The House GOP in its ongoing quest to not accomplish things that are truly needed (like funding the government, or passing supplemental aid to provide military and humanitarian help to Ukraine and Israel) has gone home for the holidays. To play at being “good Christians” and to proclaim their featly to baby Jeebus and so on. That doesn’t mean they won’t talk about things that upset them such as immigration policy and (oh the horror!) and being too welcoming to desperate people fleeing violence and oppression seeking refuge in the United States.
And protecting a CONFEDERATE monument at Arlington National Cemetery that’s slated for removal.
Business Insider reports House Republicans are pushing the Pentagon to block removal of a monument, the so-called “Reconciliation Monument” jammed in there over a hundred years ago to “honor” Confederate Soldiers and the Confederacy:
Congressman Andrew Clyde led a group of more than 40 GOP colleagues in calling for the Department of Defense to halt the planned removal of the Reconciliation Monument, also known as the Confederate Memorial, “until Congress completes the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 appropriations process.”
Their letter to SecDef Lloyd Austin contains all manner of nonsense. Stuff like the monument’s removal “does not align with the original intent of Congress.” And this piece of drivel in their letters is particularly rich:
“The Department of Defense must comply with this request or risk denigrating the delicate balance of the principles of separation of powers between Congress and the Executive, outlined in the Constitution,” they added.
However the part that really jacked me up was them talking about the memorial’s “history and intended purpose.” Really? Let’s talk about that. Starting in the late 1800s and well into the 1900s a large movement to re-write history took place. If you think (correctly) that many in former Confederate states have never gotten over the Civil War, who want a return to antebellum times when black people were if not slaves then at least know they damn well don’t, simply because of their skin color have the same rights as white people the period in our history was worse. The myth of the “northern war of aggression” was marketed, an organized propaganda campaign including stuff like the film “Birth Of A Nation” was created and other stuff. One big thing was an effort led by Daughters of the Confederacy but adopted by others to put up a CONFEDERATE monument in every town.
Have you ever noticed how many times when groups have torn those things down they seem to bend and crumple? That’s because even though made of bronze they were made on the cheap. Barely thick enough to hold their shape. What matters though is that they went up everywhere the money could be scraped up to build one. Unfortunately that included Arlington National Cemetery and there a big, fancy one was erected. As a form of “reconciliation” which is pure bullshit. There have been times when political power rested in the hands of DC leaders who have been all too sympathetic to traitorous confederate’s butt-hurt fee-fees.
That monument was meant to be, and IS a giant “F**K ALL Y’ALL” in the cemetery often described as our most sacred shrine. Truth be told (at least in my opinion) the people who signed that letter and those who agree with their position would choose that racist rag, the “Confederate Battle Flag” over the Stars & Stripes in a heartbeat. Hell, take a look at the crowd shots of the Jan. 6 protestors. You see that goddamned racist rag all over the place! As much if not more than the actual American flag in some “wide shot” pictures.
White Nationalism. They can deny it all they want but the Congress Critters who signed that letter and those who agree with them are White Nationalists. Worse, at this time of year they are letting that freak flag fly as they combine it with their “Christian” Nationalism.
Well, once upon a time I was stationed in the DC area. In fact, the post (Henderson Hall, which sadly got absorbed into Ft. Meyer) sat along the border of Arlington National Cemetery. I’ve been on those grounds more times than I can remember. Both before, then and since the place has evoked feelings in me I can’t put into words. That monument has no place in Arlington. None.
The sooner it’s gone the better.
I say melt down that goddamned statue and make as many medallions say the size of a silver dollar with Lee’s face on one side and Jeff Davis’ on the other with the word TRAITOR as part of it. Sell them and donate the proceeds to someplace like the NAACP or the Southern Poverty Law Center. Just get it the hell out of Arlington National Cemetery and as soon as possible.
Damn right!!! If I had the power I’d revoke citizenship on ALL those gop members who supported the insurrectionists and give instant citizenship to all those who risked life and limb to try and give their children a better life.
Well there would be justification for a simple plaque saying “Robert E. Lee lived here” but that’s about all
my ancestor a Union Captain says no…
I like what Mondale Robbins (mayor of Enfield, NC) did.
He got tired of waiting for a resolution to remove a traitor monument in his town, so he hired a backhoe on his own dime and pulled it down.
Sadly, he has the local KKK chapter gunning for him.
As a Southerner, I grew up with a confederate memorial in my city, ONLY inside a then private, and now municipal – cemetery and solely to mark the grave of 400 confederate soldiers beneath. For me, it remains a grave marker only, and, as such, has a place where it is. The city has no other monument of that kind, but it does have a National Cemetery marking the individual graves of union soldiers of the time, and with monuments placed by various states, as well. It would seem that unless such a marker at Arlington was actually to show respect for dead buried beneath it, but was just glorifying the war itself, there should be no place for it in any National Cemetery.