Renaming of military bases stirs debate over Confederate ties

In 2023, in the midst of a national calculation on breed issues in America, the names of seven army bases were modified because they honored the Confederate leaders.

Now, these same bases come back to their original names, this time with different homonyms that share Confederate surnames – the army has found other soldiers with the same family names to honor.

This decision arouses a conversation in and outside military circles. The skeptics wonder if the real intention is to undermine the efforts to move away from Confederate associations, a problem which has long divided people who promote the preservation of an aspect of the southern heritage and those who want revelations supported by slavery stripped of value.

Marc Morial, president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League, a group for the defense of civil rights, said that the last rebate was a “difference without distinction”.

The wiping of the names which were given by the Biden administration, many of which have honored the soldiers who were women or minorities, is the last decision of the defense secretary Pete Hegseth to align with the purge of Trump of all the programs, politicians, books and social media mentions of references to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Neither the Ministry of Defense nor the Ministry of the Army responded to requests for comments sent by email.

Federal law now prohibits soldiers from returning to the honor of the Confederates, but the move restores the names known by generations of soldiers. Following the election of President Abraham Lincoln, who opposed the expansion of slavery, 11 southern states have secured from the United States to form the Confederation, or the Confederate States of America, to preserve slavery an institution which has enslaved millions of African Americans. Their secession led to the civil war, which the Confederates finally lost in 1865.

Restaurant the ancient names with soldiers or characters who were not confederated, “they try to be smooth,” said Morial.

For example, Fort Bragg in North Carolina, which was changed for Fort Liberty by Biden administration, was the first to restore its original name in June. The army found another member of the American service with the same family name, a soldier of the Second World War. Hegseth signed an order to restore the name in February.

“By invoking the name of the soldier of the soldier of the Second World War Roland Bragg, the Secretary Hegseth did not violate the letter of the law, but he violated his mind,” wrote the member of the Armed Services Committee of the Senate, Jack Reed, Dr.I.

In March, Hegseth reversed the decision in 2023 changing strong benning in Georgia in Fort Moore.

The restoration process of the same name applied to the seven additional bases: Fort AP Hill, Fort Pickett and Fort Robert E. Lee in Virginia, Fort Gordon in Georgia, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Polk in Louisiana and Fort Rucker in Alabama.

Last week, the Republican Governor of Louisiana Jeff Landry announced that he was restoring the name of the largest training site in the State National Guard.

In an article on social networks announcing the name, Landry wrote that in Louisiana, “we honor the courage, not cancel it.” Attached was what seemed to be an image generated by the AI of a tombstone with the word “alarm clock” on it.

“Whether it is a lesson that we must always give respect for history and not be as fast to condemn or erase the dead, lest we and our time be judged arbitrary by future generations,” wrote Landry.

The bases are not the only renowned military active. At the end of June, Hegseth announced that the USNS Harvey Milk would be renamed after a sailor of the Second World War who received the medal of honor, stripping the ship named a militant of the rights of the killed homosexuals who served during the Korean War.

Morial said that there are other ways to recognize unknown heroes instead of making a basis for a name that has long been associated with Confederate leaders.

“No county on earth would appoint its soldiers according to the people who tried to overthrow the government,” said Morial. “So why do people hang on to these names?”

Stacy Rosenberg, professor of teaching associated with the Heinz College of Carnegie Mellon University, said that she was concerned about the ineffectiveness of renowned bases. She said the cost of modifying signage through seven bases could be used for something else that could have more impact.

There is no immediate costs estimate to modify all signs to the basis.

Rosenberg said it was logical to move away from Confederate heroes as homonymous, but that the last decision seems to be a way to call on Trump’s political base.

“I think what we really have to consider is that the name is named after having such a service record which guarantees the honor of having their name associated with this base?” Said Rosenberg.

Angela Betancourt, strategist of public relations in Betancourt Group and an Air Force reservist in the United States has declared that renamed military bases is a brand form for what each administration considers that the military should represent.

Although she understands why people are upset by the military bases that return to a name associated with the Confederation, Betancourt said that this should not withdraw from the inheritance and the legacy of the new namesake.

“It doesn’t mean it’s not a good thing to do,” said Betancourt. “There are certainly heroes, especially African-American and diverse heroes, which should be honored. I think it’s a good way to do it. ”

_____

The journalists of the Associated Press Lolita C. Baldor, John Hanna and Sara Cline contributed to this report.