SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – The nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization expressed support Tuesday for a bill in the Louisiana legislature that would drop two Confederate state holidays.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a statement supporting HB248.
State Rep. Matthew Willard pre-filed THE bill on February 2, removing “Robert E. Lee Day and Confederate Memorial Day as legal holidays.”
The bill is now in the Committee on Judiciary, which is the committee that oversees holidays. The state’s 2022 legislative session begins March 14.
“We support this and all other efforts to end the public celebration of the Confederacy’s legacy of systemic anti-Black racism, slavery, and white supremacy,” said CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw.
McCaw says last month, CAIR welcomed a bill in the South Carolina legislature that would give state employees a floating holiday to replace Confederate Memorial Day.
