House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is ready to see 11 statues depicting Confederate soldiers and officials removed from the U.S. Capitol. On Wednesday, the Congresswoman from California sent a letter to the Joint Committee on the Library calling on its leadership to support legislation in favor of eliminating the historically tainted figures.

“The statues in the Capitol should embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation,” Pelosi wrote. “Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals. Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage. They must be removed.”

Calls for the removal of the Confederate statues are of renewed interest in light of heightened racial tensions throughout the country. Following the death of George Floyd, who was killed by Minneapolis police with a knee to his neck, protests have popped up across the nation calling for police reform and the dismantling of Black systemic oppression. Pelosi first brought forth the legislation in 2017, asking then-Speaker Paul Ryan to support the removal of the statues.

A statue of Confederate States President Jefferson Davis is loaded on a tow truck after protesters pulled it down in Richmond, Virginia, on June 10, 2020. – The symbols of the Confederate States and its support for slavery are being targeted for removal following the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd while in police custody. (Photo by Parker Michels-Boyce / AFP) (Photo by PARKER MICHELS-BOYCE/AFP via Getty Images)

Over the last two weeks, a number of statues have been removed from sites in the United States. A statue of Confederate president Jefferson Davis was brought down in Richmond, Virginia. Four others were beheaded in the former capital of the Confederacy along with a sculpture of Christopher Columbus. The likeness of Confederate Navy Captain Charles Linn was also torn apart in Birmingham, Alabama. And on June 1, students in Montgomery toppled a statue of Robert E. Lee for whom their school is named after. These are just a few.

CNN reports that GOP Sen. Roy Blount, who chairs the Joint Committee on the Library, was asked about the statues on Wednesday. He asserted that it was up to the states to decide what would happen to the people they’ve chosen to honor in Sanctuary Hall. 

As the committee continues to deliberate on the issue, protesters have promised to continue pushing for their removal.

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