Over the weekend, preparations began at Arlington National Cemetery to erase more of America's history by pretending it didn't happen. The Confederate Memorial, known to most as the Reconciliation Monument, is the next victim in the drive to re-write America's story and bow to the gods of the woke virtue signal.
Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery to be removed despite GOP opposition https://t.co/xtDRrqKbgv
— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 17, 2023
The deconstruction of the memorial comes after a group of GOP lawmakers, led by Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., wrote a letter to Secretary Austin and demanded that they keep the Confederate Memorial in place until the end of the fiscal year 2024 appropriations process.
In a letter to Secretary Austin, Clyde argued that the memorial was dedicated to American unity following the Civil War rather than honoring the Confederacy, and that it would desecrate the graves of Confederate troops buried there.
The history and composition of the statue bear out Clyde's assertion of unity. Traditionally a cemetery for Union soldiers, in 1898 after victory in the Spanish-American War, President William McKinley declared, 'in the spirit of fraternity we should share with you in the care of the graves of Confederate soldiers ... Sectional feeling no longer holds back the love we feel for each other.' Over the ensuing years, many Confederate graves were moved to Arlington National Cemetery, and the monument, designed by the first Jewish graduate of Virginia Military Institute, was unveiled in 1914.
The monument itself shows a female figure on top representing the beating of swords into plowshares, the reliefs around the body of the monument depict freed slaves, and Union and Confederate figures in harmony, and even the base of the statue contains an excerpt from the Pharsalia, a poem written by Roman poet Lucan after the war between Julius Caesar and Pompey, decrying the horrors of civil war.
But in post-George Floyd America, none of that history means anything. Anything remotely associated with the Confederacy has to go.
It’s literally called the “Reconciliation Monument” and was erected 100 years ago as a sign that the country had moved on from the Civil War. Now they’re tearing it down as a sign that they actually don’t want us to move on. https://t.co/8vJ87m7yId
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) December 17, 2023
RX c. 2017 - What’s one monument…they’ll put it in a museum for proper context… https://t.co/ttI3GbEp1r pic.twitter.com/G39nA1XXkr
— The Gormogons (@Gormogons) December 17, 2023
Yes, we remember when they said that about the statue of Robert E. Lee that was removed. Then they melted down and literally defaced that statue.
On Sunday, photos could be seen of the preparations to remove the monument, scheduled to be completed by Dec. 22.
The Biden administration is removing the Reconciliation Monument in Arlington.
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 17, 2023
The monument was built 109 years ago to honor post-Civil War reconciliation and national unity.
History is being rewritten before our eyes. pic.twitter.com/GC7u7f8Ao4
Until the @HouseGOP & @SenateGOP are willing to stop hiding behind the military & veterans while simultaneously funding woke nonsense — this crap will not change. See eg the NDAA https://t.co/TeG5hyYB2h
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) December 17, 2023
It is indeed time for Republicans to grow a backbone. We're not holding our breath for that.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing… https://t.co/7EJviusF4D
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) December 17, 2023
The quote from Orwell's 1984 seems a little on the nose. So also are comparisons to Communist Russia, Communist China, and many more Marxist regimes in history who all tore down statues and other iconography of their history.
The American Cultural Revolution continues under the leadership of Chairman Biden. https://t.co/GpWLh6BwFl
— Xi Van Fleet (@XVanFleet) December 18, 2023
America ignores the warnings of Van Fleet, a survivor of Mao's Cultural Revolution, at our peril.
“Why’d they take the cemetery statue down, daddy?”
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) December 17, 2023
“Well you see, son, a violent career criminal died of a drug overdose in police custody. So that statue had to go.”
The Summer of Floyd did more to damage the fabric of this nation than 5 Civil Wars. https://t.co/J4Xoxfio7S
— David Pivtorak (@piv4law) December 18, 2023
A monument to reconciliation constructed by the men who fought the war being torn down by ignorant liberals a century later is really something. https://t.co/uV0OisMxpt
— Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) December 18, 2023
It really is, isn't it?
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin also spoke out against the action and warned against any desecration of the nearby grave of and memorial to Moses Ezekiel, the designer of the monument.
They'll be digging up the graves soon if this isn't stopped.
— Rani, Last of The Red Hot Boomers (@ShadesOfRani) December 17, 2023
They wouldn't actually remove the graves of Confederate soldiers from Arlington National Cemetery, would they?
Sounds crazy, right? Yep. Right up until the point when the shovels come out.
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