Latest news with #MosesEzekiel
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hegseth Puts Up Confederate Memorial That Whitewashes Slavery
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Arlington National Cemetery will be restoring a Confederate monument criticized for misrepresenting the history of slavery. As part of President Donald Trump's efforts to reintroduce Confederate symbols and monuments, Moses Ezekiel's 'beautiful and historic sculpture,' the Confederate Memorial, 'will be rightfully be returned to Arlington National Cemetery near his burial site,' Hegseth said in a social media post. 'It never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don't believe in erasing American history—we honor it,' Hegseth said. Ezekiel was a Confederate soldier who spent much of his artistic career promoting the 'Lost Cause' myth that the Civil War was just and heroic, and not a treasonous war fought to uphold slavery. After the Confederacy was defeated, Ezekiel moved to Europe and eventually settled in Rome, where he hung the Confederate battle flag in his studio for 40 years. His 32-foot bronze memorial includes an inscription in Latin that frames the Civil War as a 'lost cause' that was nevertheless admirable for its noble principles and resistance to tyranny, according to an archived version of the Arlington Cemetery website. It also sanitizes the violent reality of slavery with figures such as an enslaved woman depicted as a 'Mammy' figure holding a white officer's child, and an enslaved man following his owner to war, according to the website. Ezekiel purposefully included the 'faithful Black servants' to combat what he believed were 'lies' about slavery in Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, according to Hilary A. Herbert, an Alabama lawmaker who pushed for the creation of the Confederates' section at Arlington Cemetery. The artist believed his statue 'correctly' showed Black slaves' support for the Confederate cause, according to Herbert. Hegseth's decision to restore the monument and 'honor' its history, therefore, means the Trump administration is 'honoring' the myth that Black people supported their own enslavement. The Department of Defense declined to respond to criticisms about the monument, pointing only to Hegseth's statement on social media. The administration is also 'honoring' the federal government's decision to abandon Reconstruction and greenlight racial segregation and violence in the South after the Civil War. After the Confederates surrendered in November 1865, the federal government spent more than a decade pursuing a policy of Reconstruction to reunify the nation and transform the South's slave-based society into something more equitable. Arlington National Cemetery was itself founded in 1864 on land seized in from Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's plantation estate, according to the National Park Service. The decision to bury Union soldiers on the property was widely viewed as a way to restore honor to the property, which had been disgraced by Lee's decision to lead the Confederate forces, according to the NPS. The Reconstruction effort, however, ended in 1877 and was replaced by a policy called 'Reconciliation.' The federal government withdrew troops from the South, allowing the former Confederate states to impose racial segregation, deny Black people the right to vote, and terrorize Black communities. Ezekiel's Confederate Memorial, which is also known as 'The Reconciliation Monument,' was created as part of that movement, according to the archived Arlington Cemetery website. As part of 'Reconciliation,' the government created a section for Confederate troops at Arlington National Cemetery, even though Black Union soldiers were denied burial there. In 1906, the government authorized the monument, which was erected in 1914. It was finally removed in 2023 as part of the Biden administration's push to replace Confederate symbols, and even when the monument was standing, some presidents declined to have funeral wreaths laid there on Memorial Day. The move to reinstall the statue is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to bring those Confederate monuments back from the dead. The National Park Service announced on Monday that it is resurrecting a statue of the Confederate Army Gen. Albert Pike, who 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.' The 11-foot statue stood outside the Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters in Washington, D.C., from 1898 to 2020, when it was toppled during the Black Lives Matter protests. Pike's monument was reviled from the beginning but was apparently pushed through by the Freemasons—Pike was a prominent leader of the Freemasons and a rumored member of the Ku Klux Klan, according to The New York Times. The National Park Service said in a statement that it was restoring and reinstalling the statue in line with Trump's Executive Order on Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, which directs federal agencies to 'present a full and accurate picture of the American past,' according to the NPS. Historically, though, it makes little sense to erect a statue of a Confederate general outside the police department of Washington, D.C., which was the center of the Union war effort and was never invaded by the Confederates. The city has opposed the statue for decades and first called on Congress to remove it in early 1992. The NPS stressed that the statue honored Pike's leadership in Freemasonry, not his Civil War activity. It depicts him in civilian clothes, not battle attire. Regarding Freemason membership, Pike said in 1875, 'I took my obligations from white men, not from negroes. When I have to accept negroes as brothers or leave masonry, I shall leave it. Better let the thing drift.' Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Restoring Confederate memorial to cost $10M: Army official
