The leader of a national veterans’ civil rights group formed to protect Mexican Americans from discrimination has been added to a commission tasked with devising a plan to remove Confederate names, monuments and symbols from military bases and assets, reports NBC News.
Lawrence Romo, national commander of the American GI Forum, was named to the bipartisan commission, which will ultimately decide the bases and other military assets whose names should be changed or any symbols, monuments, displays or other items commemorating the Confederacy that should be removed.
National defense legislation mandating the removals became law in January after Congress override a veto of the legislation by then-President Donald Trump.
A plan, which will include community input, is due back to the House and Senate Armed Services committees by October 2022, and the secretary of defense must implement the plan by Jan. 1, 2024, under federal law.
Romo joins seven others who were named to the commission — the secretary of defense appointed four people and members of Congress picked the other four. He is the only Latino on the commission.
Initially the commission would have been made up of five people who are White and three who are Black, but one of the Black appointees was unable to serve. Romo had been among nominees from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
