EVER HEAR OF ROBERT SMALLS? YOU SHOULD.

A small story in The San Diego Union-Tribune will leave a big wake this week after the U.S. Navy decided to rename its guided-missile cruiser Chancellorsville, which was homeported in San Diego for many years, after a Civil War-era maritime pilot.

The cruiser’s new name is Robert Smalls, an American who was born a slave in 1839 and who commandeered a Confederate ship he had been conscripted to pilot in 1862. That year, he fled with his family, other enslaved people and military cargo, and turned the vessel over to Union troops for use as a Union warship. He went on to lead one of the first boycotts of segregated public transportation in 1864, serve in the South Carolina legislature from 1868 to 1874 and represent South Carolina in Congress for five terms. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro called Smalls “an extraordinary American” whose “story will continue to be told and highlighted.”

The cruiser was named Chancellorsville in 1989 to honor the Battle of Chancellorsville, a Confederate victory during the Civil War. It is forward-deployed in Yokosuka, Japan at the moment — and will leave its backward thinking behind for good now.

At times, the Civil War battles of the southern United States may seem like a distant time and place to today’s Californians. But in San Diego County, which has one of the largest concentrations of military members and veterans in the entire nation, decisions by the Navy and other branches of the U.S. military to rename a number of assets that had Confederate ties will echo throughout time. Any remaining name changes must be done by the end of the year per the recommendations of a congressionally mandated Naming Commission that won Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s support in October.

As Del Toro said, “The renaming of these assets is not about rewriting history, but to remove the focus on the parts of our history that don’t align with the tenets of this country, and instead allows us to highlight the events and people in history who may have been overlooked.” That’s an important point. Had you heard of Robert Smalls? Our history books and ongoing conversations should include more voices.

All Americans should look on this decision with pride as Austin did when he wrote that these installations and facilities are “more than vital national security assets.” He said, “They are also powerful public symbols of our military, and of course, they are the places where our Service members and their families work and live. The names of these installations and facilities should inspire all those who call them home, fully reflect the history and the values of the United States, and commemorate the best of the republic that we are all sworn to protect.”

In authorizing the independent naming commission’s recommendations last year, Austin, the nation’s first Black defense secretary, cleared the way to eliminate some 1,100 Confederate references across the Defense Department, including nine Army bases, a monument honoring Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery and the ship formerly known as the Chancellorsville.

It was June 2020 that The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board wrote that it was time for the nation to remove all tributes to the Confederacy. Times change. Leaders, too. History will — and should — remember right and wrong, and right from wrong. And the Navy was certainly right to honor Robert Smalls. Leaders lead. It’s what Smalls did then. And what the Navy brass is doing now.