The refurbishment of a Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery will cost around $10 million over roughly a two-year period, according to an Army official. The monument, which was taken down two years ago, will have a new base and panels that would share historical context, an Army official, speaking on condition of anonymity amid an ongoing project, told The Hill on Thursday. 'The U.S. Army has entered an agreement with the Commonwealth of Virginia under which Virginia will loan one of Moses Ezekiel's historic sculptures for display at Ezekiel's burial site in Arlington National Cemetery,' Arlington National Cemetery said in a statement on Wednesday. 'The Army expects to display the sculpture in 2027 after it has undergone complete refurbishment.' Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that he was 'proud' to announce that 'Moses Ezekiel's beautiful and historic sculpture — often referred to as 'The Reconciliation Monument' — will be rightfully be returned to Arlington National Cemetery near his burial site.' '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 Pentagon chief wrote on social media platform X. The statue, which was created by sculptor and Confederate veteran Moses Ezekiel, was put up in 2014. The monument features a classical female figure, representing the South. It was taken down in 2022 after an independent commission's recommendation, with the panel's vice chair, retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, saying the group thought it was 'problematic from top to bottom.' The monument featured toned-down depictions of slavery. Hegseth has ordered the names of several Army bases to be changed back to their Confederate monikers since being confirmed as the top DOD official, including changing the name back from Fort Liberty to Fort Bragg, albeit with less controversial figures as the namesakes. And the Pentagon has come under fire for deleting information about women and Black trailblazers in the military, while also reinstating a ban on transgender service members. President Trump has fought on various fronts against what he sees as 'woke' policies and practices across the federal government. He signed an executive order in March, accusing Smithsonian museums of fostering 'divisive, race-centered ideology.' 'This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive,' the White House said in the late-March directive.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Confederate monument being restored on Hegseth's anti-woke quest will cost $10M, military says
A U.S. Army official revealed Wednesday that the restoration of a Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery is set to cost about $10 million over two years. The official added that the monument would include panels that would share the context of the history behind the memorial, which will be refurbished and its base replaced. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the return of the monument on social media on Tuesday evening. '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. 'It never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don't believe in erasing American history—we honor it.' This comes less than two years after it was taken down following the recommendation of an independent commission. The monument, which was put up in 1914, was created by Ezekiel, a sculptor and Confederate veteran. The monument includes a classical female figure, which represents the South, along with sanitized depictions of slavery. The commission, mandated by Congress, stated in 2022 that the memorial, as well as a number of other military assets referencing the Confederacy, should be removed or renamed. The commission vice chair, retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, said the group thought the memorial to be "problematic from top to bottom." In addition to the sanitized depictions of slavery, the monument also featured a Latin phrase stating that the South's secession from the Union was a worthy 'lost cause.' The false interpretation of the reasons behind the outbreak of the Civil War suggests that it was a conflict about the power of the federal government rather than slavery. Hegseth has gone to great lengths to go against the recommendations of the commission by changing back the names of several Army bases to their names with connections to the Confederacy, by highlighting different people. After the recommendations by the commission, Fort Bragg in North Carolina, named after Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, was renamed Fort Liberty. Hegseth changed it back to Fort Bragg in February, but by honoring Army Pfc. Roland Bragg who received a Silver Star and Purple Heart for his courage during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March entitled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,' which pushed back against efforts to reinterpret U.S. history. "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,' it said. The order claimed that the Smithsonian museums had "come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.' It also ordered the Interior Department to reinstate statues and displays that had been "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." In the same vein, the National Park Service announced Monday that it would return the statue of Confederate brigadier General Albert Pike to its previous position in Judiciary Square in the nation's capital after it was pulled down amid Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Restoration of torn-down Confederate monument will cost $10 million over 2 years, military says
Restoring a memorial to the Confederacy that was removed from Arlington National Cemetery at the recommendation of Congress will cost roughly $10 million total, a U.S. Army official said Wednesday — the latest development in a Trump administration effort to combat what it calls 'erasing American history.' Once back in the cemetery, the monument — described a few years ago as 'problematic from top to bottom' — will also feature panels nearby that will offer context about its history, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity about a project still in progress. The Pentagon expects it to take about two years to restore the monument to its original site, the official told The Associated Press. The base that it sat on needs to be replaced and the monument itself will be refurbished as well. