The Hill reports, a group of Republican House members led by Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) introduced a resolution last week to ban any organizations or political groups that have been supportive of the confederacy or slavery, which includes the Democratic Party.
“A great portion of the history of the Democratic Party is filled with racism and hatred. Since people are demanding we rid ourselves of the entities, symbols, and reminders of the repugnant aspects of our past, then the time has come for Democrats to acknowledge their party’s loathsome and bigoted past, and consider changing their party name to something that isn’t so blatantly and offensively tied to slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination, and the Ku Klux Klan,” Gohmert said in a statement.
The resolution’s co-sponsors are Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Jody Hice, R-Ga., Randy Weber, R-Texas, and Andy Harris, R-Md.
Gohmert joined more than 100 House Republicans who opposed a resolution that would remove Confederate statues from the Capitol on Wednesday.
Gohmert on Thursday said the legislation “failed to address the most ever-present historical stigma of the United States Capitol, that is the source that so fervently supported, condoned and fought for slavery that was left untouched, but without whom, the evil of slavery could never have continued as it did to such extremes that it necessary to address here in order for the U.S. House of Representatives to avoid degradation of historical fact and blatant hypocrisy for generations to come.”
The Democratic Party supported the institution of slavery during the time of the Civil War. Gohmert cited examples of racist policies within the Democratic Party’s history, including former President Woodrow Wilson’s endorsement of racial discrimination.
Gohmert suggested that the party change its name saying that “that is the standard to which they are holding everyone else, so the name change needs to occur.”
According to The Hill, during a congressional hearing on reparations last year, Gohmert tried to make the point that Democrats were historically the party that supported slavery, as a protester interrupted by shouting “you lie!”