Latest news with #ConfederateStatue
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Rewrites History by Putting Up Confederate Statue
President Donald Trump plans to bring a statue of a Confederate general back to the heart of the nation's capital. The likeness of Gen. Albert Pike, which stood outside the Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters in Washington, D.C., had ropes slung around its neck before it was yanked from its plinth and set alight during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Pike, a Confederate army general who championed the secession of the South, had worked with Native Americans from tribes that owned slaves and joined with the Confederacy to defend slavery during the Civil War. The statue honoring Pike, standing about a mile from the White House, had long been denounced before it was removed. The National Park Service announced Monday that the bronze monument will soon return to its old spot in Judiciary Square, as crews finalize a refurbishment. The agency aims to have the statue standing by October, according Trump's executive orders designed to, in the president's eyes, restore 'truth and sanity to American history.' The Confederacy never conquered D.C., and the District of Columbia Council called for the statue to be removed in a 1992 resolution before renewing the demand in 2017. Critics of the statue also cited claims that Pike joined the Ku Klux Klan when the war ended, according to The New York Times, though historians say the claim cannot be conclusively proven. Pike, who was also a prominent leader of the Freemasons, was known to oppose racial integration in Masonic lodges. He also wrote in 1868 that the 'white race, and that race alone, shall govern this country. It is the only one that is fit to govern, and it is the only one that shall.' 'Site preparation to repair the statue's damaged masonry plinth will begin shortly, with crews repairing broken stone, mortar joints and mounting elements,' the National Park Service said. The move has rankled many, including D.C.'s delegate to the House of Representatives, Eleanor Holmes Norton. The veteran Democrat, 88, told the CBS affiliate WUSA on Monday that the statue should become an artifact rather than being displayed publicly. 'I've long believed Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts, not remain in locations that imply honor,' she said. 'President Trump's longstanding determination to honor Confederate General Albert Pike by restoring and reinstalling the Pike statue is as indefensible as it is morally objectionable,' she added. Norton also said she will resurrect a bill that would 'permanently remove the statue of Pike and authorize the Secretary of the Interior to donate the statue to a museum or a similar entity.' 'A statue honoring a racist and a traitor has no place on the streets of D.C.,' she said. Norton and many others have argued that Pike 'served dishonorably' and noted that he 'took up arms against the United States [and] misappropriated funds.' His work to preserve slavery along with the Confederates has placed him in the crosshairs of modern protesters, but Trump has previously argued that 'both the good and the bad' parts of history should be remembered with public artworks. Jason Charter, a D.C. local who was arrested by the FBI for allegedly dousing the statue with lighter fluid before setting it alight, responded angrily to the news that it will return. 'I did not get arrested by the FBI, so that statue could go back up,' he tweeted on Monday. The move comes as part of a sweeping Trump campaign to restore Confederate iconography across public spaces and the military. Earlier this year, the president ordered the Pentagon to reinstate the names of Army bases originally named after Confederate generals—names that had been stripped during the racial reckoning that followed the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. Trump also signed an executive order demanding that monuments taken down during those protests be restored. White House special assistant to the president Lindsey Halligan told the Daily Beast that the statue was 'removed under ideological pressure.' 'Thank you to the National Park Service for announcing the restoration of the Albert Pike statue after it was unlawfully toppled and vandalized,' she said. She added: 'Erected in 1901 and funded entirely by private Masonic organizations, the statue stood for over a century as a tribute to Pike's contributions as a scholar and Masonic leader. 'Such action aligns with President Trump's Executive Order 14253, which calls for reinstating monuments removed under ideological pressure. It's encouraging to see our National Park Service stand up for historical preservation, due process, and the rule of law.' Solve the daily Crossword
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Trump's D.C. takeover
Politics Trump's D.C. takeover August 6, 2025 | 8:49 PM GMT A Confederate statue toppled and burned by protesters in D.C. will be repaired and reinstalled this fall, the National Park Service announced August 4.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Hegseth announces return of Confederate statue that whitewashes slavery to Arlington Cemetery: ‘We honor it'
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that a Confederate statue which whitewashes slavery would be returned to Arlington National Cemetery in Northern Virginia. 'I'm proud to announce that Moses Ezekiel's beautiful and historic sculpture — often referred to as 'The Reconciliation Monument' — will be rightfully ... returned to Arlington National Cemetery near his burial site,' Hegseth wrote on X Tuesday evening. 'It never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don't believe in erasing American history—we honor it.' The monument had been removed in 2023 as part of the Biden administration's push for the take-down of Confederate symbols. During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden said Confederate symbols belonged in museums, not public squares. 'I can understand the anger and anguish that people feel' because of 'systemic racism,' he said. The Trump administration is doing a U-turn on this strategy. During a visit to Fort Bragg, North Carolina in June, Trump said he was reversing a number of name changes to military bases that previously honored Confederate leaders. Ezekiel was a Confederate soldier who pushed the 'Lost Cause' myth -- that the Civil War was valid and heroic, and not a war to keep slavery. Following the defeat of the Confederacy, Ezekiel left the U.S. for Europe and settled in Rome, where he hung the Confederate battle flag in his studio for four decades, according to Civil War Times Magazine. His bronze memorial, measuring 32 feet, has a Latin inscription that claims that the Civil War was a 'lost cause' that remained admirable because of its noble principles and effort to resist tyranny, an archived version of the Arlington Cemetery website states. The monument also attempts to hide the violence that slaves were subjected to with figures including an enslaved woman holding a white officer's child and a man accompanying his owner to war, the website notes. Ezekiel intentionally included 'faithful Black servants' in his sculpture against what he deemed misrepresentations of slavery in Uncle Tom's Cabin, an 1852 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, according to Hilary Herbert. The Alabama lawmaker and secretary of the Navy had argued for the inclusion of the Confederate section at the military cemetery in the late 19th century. Ezekiel thought that his statue represented the support of Black slaves for the Confederate cause, Herbert believed, The Daily Beast noted. As such, the statue appears to suggest that Black people