(Headline USA) A leftist commission submitted a report to Congress this week suggesting that the Confederate Memorial at the Arlington National Cemetery be dismantled and removed.
The memorial, which was unveiled in 1914 and features a bronze woman who represents the South, is “problematic from top to bottom” and should be torn down, the commission’s report said. They cited the statue’s base, which features shields with the coats of arms of the 13 Confederate states, as well as depictions of enslaved men and women.
The Naming Commission was created by Congress in 2021 to propose new names for Army bases and assets that commemorate the Confederacy. It is set to submit a three-part to Congress by Oct. 1 that includes recommendations for all memorials, awards, scholarships, and “inactive, decommissioned, or obsolete assets.”
The panel recommended the first section of its report in May, and urged Congress to rename nine Army bases that commemorate Confederate officers, including Fort Bragg, Fort Benning, Fort Gordon, Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee, Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Polk, and Fort Rucker.
It would cost taxpayers nearly $62.4 million to rename all of these bases and remove the memorial from the Arlington National Cemetery, according to Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, the vice chairman of the commission.
On some points, the commission has displayed at least a modicum of restraint.
It said in the first section of its report that it opposed removing artifacts in museums because “the purpose of these museums is to collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret historically significant artifacts pertaining to that base, mission, or other focus.”
The commission also left historic graveyards alone. “No grave markers at the United States Military Academy or the United States Naval Academy … would be considered for removal,” said its report.
