Latest news with #Confederate-era
Axios
6 days ago
- Politics
- Axios
Richmond Confederate statues removed in 2020 head to LA
The peed-on Jefferson Davis statue that protesters took down in 2020 is temporarily moving out of Richmond. Why it matters: It's one of several of Richmond's Confederate monuments being shipped to Los Angeles for an exhibit about how these statues — and their recent removal from public spaces — have shaped American history. Driving the news: The Valentine announced Monday that the Confederate Statespresident's statue, displayed at the Richmond museum for over three years, is headed to the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art on Aug. 17. Then on Tuesday, the Black History Museum in Jackson Ward said it's also loaning the LA exhibit Confederate-era monuments that the city took down in 2020. These include the "Vindicatrix" sculpture known as "Miss Confederacy" that sat atop the Davis monument, the Matthew Fontaine Maury statue and globe, and granite slabs from different Confederate monument bases. The pieces will be "recontextualized" in the exhibit to "foster critical dialogue about their historical significance and the ideologies they represent," the museum said in a news release. Zoom out: The exhibit, which runs from October to April, starts months after the Trump administration ordered a federal review of the statues toppled in the wake of George Floyd's murder. The city owns the land where the Confederate monuments in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy, once stood. And most of the taken-down monuments remain in the city's wastewater treatment plant. What's next: The Valentine is closing its survey about people's feelings regarding the monuments' removal, and where they should be moved, on Aug. 18. Results will be shared by the end of October.
India Today
03-06-2025
- General
- India Today
US Navy to rename ship honouring LGBTQ+ rights icon Harvey Milk
In an unusual move during Pride Month, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the US Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, stripping the ship of its tribute to the slain gay rights icon and Korean War said the decision aligns with President Donald Trump's broader agenda to 're-establish the warrior culture' within the US military and reverse diversity, equity, and inclusion Navy is assembling a small internal team under Secretary John Phelan to select a new name for the replenishment oiler, with an announcement expected later this month. 'This action is about restoring focus on military readiness and strength,' said one official familiar with the memo authorizing the change, according to the Associated Press report. The move, first reported by has drawn strong condemnation from civil rights leaders and lawmakers. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it a 'shameful, vindictive erasure' of a man who gave his life in service to equality. 'This spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the 'warrior ethos,'' Pelosi said. 'It is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country.'Harvey Milk, a Navy veteran who served in the 1950s before being discharged due to his sexuality, went on to become one of America's first openly gay elected officials. As a San Francisco Supervisor, he authored and passed a landmark law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation before being assassinated in USNS Harvey Milk was christened in 2021 as part of a John Lewis class of oilers named after civil rights figures. Former Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said the naming was about 'amending the wrongs of the past' and honoring LGBTQ service rare, renaming naval ships is not unprecedented. The Biden administration rebranded two vessels in 2023 to remove Confederate-era names. However, in maritime tradition, changing a ship's name is often considered a bad omen—'tempting the sea gods,' as lore Milk ship, with a civilian crew 125, began active service in late 2024 and is currently undergoing maintenance in Alabama. Despite its short operational history, its namesake's legacy has stirred deep symbolic meaning — a legacy now abruptly cast overboard by the current administration.(With inputs from Associated Press)