backed their own enslavement. The monument, first unveiled in 1914, also appears to memorialize the federal government's decision to leave Reconstruction behind and allow for racial segregation and violence across the South following the Civil War. After the end of the Civil War, the federal government worked for more than 10 years to reunify the country and make the South fairer. That effort, called Reconstruction, ended in 1877 and was replaced by Reconciliation, with the federal government pulling back troops from the South and allowing former Confederate states to enact racial segregation, stop Black people from voting, and oppress Black communities. Ezekiel's memorial is also called 'The Reconciliation Monument.' It was created as part of that movement, the archived Arlington Cemetery website states. On Monday, the National Park Service announced it is bringing back a statue of Confederate Army General Albert Pike. He once wrote that the 'white race, and that race alone, shall govern this country. It is the only one that is fit to govern, and it is the only one that shall.' It stood outside the Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters in Washington, D.C. between 1898 and 2020, when it was toppled by protesters during Black Lives Matter protests. 'The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation's capital and re-instate pre-existing statues,' the National Park Service said in a statement.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Toppled Confederate statue in DC to be replaced in line with Trump's executive order
A statue of a Confederate general that was toppled by protesters in Washington in 2020 will be restored and replaced this fall, in line with President Donald Trump 's pushback on recent efforts to reframe America's historical narrative. The National Park Service announced Monday that the statue of Albert Pike, a Confederate brigadier general and a revered figure among Freemasons, would resume its previous position in Washington's Judiciary Square, a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. It was the only outdoor statue of a Confederate military leader in the nation's capital. The statue was pulled down with ropes and chains on Juneteenth in 2020 as part of mass protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Confederate statues around the country were toppled by similar protests while several military bases named for Confederate leaders were renamed. The Pike statue restoration, which is targeted for October, 'aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation's capital and reinstate pre-existing statues,' the park service said in a statement. In March, Trump issued an executive order entitled 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.' It decried post-Floyd efforts to reinterpret American history, stating, 'rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame." The order targeted the Smithsonian network of museums as having 'come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.' It also instructed the Interior Department to restore any statue or display that was 'removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.' Pike, who died in 1891, is more known for his decades-long stint as a senior leader of the Freemasons than for his Confederate military career. The Masons lobbied Congress for the right to erect the statue on NPS land in 1901 — provided that he be depicted in civilian, not military, garb. But Pike did lead a regiment for the Confederacy during the Civil War. And as the only outdoor statue of a Confederate leader in Washington, D.C., it had been a source of controversy for decades. Even the brief Park Service page on the statue notes that it has 'stirred opposition since it was first planned.' A long history of demands for its removal The D.C. Council asked for its removal in 1992. In 2017, Mayor Muriel Bowser struck an agreement with congressional leaders to eventually remove it. When protesters toppled the statue in 2020 while police officers looked on, Trump — then in his first term — called it 'a disgrace to our Country' on social media and called for their immediate arrests. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington's non-voting delegate in Congress, called the Park Service move 'odd and indefensible' in a statement Monday. Norton said she would introduce legislation to remove the statue permanently and place it in a museum. 'I've long believed Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts," she said, 'not remain in parks and locations that imply honor.'
Associated Press
6 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Toppled Confederate statue in DC to be replaced in line with Trump's executive order
WASHINGTON (AP) — A statue of a Confederate general that was toppled by protesters in Washington in 2020 will be restored and replaced this fall, in line with President Donald Trump's pushback on recent efforts to reframe America's historical narrative. The National Park Service announced Monday that the statue of Albert Pike, a Confederate brigadier general and a revered figure among Freemasons, would resume its previous position in Washington's Judiciary Square, a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. It was the only outdoor statue of a Confederate military leader in the nation's capital. The statue was pulled down with ropes and chains on Juneteenth in 2020 as part of mass protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Confederate statues around the country were toppled by similar protests while several military bases named for Confederate leaders were renamed. The Pike statue restoration, which is targeted for October, 'aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation's capital and reinstate pre-existing statues,' the park service said in a statement. Restoration is part of a larger narrative In March, Trump issued an executive order entitled 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.' It decried post-Floyd efforts to reinterpret American history, stating, 'rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame.' The order targeted the Smithsonian network of museums as having 'come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.' It also instructed the Interior Department to restore any statue or display that was 'removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.' Pike, who died in 1891, is more known for his decades-long stint as a senior leader of the Freemasons than for his Confederate military career. The Masons lobbied Congress for the right to erect the statue on NPS land in 1901 — provided that he be depicted in civilian, not military, garb. But Pike did lead a regiment for the Confederacy during the Civil War. And as the only outdoor statue of a Confederate leader in Washington, D.C., it had been a source of controversy for decades. Even the brief Park Service page on the statue notes that it has 'stirred opposition since it was first planned.' A long history of demands for its removal The D.C. Council asked for its removal in 1992. In 2017, Mayor Muriel Bowser struck an agreement with congressional leaders to eventually remove it. When protesters toppled the statue in 2020 while police officers looked on, Trump — then in his first term — called it 'a disgrace to our Country' on social media and called for their immediate arrests. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington's non-voting delegate in Congress, called the Park Service move 'odd and indefensible' in a statement Monday. Norton said she would introduce legislation to remove the statue permanently and place it in a museum. 'I've long believed Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts,' she said, 'not remain in parks and locations that imply honor.'
