Petition calls for removing Confederate leader's name from DC-area road

An online petition is calling for renaming a street named for Confederate leader Jefferson Davis in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. 

The petition, on the website Change.org, is urging officials to rename the stretch of road in Arlington, Va. that is near Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport in the wake of efforts around the country to remove the Confederate flag and other images that are associated with the losing side of the Civil War. 

"Jefferson Davis was hailed as the 'champion of a slave society' when he was selected in 1861 to become President of the Confederate States of America," says the petition, which is directed at Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D). 

"Davis was an unrepentant white supremacist who fervently believed the Southern cause, slavery and segregation were right and just until his last dying breath in 1889," the petition continues. "It is therefore outrageous that a major Virginia thoroughfare, Jefferson Davis Highway (aka Route 1) which abuts the Pentagon and other US Capital landmarks continues to bear the name of a morally depraved, non-Virginian who rejected the very idea of a United States." 

The petition had just over 3,500 signatures as of 4:10 p.m. on Monday.

The placement of images and people who are associated with the Confederacy has become controversial in recent weeks after a shooting in Charleston, S.C. at a historic black church that killed nine. 

State lawmakers in South Carolina voted to remove the Confederate flag from its capitol grounds after pictures surfaced showing the suspect, Dylann Roof, displaying the flag prior to the shooting.

Roof allegedly told police that he was targeting African-Americans and hoped to spark a race war.  

The organizers of the Change.org petition said "it's time for the Commonwealth of Virginia, to remove the name of this Confederate leader from all sections of Route 1 in Virginia. 

"Virginia is a state that prides itself on its diversity, technological innovation, leadership in education and progress," the petition says. 

"The name Jefferson Davis is far from what the state should honor. Let's stop indulging the race haters who named the road after their race hating hero. Let’s change the image of this important roadway from hatred and rename it to memorialize hope and progress."

Via: The Hill

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Dem Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Says She Would Break The Law To Vote Against GOP Bill To Stop Obama From Gutting Welfare Work Requirements…

On Thursday, Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee was so worked up about Republican legislation to stop the Obama administration’s welfare work requirement waivers that she exited an anti-bullying event early, joking that she would be breaking traffic laws to cast her vote in opposition.

“Please forgive me if I run out for a vote and a debate. I am going to run back. We’ll probably break all traffic rules, but I want you to be engaged. And I don’t want anybody hear about what traffic rule I’ve broken, but I want all of you to be engaged,” she urged the gathering of anti-bullying advocates and school children.

Lee left quickly in the middle of the event she headlined — “Bullying – Sticks & Stones: Changing the Face of the 21st Century” — to oppose to the Republican measure.

“My friends are now on the Hill. I’m going to have to run back, because the waiver that was given to give people flexibility on TANF [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families ] is now — that’s what we call giving flexibility in the national, making a statement of cooperation and working with government, state governments, meaning flexibility in the welfare concept, which I am so glad [the Obama administration] did,” she told the gathering. “So now my friends on the other side of the aisle, representing the 53 versus 47 percent — a little humor here, I’m going to get to the point, but in any event — they are trying to repeal the flexibility that our government so rightly so has given and sitting us in hearings saying that we over regulate.”

Despite a reputation for bullying her own staff, Lee has been championing anti-bullying legislation and pushing for more efforts to end bullying.

“Bullying prevention and intervention is not only about caring for our young people, it is about caring for our future, so bullying brings about bully-cide, suicide, cyber-bullying, and it does not end with our children on the playground,” she said. “It exists on college campuses, workplaces, online and even elderly care facilities.”

The Daily Caller revealed last year that in conjunction with her hot temper with staff, she has a reputation for ignoring traffic laws, with former drivers saying she would demand they run red lights and take highway shoulders to expedite travel times — something that has resulted in at least one accident.

Via: Daily Caller

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