The Arlington National Cemetery is seeking public input about the removal of the Confederate Memorial located on its grounds. Officials announced plans to remove the statue in March, following directives from the Department of Defense that aim to remove all symbols of the Confederacy from DoD assets.
The U.S. Army announced the beginning of a 30-day “public scoping period” on August 4, in which the public is invited to submit comments related to “alternatives that will avoid, minimize, or mitigate adverse effects of the monument’s removal.” Comments can be submitted online until September 2, and a virtual public meeting will be held on August 23.
This is the first of three comment periods included in the full process.
“The removal of the Confederate Memorial must be conducted in a manner that ensures the safety of the people who work at and visit ANC and that protects surrounding graves and monuments,” ANC said.
The statue in question, located in Section 16 of the cemetery, depicts a woman crowned in olive leaves who represents the American South. Below her on the statue are 32 life-size depictions of Confederate soldiers and Southern citizens, including two depictions of slavery. One features an enslaved woman called “Mammy” holding the infant child of a white officer, and the other shows an enslaved man following his owner to war.
The ANC website said that this monument “offers a nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery.” It was created in 1914 by sculptor Moses Jacob Ezekiel, a Confederate veteran who was later buried at the base of the memorial.
The current plan includes the removal of all bronze elements from the statue. The granite base and foundation will stay in place to avoid disturbing surrounding graves, according to the ANC.
The removal of this statue is part of a larger effort to remove Confederate symbols from all DoD assets. A Congressional Naming Commission was created in 2021 to provide recommendations for how to “remove names, symbols, displays, monuments, or paraphernalia that commemorate the Confederate States of America or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America from assets of the DoD.”
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin approved these recommendations in October 2022, mandating that all of the renaming and removals indicated in the plan must be completed by January 2024.
The plan to remove the ANC’s memorial is currently being challenged in court, according to The Washington Post. The Sons of the Confederate Veterans and other descendants of Confederate soldiers filed a lawsuit in a Virginia circuit court — which was later moved to federal court in DC — in an attempt to keep the statue intact. The federal government is now seeking to dismiss the lawsuit.
Feature image of the Confederate memorial at the Arlington National Cemetery, courtesy Arlington National Cemetery
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