorials in the state, in order to prevent the destruction of Confederate statues. This legislation specifically prohibits acts such as the destruction, damage or desecration of said monuments, establishing civil penalties for those who violate these provisions.
The bill was introduced by Republican Rep. Dean Black of Jacksonville, an advocate of Confederate monuments and a vocal critic of Florida cities that have removed Confederate statues. Florida’s HB-395 of 2023 proposes penalties of up to US$10,000prison sentences of up to one year and the obligation to pay the costs of restoring the damaged monument or memorial.
HB-395 has not yet been voted on in the Florida Legislature. The proposal arises in a context marked by previous controversies, such as the demolition of the statue of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith in Tallahassee in 2020 and the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Gainesville in 2022.
The controversy over the preservation of Confederate monuments has generated a national debate, and Florida has been no exception. In recent years, several cities in the state have removed Confederate monumentsas demonstrated by data from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which records the removal of 11 of these monuments in Florida between 2016 and 2023.
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Why are they destroying Confederate statues in the United States?
Statues of Confederate figures are being destroyed in the United States because they are considered symbols of racism. The Confederacy, which fought against the Union in the American Civil War, defended slavery and white supremacy. Statues of Confederate figures, therefore, are considered reminders of a time of oppression and discrimination.
Confederate symbols are considered offensive to the African-American community, which makes up about 13 percent of the U.S. population. Most statues of Confederate figures are found in the southern US.a region where the African-American population is a minority.
The movement to destroy these statues intensified in 2020, following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The protests that followed his death led to the destruction of several Confederate statues across the country.
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