Confederate Heroes' Day: Texas Rep. Jarvis Johnson files bill to abolish state holiday

HOUSTON - Texas is one of ten states that has a Confederate memorial state holiday, and sometimes it also lands on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

A state representative from the Houston area wants to pass a bill to get rid of the holiday altogether.

INTERVIEW: Lawmaker hopes to eliminate Confederate Heroes Day

Confederate Heroes’ Day is not a well-known holiday, but it's been on the state books since 1973.

It's on Jan. 19, Confederate General Robert E Lee's birthday, often falling on MLK Day, the third Monday in January.

It was established to honor the more than a quarter million Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War.

For the third time, State Rep. Jarvis Johnson of Harris County has filed HB 51 to abolish the state holiday and says he's certain that this legislative session he will get the bill passed.

"I think it’s high time that we embrace that there may have been an ugly past in this state – that there have been things in this state, in this country that have harmed and hurt a lot of people, but at no point should we be sympathizers with them. To say that they did something noble and honorable when they actually were very vile to people of color," Rep. Johnson says.

He calls Confederate Heroes’ Day divisive. He adds some may defend it in the name of heritage, but they are embracing "racism and segregation."

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Rep. Johnson believes people who want to commemorate fallen Confederate soldiers should do it privately in their own homes without an official state holiday.

 "They were not heroes to the millions of people that they wanted to enslave and to the millions of others who died while enslaved," Rep. Johnson says.

Rep. Johnson was joined by members of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus and the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus for a press conference about the bill on Wednesday morning.