All Hands On Deck! We need your help this week.

Great news! We began this week with the number of signatures on the petition passing 4,000. That is no small feat for a grassroots effort.  We thank everyone who has added your name to this request to Congress for change.

We are now working to make this legislation bipartisan. That too is no small feat. Presently there are 108 cosponsors of H.J. Res. 76. Every one of them caucuses with the Democrats. We need to crack the code to bring members of the Republican caucus into this effort to make it bipartisan. Yesterday a ‘visit team’ met with staff of Congressman Don Bacon (Nebraska) and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Washington state) to seek their support and cosponsorship. But the follow up is key!

Rep. Bacon’s district includes Omaha, NE. He is a member of the House Armed Services Committee (where our bill has been referred) and the Problem Solvers Caucus.  In 2020, he sponsored the bill establishing a Naming Commission that was tasked with identifying items in the U.S. military named after figures from the confederacy. The commission's final recommendations included renaming nine installations across the country named after Confederate generals and it recommended renaming hundreds of other items, including streets and buildings on military installations. The Congressman has a legislative record that supports inclusiveness, civil rights and natural resources.

Rep. McMorris Rodgers’ district is eastern Washington state that includes Walla Walla and Spokane.  Her district includes the Whitman Mission National Historic Site that was established in 1947 to preserve and share the story of a religious mission to the Cayuse Nation in the early nineteenth century, along with its lasting impacts and continuing relevancy. The mission also served as a way-stop on the Oregon Trail. Like Arlington House the Robert E. Lee Memorial, the history is complex and has been filtered by those who have interpreted these sites. Today, we affirm the importance of sites like these in shaping the American narrative, fostering education about the complexities of our past, and ensuring their continued preservation for future generations to learn from and appreciate.

So how can you help? If you are a constituent of Rep. Bacon or Rep. McMorris Rodgers, send a short letter expressing your support for H.J. Res. 76. Ask and urge them to cosponsor the legislation. Your messages, following our briefings with staff members, will highlight interest and have a compounding impact on this effort.  If you are not a constituent, pen a short letter to express your support and seek theirs.  Don’t forget to thank them for their leadership during these challenging times.

With your help we can do this!