A proposal is back in the Florida Senate that would end legal holidays marking the birthdays of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, along with Confederate Memorial Day.
Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, on Monday filed a bill (SB 1116) to remove the Lee, Davis and Confederate Memorial days from a list of legal holidays on the books in Florida. The bill is filed for consideration during the 2021 legislative session, which will begin March 2. Lee’s birthday, Jan. 19, and Confederate Memorial Day, April 26, have been legal holidays in Florida since 1895.
Davis’ birthday, June 3, was added in 1905. Florida is one of five states that have kept Confederate Memorial Day a legal holiday. Confederate Memorial Day and the Lee and Davis days are not paid holidays for public employees in Florida. A similar proposal Book sponsored in 2018 was approved by one Senate committee but did not pass the Legislature. It drew objections from people who argued the proposal would erase Southern history.
The bill would amend existing law (Section 256.051 of Florida Statute), which currently prohibits the use of emblems for commercial purposes not only of the flag of Florida, but of the “Confederate States, or any flag or emblem used by the Confederate States or the military or naval forces of the Confederate States at any time within the years 1860 to 1865.” The law also prohibits the defilement of the flags, though that provision has been overridden by the 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the First Amendment right of protesters to burn the flag.
The Senate proposal would eliminate from the law references to the Confederate flag or related emblems, ironically making it legal to use the Confederate flag for commercial purposes–or to defile it, at least under Florida law.
Rep. Mike Grieco, D-Miami Beach, filed a similar bill last month (HB 6007). Other legal holidays that are not paid holidays include Susan B. Anthony’s birthday, Good Friday, Flag Day and Pascua Florida Day, which marks the 1513 arrival in Florida of Juan Ponce de Leon.
–FlaglerLive and News Service of Florida
Robin says
I find it incredible that these ‘heroes’ birthdays would be observed in any public manner, as they fought to preserve a system of slavery.
melodye says
I am sorry, but this is part of history. Yes, owning slaves was wrong, but it happened. We are to learn from history not get rid of it.
So why do we still buy Volkswagon, Hilter designed that brand. Why not tear down Mt Veron, Lee house at Arlington National Cemetry? I could go on and on but I will not.
Geezer says
The Volkswagen was designed by a Jewish engineer named Josef Ganz.
His design was hijacked by the Nazi party and given to Ferdinand Porsche,
who developed the “People’s Car” for Hitler.
Lee House at Arlington could be repurposed as a grand public bathroom area.
I can just hear the cacophony of bladder and colon relief-fueled flushes…
We’ll rename it “Melodye House,” as a nod to the symphony of bodily
function sounds within its storied walls.
People will ask: was that cannon fire in the distance or flatulence?
Pogo says
@How to deal with a monument to the South’s lost cause
Fitting end to a monument to a Confederate draft dodger who told his loyal losers he would,”…be there with you…” when they sacked the Union capital: