As controversy rages over the fate of the Moses Ezekiel statue at the Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, The Cadet student newspaper at Virginia Military Institute quotes anonymous sources that the statue might be moved to the Virginia Museum of the Civil War at the New Market battlefield site. — JAB
(comments below)
(comments below)
New Market is now going to be a full on Confederate shrine. It’s too bad, but I guess it’s not a bad place to put it when you consider the context…ugh.
Better there than the “I” itself imo.
The recommendations of the Congressional Naming Commission (CNC) go far beyond changing some Army base names. If you could still read the report, you might be stunned by the sweep and breadth of those recommendations.
You can’t read the report anymore, because apparently the Congress has taken the report offline. Also, the e-mail address for the official PR POC for the CNC no longer accepts e-mails. I’ve saved copies of the report, and intend to write on the CNC’s judgments and recommendations, and the actions of at least one of its commissioners, over the next few months.
Right now, it appears the Departments of Defense and Army are trying to implement all these recommendations. That takes time. So, I’m not surprised to hear that VMI has received a feeler from “someone” about possibly accepting the Ezekiel statue. I’m sure the DOD and Army are looking around for options.
Seems to me that the DOD wants to implement these recommendations with as little fanfare as possible, and with as little advance notice as possible. It’s as if they want to present us faits accompli.
I have noticed that General Assembly, Congressional and public affairs offices don’t want to discuss this subject publicly.
It should stay where it is, unmolested. But if the Yankees really can’t see it without going into an emotional meltdown, then the museum at New Market works for me. A Southern victory, after all. Give it a good refresh as part of the process, it looks like it needs a cleaning.
Last week my phone popped up with a “remember this day” photo from seven years ago, of the Jeb Stuart statue outside my office building on Stuart Circle, all draped for a cleaning and new coating. City spent some serious bucks on getting it all spiffed up in order to look nice when they destroyed it.
https://www.baconsrebellion.com/app/uploads/2023/04/Stuart-Statue-Repaired.jpg
I used to live on Park Ave and for years went by the Stuart statue twice a day on my way to and from work. I was glad the circle had traffic lights, they kept me from getting in trouble by paying more attention to the statue than cars. Richmond had perhaps the best equestrian statuary this side of Rome. I have little nostalgia for “Losers Row”, but I miss the horses.
The city did not spend one single dime on the Stuart restoration. That was done with private money and I know the man who raised the funds. Stoney and his frat mate Devon Henry did spend city money to take it down.
“But if the Yankees really can’t see it without going into an emotional meltdown…”
We are all Yankees now, you know…
He did not “surrender the South”. They simply lost…
He did not “surrender the South”. They simply lost…
It says, “surrendered the army”.
“We are all Yankees now, you know…”
No, we are not. We are all Americans, as we were back then too.
Yankees were the Americans… as in not Confederates… in Civil War terms, Yankees=Americans. The Confederacy is no more, we are all Yankees now…
We live in two America’s now. Not changing any time soon.
There is only one United Stayed of America. Anyone who does not accept that is not a part of it.
You must accept the reality of today. One nation, under two tents, and neither one has the people in mind.
As they say in New York, “Bite your tongue!”
The thing is, you have to seek out this section of the cemetery. It’s not front and center, you have to search to be offended by the statue
Pretty funny to return to the string. So I referenced “Yankees” and set off a bunch of posturing about how it is one country now, but the “one country” won’t accept the existence of a statue recognizing and praising that reconciliation! Am I missing something here? Who isn’t getting into the 1) spirit of acceptance and 2) the willingness to let the history be shown as well as told? The South fought for a bad cause. The message that the Tree of Liberty needs watering (and the government better remember it) remains valid. Only on my mother’s side am I “Reb” but messing with a statue in a cemetery holding those Rebs is simply….wrong. An insult for the sake of being insulting.
I see that very differently than a statue on an urban boulevard used by the living where the majority can decide what stays or goes. And then demonstrate how hapless and pathetic that majority is by failing to come up even with a poor replacement other than bare grass. The “Yankees” have nothing they are proud of. (Well, money.) Having no sense of history, they will repeat it. “Rebs” have a sense of both their history and their mistakes, and might avoid them going forth.
The anger and division in this country right now is easily equal to 1860. And the geographic dividing line is forming, now, too. Study the history or else.
The Lost Cause is not history; it’s ahistorical, a whitewashing that perpetuated and justified continued oppression and violence against former slaves. It taught kids wild myths about the nature of slavery and the Civil War itself. So if you want to respect history, the first thing we should do is get rid of lost cause mythology.
VICTRIX CAUSA DIIS
PLACUIT SED VICTA CATONI
One of the Lost Cause’s favorite quotes, right on cue.
Reconciliation is truly dead. Neither side will fall for the siren’s deception again. Roger Waters might describe it best here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY6oLPPO03Q
What you refer to as “reconciliation” intentionally left out black people. The election of 1876 was a nasty affair.
Agreed. Only the money changers were winners in 1876. But 38 years separate the memorial in Arlington and 1876. Despite the climate of the times the achievements of the Niagra Movement and the Atlanta Compromise were critical steppingstones for progress in the early 20th century.
What ever happened to the concept of reconciliation between North and South? We are one nation, one people. And those fighting for their state and homeland were American war veterans. We should honor them as such.
What ever happened to the concept of reconciliation between North and South? We are one nation, one people. And those fighting for their state and homeland were American war veterans. We should honor them as such.
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