House Votes to Remove Confederate Statues from Capitol
Washington lawmakers passed legislation to remove statues of people who served the Confederacy or defended slavery, The Hill reports. The legislation passed in a 305-113 vote on Wednesday. All of the “no” votes to remove the statues from the Capitol came from Republican lawmakers — but 72 Republicans did vote in favor of removing the statues.
“Just imagine what it feels like as an African American to know that my ancestors built the Capitol, but yet there are monuments to the very people that enslaved my ancestors,” Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), the leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, said ahead of the vote.
Qualcomm Faces Lawsuit Over Board Diversity
A Qualcomm shareholder has sued the company for a lack of leadership diversity. The lawsuit contends that Qualcomm’s board is “all-white,” and there are no Blacks in the top six C-suite executive jobs, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
“Qualcomm’s directors, wishing to avoid a public backlash, have repeatedly made misrepresentations in the company’s public statements by claiming to have a policy of ‘demanding’ diversity and inclusion,” the lawsuit alleges. “In reality, though, Qualcomm’s board and senior executive officers remain devoid of Blacks and other minorities.”
Petition to Rename Alabama Bridge After John Lewis Gains Traction
Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama is named after a Confederate soldier who served as a Ku Klux Klan grand dragon, but there is now a petition with more than 500,000 signatures calling for the bridge to be named after the late civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis, Newsweek reports.
“Edmund Pettus was a bitter racist, undeserving of the honor bestowed upon him,” Michael Starr Hopkins, who launched the petition, wrote on its description page. “As we wipe away this country’s long stain of bigotry, we must also wipe away the names of men like Edmund Pettus.”