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon would reinstall the memorial at Arlington — an expanse just outside Washington that once contained the land of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — less than two years after it was removed on the recommendation of an independent commission. On social media Tuesday, Hegseth said the Arlington statue 'never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don't believe in erasing American history — we honor it.' It was erected more than a century ago The Confederate monument, erected in 1914, was the creation of sculptor and Confederate veteran Moses Ezekiel. It features a classical female figure, crowned with olive leaves, representing the American South, alongside sanitized depictions of slavery. In 2022, a congressionally mandated commission recommended that the memorial, along with scores of other military assets that bore Confederate references, be either removed or renamed. Retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, the vice chair of the commission, said that the group found that Ezekiel's memorial was 'problematic from top to bottom.' Arlington National Cemetery's page on the memorial noted that aside from the sanitized depictions of enslaved people, the statue featured a Latin phrase that equated the South's secession to a noble 'lost cause." That's a false interpretation of the Civil War that glorifies the conflict as a struggle over the power of the federal government and not the institution of slavery. Hegseth has made a point of circumventing the will of the commission several times now by reverting the names of several Army bases back to their original, Confederate-linked names, though by honoring different figures. For example, following the recommendations of the commission, officials renamed Fort Bragg, a name that honored Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, a slave owner who lost several key Civil War battles, to Fort Liberty. In February, Hegseth reverted the name back to Fort Bragg but honoring Army Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II soldier who earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart for exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge. The effort is part of a larger Trump initiative In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order entitled 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.' It decried 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.' This has been an active week when it comes to the dispute over how American history and culture are portrayed. On Monday, the National Park Service announced 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. And late last week, the Smithsonian Museum of American History announced that it would revert an exhibit on the presidency to the 2008 era, eliminating any mention of the two Trump impeachments. After that move sparked discussion about how history is portrayed by government-backed institutions, the Smithsonian said it had come under no pressure from the White House and had been planning all along to update that part of the exhibit, which it said was temporary, to 2025 specifications.
Associated Press
6 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Restoration of torn-down Confederate monument will cost $10 million over 2 years, military says
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Restoring a memorial to the Confederacy that was removed from Arlington National Cemetery at the recommendation of Congress will cost roughly $10 million total, a U.S. Army official said Wednesday — the latest development in a Trump administration effort to combat what it calls 'erasing American history.' Once back in the cemetery, the monument — described a few years ago as 'problematic from top to bottom' — will also feature panels nearby that will offer context about its history, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity about a project still in progress. The Pentagon expects it to take about two years to restore the monument to its original site, the official told The Associated Press. The base that it sat on needs to be replaced and the monument itself will be refurbished as well. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon would reinstall the memorial at Arlington — an expanse just outside Washington that once contained the land of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — less than two years after it was removed on the recommendation of an independent commission. On social media Tuesday, Hegseth said the Arlington statue 'never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don't believe in erasing American history — we honor it.' It was erected more than a century ago The Confederate monument, erected in 1914, was the creation of sculptor and Confederate veteran Moses Ezekiel. It features a classical female figure, crowned with olive leaves, representing the American South, alongside sanitized depictions of slavery. In 2022, a congressionally mandated commission recommended that the memorial, along with scores of other military assets that bore Confederate references, be either removed or renamed. Retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, the vice chair of the commission, said that the group found that Ezekiel's memorial was 'problematic from top to bottom.' Arlington National Cemetery's page on the memorial noted that aside from the sanitized depictions of enslaved people, the statue featured a Latin phrase that equated the South's secession to a noble 'lost cause.' That's a false interpretation of the Civil War that glorifies the conflict as a struggle over the power of the federal government and not the institution of slavery. Hegseth has made a point of circumventing the will of the commission several times now by reverting the names of several Army bases back to their original, Confederate-linked names, though by honoring different figures. For example, following the recommendations of the commission, officials renamed Fort Bragg, a name that honored Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, a slave owner who lost several key Civil War battles, to Fort Liberty. In February, Hegseth reverted the name back to Fort Bragg but honoring Army Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II soldier who earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart for exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge. The effort is part of a larger Trump initiative In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order entitled 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.' It decried 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.' This has been an active week when it comes to the dispute over how American history and culture are portrayed. On Monday, the National Park Service announced 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. And late last week, the Smithsonian Museum of American History announced that it would revert an exhibit on the presidency to the 2008 era, eliminating any mention of the two Trump impeachments. After that move sparked discussion about how history is portrayed by government-backed institutions, the Smithsonian said it had come under no pressure from the White House and had been planning all along to update that part of the exhibit, which it said was temporary, to 2025 specifications.
