Confederate

Oct. 28 (UPI) — A statue of a Confederate general toppled amid the civil rights protests that swept across the country during the summer of 2020 has been reinstalled in Washington, D.C.’s Judiciary Square.

The 27-foot bronze and marble statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike was reportedly returned to the square on Saturday.

It had been removed after protesters toppled the statue, the only one honoring a Confederate general in the nation’s capital, in June 2020 amid Black Lives Matter protests demanding an end to police brutality and racial injustice after the murder of George Floyd by a White police officer.

In August, the National Park Service announced that it would be restored in alignment “with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and reinstate pre-existing statues.”

While the NPS says the statue honors Pike’s “leadership in Freemasonry,” critics deride its return as the man fought against the United States in the Civil War.

“The morally objectionable move is an affront to the mostly Black and Brown residents of the District of Columbia and offensive to members of the military who serve honorably,” Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., said in a statement.

“Pike represents the worst of the Confederacy and has no claim to be memorialized in the nation’s capital.”

June 10 (UPI) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Army bases, which honored Confederate leaders before 2023, will have their original names reinstated. Trump said, “it’s no time to change.”

Trump made the announcement during a speech at Fort Bragg to celebrate the Army’s 250th birthday, which will also be celebrated this weekend in Washington, D.C., with a military parade.

“For a little breaking news, we are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort A.P. Hill and Fort Robert E. Lee,” Trump said.

“We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It’s no time to change. And I’m superstitious. I like to keep it going,” he added.

Fort Bragg’s name was recently restored from Fort Liberty after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed an order earlier this year. Instead of honoring Confederate general Braxton Bragg, the base now honors World War II paratrooper and Silver Star recipient Roland Bragg.

“Fort Bragg, it shall always remain. That’s never going to be happening again,” Trump said Tuesday.

The Pentagon also restored Fort Moore’s original name to Fort Benning, with the retired name honoring a different man and not Confederate general, Lt. Gen. Henry Benning. The Georgia base now honors Corporal Fred Benning, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism during World War I.

While most of the bases will be renamed in honor of someone with the same surname, Trump implied that Fort A.P. Hill and Fort Robert E. Lee would not.

“We won two world wars in those forts,” Trump told supporters last July during a campaign rally, as he criticized the Biden administration for dropping the bases’ original names.

Former President Biden ordered the bases be renamed in 2021 following Black Lives Matter protests the previous year. Biden signed a bill that created a naming commission to change the names of forts that honored Confederates, while giving the commission three years to complete the job.

During Tuesday’s speech, Trump also discussed the protests in Los Angeles and his deployment of National Guardsmen and Marines, saying “this anarchy will not stand.”

“Generations of Army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third world lawlessness here at home, like is happening in California,” Trump said.

“As commander in chief, I will not let that happen. It’s never going to happen. What you’re witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion of our country,” the president continued.

“This week, we remember that we only have a country because we first had an Army — and after 250 years, we still proudly declare that we are free because you are strong.”

The Army will continue the celebration of its 250th anniversary with a military parade on Saturday in Washington, D.C. Saturday is also Flag Day and Trump’s 79th birthday.