The massive statue at America’s most hallowed ground is a monument to counterfeit reconciliation.
Longstreet’s biography bears consideration as the nation prepares for an emotional next step in coming to terms with slavery, rebellion and Civil War: the planned removal of the 32-foot-tall Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.
The public can offer ideas on the huge bronze sculpture’s ultimate disposition, starting at a Wednesday meeting. But it is supposed to come down by Jan. 1, 2024, pursuant to findings of a bipartisan national commission, which Congress established in 2021 after the police murder of George Floyd and nationwide racial justice protests.
The panel’s mandate was to scrub Defense Department property of “names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate” individual Confederates or the Confederacy, a category Arlington’s Confederate Memorial exemplifies in an especially objectionable way.
To this legal plea, former Navy secretary Jim Webb, who also served in the Senate as a Virginia Democrat, added an Aug. 18In its impending removal, Webb sees the latest excess of “this new world of woke.” A symbol of national unity, he laments, is about to be erased in favor of “bitterness and misunderstanding conjured up by those who do not understand the history they seem bent on destroying.”
In fact, the Confederate Memorial embodied a specious unity. President William McKinley, who was a former Union officer, did indeed offer fallen Confederates interment at Arlington — previously reserved for Union soldiers — as a conciliatory gesture in 1898.to build a monument amid the graves, seeking, as he later said, the “oblivion of sectionalism.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Arlington High School temporarily placed on lockdown after threatening phone callThe campus went into lockdown just after 1:34 p.m. while police searched in and around the school.
Read more »
Metallica makes major donation to Tarrant Area Food Bank after Arlington showsHeavy metal rockers Metallica made a hefty donation to the Tarrant Area Food Bank after playing two shows in Arlington over the weekend.
Read more »
No Repeats, No Regrets: Metallica Catches Lightning in Arlington, TwiceSymmetrical nights on the M72 World Tour dug deeper into the catalog
Read more »
Pros and Cons: Metallica Went Back for Seconds in Arlington Sunday NightSunday concluded the 'Metallica Makeover' weekend, with the heavy-metal band playing AT&T Stadium for the second time.
Read more »
Community members pack out Arlington meeting to express concerns, address important issuesThere were more people than seats available at Monday night’s Arlington meeting hosted by Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan.
Read more »