A Brooklyn congresswoman is taking another shot at removing Confederate names from the streets of Fort Hamilton and other military sites around the country.
Rep. Yvette Clarke’s legislation, the Honoring Real Patriots Act of 2017, would require the Department of Defense to rename any streets currently designated for individuals that either fought for or supported the Confederacy.
Last week, the Army denied a request made by Clarke and the rest of the Brooklyn congressional delegation to rename General Lee Avenue and Stonewall Jackson Way in Fort Hamilton.
Clarke said the street names and other memorials to the secessionist figures stand as insults to the troops.
“Monuments to the Confederacy and its leaders have always represented white supremacy and a continuing attempt to deny the basic human rights of African-Americans,” she said.
The Army didn’t return requests for comment. In a letter sent to the congressional delegation last week, a spokeswoman said removing the street names would be against the “spirit of reconciliation.”
House representatives from New York who are co-sponsoring Clarke’s bill include Jose Serrano, Jerrold Nadler, Nydia Velázquez, Gregory Meeks, Hakeem Jeffries, Sean Patrick Maloney, Grace Meng and Adriano Espaillat.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo sent a letter to the Army Wednesday urging them to reconsider the decision on the Fort Hamilton street names.
The call for removing the Confederate memorials has ramped up over the past few weeks, especially following the violent rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, by white nationalist hate groups.
On Wednesday, two plaques honoring Gen. Robert E. Lee were removed from a church near Fort Hamilton and Bronx Community College said it would remove busts dedicated to Lee and Jackson from its Hall of Great Americans.
Mayor Bill de Blasio also announced a 90-day review of all symbols of hate on city property, with a plaque honoring former Nazi collaborator Philippe Pétain found in the Canyon of Heroes set to be “one of the first we remove,” he said on Twitter.
Additionally, a coalition of U.S. Jewish groups has launched an online petition to the nation’s elected officials urging them to stand up to the white supremacy movement.
“We are confronted with increasing anti-Semitic, racist, Islamophobic, anti-immigrant, homophobic, transphobic and misogynistic attacks and more and more extreme versions of hate. Today, we commit to stand together with people of all races and nationalities to resist and say ‘Never Again,’ ” the petition reads.
