WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, Congressman Steve Cohen introduced a bill that would remove J. Edgar Hoover’s name from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s building.
It all had to do with his treatment of civil rights leaders.
“The civil rights we enjoy today are in spite of J. Edgar Hoover, not because of him. Yet, his name adorns one of the most prominent buildings in our nation’s capital and one that houses one of the agencies of government responsible for justice,” said Congressman Cohen to the current FBI Director James Comey. “Given his well-documented abuses and prejudices towards African Americans, gays, and lesbians, I believe it is past time to remove his name from this place of honor.”
“His efforts to silence Dr. King and out homosexuals working for the government were deplorable and a stain on our nation’s history and on the FBI,” he added.
The move comes just months after Yahoo News released a documentary called, ‘Uniquely Nasty: The U.S. Government’s War on Gays’ that looked at the former FBI director’s persecution of homosexuals working inside the FBI, reported The Daily Mail.
The bill is also being sponsored by Representatives John Lewis, John Conyers, Maxine Water, Charles Rangel, Barbara Lee, Jared Polis, Joseph Crowley Emanuel Cleaver Bobby Rush and Karen Bass.
