A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary restraining order to halt removal of a “Reconciliation Memorial,” built as a gesture of unity for the nation and to memorialize Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The order was made on Monday, the very day that workers brought in scaffolding and equipment to begin to dismantle the monument.
The Reconciliation Memorial removal order came after the 2020’s Black Lives Matter riots, and was part of a larger order to remove all references to the Confederate South in military sites around the country.
“The removal will desecrate, damage, and likely destroy the Memorial longstanding at ANC as a grave marker and impede the Memorial’s eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places,” the lawsuit against Arlington states.
The temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston said a lawyer for the plaintiffs alleged that the work involves disturbance of gravesites. The memorial is, in fact a gravesite of its designer, a Jewish man who served in the army of Gen. Robert E. Lee.
“This monument was erected in the spirit of reconciliation and was the brainchild of US President McKinley, himself a Union veteran, after the Spanish-American War,” the group says on its website. “The monument was designed by Sir Moses Ezekiel, a Jewish VMI Cadet who served in Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army. It is literally the grave of Ezekiel, who died in WWI and was buried at the base.”
Defend Arlington says that removing the memorial monument does nothing to advance civil rights.
“In 1898, following the Spanish-American War, where Union and Confederate veterans fought side-by-side under one flag, President William McKinley declared in the heart of the South, Atlanta, Georgia, that the U.S. government would commit to sharing in the burden of honoring and properly burying the Confederate dead, stating, ‘sectional feelings no longer holds back the love we feel for each other. The old flag waves over us in peace with new glories.’ In 1900, Congress authorized Confederate remains to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and in 1906, Secretary of War, William Howard Taft, permitted construction of a monument honoring our country’s new shared reconciliation from its troubled divisions,” wrote Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, who opposes the desecration of the monument.
“Finally, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson unveiled this new memorial to national unity – designed by a Jewish-American sculptor, the memorial is topped with a woman crowned by an olive wreath to symbolize peace,” Clyde and 43 other lawmakers wrote.
The monument has such significance that presidents traditionally send wreaths to be placed at its base. Even President Barack Obama carried on the tradition because of the unifying message of the monument.
“This tradition, which demonstrates tremendous national unity and respect, has been carried on regardless of the party or politics of the sitting President. Even President Barack Obama understood the importance of the Reconciliation Monument in the context of what it stands for, unity not division, when he continued the presidential tradition of sending a wreath to the monument in 2009.”
Rep. Clyde also wrote, “As its removal does not align with the original intent of Congress, the House of Representatives took action to prevent the removal of the Reconciliation Monument in the Fiscal Year 2024 Department of Defense Appropriations Act. 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.” The full letter and its signers, all Republicans from the party that fought to end slavery, are available at this link.
The judge says he will take any exaggeration by lawyers representing Defend Arlington seriously “and should the representations in this case be untrue or exaggerated the Court may take appropriate sanctions.”
The opposition to the monument’s removal goes beyond grave desecration for many. It’s about “woke” politics erasing American history, with all its flaws.
“A Presidential Document by the Executive Office of the President filed on 07/02/2020 reveals the government is perfectly aware that a trend of indiscriminate attacks on historical sites and figures is gaining steam across the country while city and state officials are unable to properly contain or counter the crimes. The government knows the tone of our country is worsening, yet the U.S. Military continues to bend a knee to the trend of whitewashing history and now has slated for the removal of an Arlington Cemetery monument. Tell our U.S. Military that enough is enough, quit the cancel culture, defend our American heritage, stop the destruction!” wrote the group at Change.org.
Army National Military Cemeteries is complying with a Congress-created “Naming Commission” requirement to remove the Confederate Memorial by Jan. 1, 2024. The naming commission has also been responsible for removing historic names from various military bases, primarily in the South.
A perimeter of safety fencing has been installed around the Reconciliation Memorial, with the removal date set for Dec. 22.
For updates on the Confederate Memorial removal, visit: https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/About/Confederate-Memorial-Removal.
Arlington National Cemetery had posted no Monday updates to its website about the restraining order.
