CV NEWS FEED // The Biden administration is removing a longstanding monument dedicated to Confederate soldiers killed in action.
Last week, a Virginia-based federal judge ruled that the demolition of the Confederate Memorial could continue, despite a legal challenge.
The Hill reported:
The decision comes after a Congress-mandated Naming Commission published a final report suggesting the monument in question be removed, saying it “offers a nostalgic, mythologized version of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery.”
The monument has stood in Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia for 109 years.
“The Confederate Memorial offers an opportunity for visitors to reflect on the history and meanings of the Civil War, slavery, and the relationship between military service, citizenship and race in America,” stated the military cemetery’s website:
This memorial, along with the segregated United States Colored Troops graves in Section 27, invites us to understand how politics and culture have historically shaped how Americans have buried and commemorated the dead.
The monument’s sculptor, Moses Jacob Ezekiel, made history as one of the first internationally successful Jewish American artists.
Between 600,000 and 750,000 American soldiers died in the Civil War, which claimed more American lives than any other conflict in the nation’s history. By contrast, an estimated 405,399 American troops were killed in World War II.
Around 300,000 of the soldiers killed in the Civil War are believed to have fought for the Confederacy.
Observers blasted the decision to tear down the memorial, pointing out that its purpose was to honor men who died in battle and not the ideology of the short-lived Confederate States of America.
“The Biden administration’s move to tear down the Confederate Memorial is an ominous sign for the future of our republic,” wrote The Daily Signal’s Jarrett Stepman.
“The monument to Confederate war dead at Arlington, a cemetery built on land that belonged to Lee, was not a tribute to racism, slavery, or the Confederate cause, as many contend,” he continued:
The statue was built more in the spirit of President Abraham Lincoln, who had “Yankee Doodle” and “Dixie” played at the White House upon receiving news of Lee’s surrender to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
Malice toward none and charity for all. North and South, we are all Americans again.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-FL, struck a similar tone on X (formerly Twitter) last week. “The Confederate Memorial was built to commemorate members of the Armed Forces who died during the American Civil War,” she wrote.
“To have this memorial torn down because some are ‘offended’ by it is not a justifiable reason,” continued Luna, an Air Force veteran. “Our country needs to learn from and acknowledge its history instead of trying to change it.”
However, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-IL, disagreed, writing: “The Confederacy and the ideas it stood for should not be honored at Arlington National Cemetery. I’m glad to see the memorial is going to be removed from those sacred grounds in the coming days.”