Confederate statue torn down during racial justice protests reinstalled in Washington
A statue of a Confederate general that was torn down and burned in 2020 during social justice protests in Washington has been reinstalled on the orders of President Donald Trump.
The statue of General Albert Pike has long been a source of controversy, as have many Confederate monuments in the United States erected decades after the Civil War.
The National Park Service announced plans in August to return the renovated statue, after Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Reason to American History.”
Democratic Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District of Columbia, called the restoration “offensive to service members who serve honorably.”
Videos Monday afternoon showed the area surrounding the Pike statue in Washington with a sign reading “Area Closed. Historic Preservation Work in Progress.”
“The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under the Historic Preservation Act and recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and restore pre-existing statues,” the National Park Service said in a statement.
The statue, built in 1901, has been a source of controversy for many years. Members of local government have been calling for its removal for decades.
Holmes Norton, a longtime critic, has repeatedly introduced legislation to permanently remove the Pike statue.
“Pike himself served dishonorably,” she said in a statement after the statue’s restoration. “He took up arms against the United States, embezzled funds, and was ultimately captured and imprisoned by his own troops.”
“Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical objects, not left in parks or other places that imply honor,” Holmes Norton added.
The Pike statue was the only monument to a Confederate general in the nation’s capital before it was torn down in 2020.
Pike was a longtime leader of the Freemasons, a centuries-old secret society, who funded the statue.
His body is buried at the Washington headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, which also contains a small museum in his honor.
Pike’s critics accused him of being instrumental in the formation of the Ku Klux Klan. Masons insist the evidence does not support the allegations.
The plaque that previously labeled the statue read “author, poet, scholar, soldier, jurist, orator, philanthropist and philosopher.”
Anti-racism protesters used ropes and chains to pull down the Pike statue following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a police officer in 2020.
Then-President Trump, in his first term, condemned the reversal on Twitter, writing: “The Washington DC police are not doing their job by seeing a statue being torn down and burned.” These people should be arrested immediately. A shame for our country. »
Floyd’s death sparked a national reckoning with systemic racism, sparking widespread calls for the removal of Confederate monuments. Ultimately, more than 300 such memorials were torn down across the country.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has ordered the reinstallation of statues and paintings of Confederate generals.
