A Confederate memorial's days at Arlington National Cemetery are numbered.

A Confederate memorial is to be removed from Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia in the coming days, part of the push to remove symbols that commemorate the Confederacy from military-related facilities, a cemetery official said Saturday.

The decision ignores a recent demand from more than 40 Republican congressmen that the Pentagon suspend efforts to dismantle and remove the monument from Arlington cemetery.

  • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    11 months ago

    The statue, unveiled in 1914, features a bronze woman, crowned with olive leaves, standing on a 32-foot pedestal, and was designed to represent the American South. According to Arlington, the woman holds a laurel wreath, a plow stock and a pruning hook, with a Biblical inscription at her feet that says: “They have beat their swords into plough-shares and their spears into pruning hooks.”

    I dunno, it sounds like the old Roman war memorials depicting their defeated enemies submitting to peace.

    Edit: I just read the Wikipedia article describing the monument’s design and history. The sculptor was actually working in Rome, so the similarity to Roman monuments may not be accidental. But he was also using the monument to imply that Black slaves supported the Confederate cause, so the memorial’s removal is clearly appropriate.

    • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      11 months ago

      The whole “lost cause” movement is about making it seem as if the Confederates were the “ethical” side, even though they lost. They symbology of the statue is heavily wrapped up in this concept - that even though the Confederacy was defeated, it was just and noble. Which, of course, implies that it would be noble to try again one day.

    • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      2·
      11 months ago

      Do the next sentence too:

      Some of the figures also on the statue include a Black woman depicted as “Mammy” holding what is said to be the child of a white officer, and an enslaved man following his owner to war.

      • be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social
        2·
        11 months ago

        A shame he stopped where he did. I’m sure that’s a coincidence.

        Some of the figures also on the statue include a Black woman depicted as “Mammy” holding what is said to be the child of a white officer, and an enslaved man following his owner to war.