On hallowed ground, tableau of a taboo
ARLINGTON, Va. — On the western edge of Arlington National Cemetery stands a 32-foot-tall bronze hymn to soldiers of a bygone past. Such monuments are common on the hallowed ground where more than 400,000 are buried and honored for service to the country.
But the one in Section 16 commemorates those who fought for another cause. It is the Confederate Memorial. A soaring testament to Southern pride, placed in Arlington nearly 50 years after the Civil War ended, the monument’s frieze depicts rebels shouldering rifles, a black slave following his owner and an enslaved woman — described on the cemetery’s website as a “mammy” — cradling a Confederate officer’s infant.
Across the country, monuments to the Confederacy and slavery defenders in the antebellum South have come under fresh scrutiny after white nationalists and white supremacists protested plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a Charlottesville park.
Their protests spiraled into a weekend of chaos in the college town as a counterdemonstrator was killed and two state troopers who had been monitoring the protest died when their helicopter crashed.
There are many rebel monuments on federal property — in battlefields, cemeteries and parks. The Confederate Memorial stands out, opponents say, for its location on sacred space in Arlington and its offensive depiction of slaves.
But it seems unlikely President Donald Trump would agree to remove it: He has pronounced himself a skeptic of monument movers, pointing out that Founding Fathers owned slaves.
“Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments,” Trump tweeted Thursday. “You ... ... can’t change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson — who’s next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish!”
One Confederate statue was toppled last week in Durham, N.C., and others were yanked overnight from pedestals by the city of Baltimore.
The mayor of Lexington, Ky., announced plans to move Confederate memorials. The Congressional Black Caucus chairman called for the removal of Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol. Democratic state lawmakers from Alexandria, Va., previously reluctant to propose a bill to take down the Confederate statue “Appomattox” in Old Town, now say they intend to do so when the legislature reconvenes.
In Maryland, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan announced support for removing from the State House grounds in Annapolis a statue of a 19th century Supreme Court justice, Roger B. Taney, known for the infamous pro-slavery Dred Scott decision.
“The right thing Hogan said.
The Arlington cemetery, occupying what was Lee’s estate, is on property administered by the Department of the Army. The Confederate Memorial, to do,” erected in the early 20th century, is encircled by 482 graves of rebel officers, enlisted men and others affiliated with their cause.
Plenty of critics support its removal, including the NAACP, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Association of Black Veterans.
Many local and state officials opposed to Confederate monuments say that all those gallant Southern generals astride horses represent efforts to promote white supremacy. The Confederate Memorial features slavery outright, rendering them under the command of masters in perpetuity.
“It’s a memorial that says the people who fought to keep a boot on your neck and to keep you as property are heroes,” said Jeffery Robinson, director of the Trone Center for Justice and Equality with the American Civil Liberties Union. Robinson, who is black, called it “a monument to men who fought for the proposition that they own people who looked like me and then treat them as less than human.”
But there is little evidence of any public campaign to remove the memorial. Even if there were, it is unclear what legal path exists for it to be taken down.
Courtney Dock, a spokeswoman at the cemetery, said its leadership would not answer questions about the issue.
“We cannot comment on a hypothetical matter that would require actions outside the purview of the Secretary of the Army,” Dock said. “Due to the complex nature of the history of the monument and the fact that it is a contributing element to a historic district, the Secretary of the Army cannot unilaterally remove the monument.”
Acting Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did Patricia Bryson, president general of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the group that funded and commissioned the monument.
Frank Earnest, heritage defense coordinator for the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said the public is largely unaware of the memorial.
“One little corner is not too much to ask,” said Earnest, of Virginia Beach. “They didn’t know about it until someone told them to be offended by it.”