Some white people are doubling down on efforts to keep their white supremacist trophies. Alabama’s Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation this week that will prevent cities and counties in the state from removing Confederacy monuments from public property, according to The Hill.
The bill blocks local governments from removing monuments that have been on public property for more than 40 years. Since the majority of Confederate statues and monuments went up in the early 20th century, that would protect them all.
There are at least nine Confederate monuments around Alabama that would be protected under the new law.
Unsurprisingly, black lawmakers and civil rights groups were up in arms.
“By signing this bill, Gov. Kay Ivey indicates that lauding white supremacy is more important than demonstrating equality for all Alabamians,” Rhonda Brownstein, legal director at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in a statement.
The measure’s lead sponsor, state Sen. Gerald Allen, a Republican, said that the “political correctness” sweeping the nation has to stop.
“Where does it end? Are all parts of American history subject to purging, until every Ivy League professor is satisfied and the American story has been rewritten as nothing but a complete fraud and a betrayal of our founding values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?” Allen asked.
The legislation seems a likely reaction to the righteous move by the city of New Orleans, which recently removed four prominent Confederate monuments from its boundaries in recent weeks.
Read more at The Hill.