Update: U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston on Monday issued a restraining order halting the removal of the Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.
BREAKING: Trump appointed U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston has issued a restraining order halting the removal of a Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 18, 2023
The memorial removal began on Monday but was halted after Alston's order was issued.
Alston explained that… pic.twitter.com/FKQS2aEVPe
Original Story: Yet another evil, offensive statue is being torn down to make way for inclusivity and fragile feelings - this one, in Arlington.
A nearly 110-year-old Confederate statue in Arlington National Cemetery meant to recognize Americans who died fighting fort the Confederacy during the Civil War will be torn down, despite opposition from some Republican lawmakers who fought to keep the monument. The statue, also known as the Reconciliation Monument, was placed in Arlington in 1914 as a symbol of unity between the North and the South. The statue sits atop the grave of Moses Ezekiel, the Confederate soldier and sculptor who designed the piece, which in large part depicts Confederate soldiers wishing tearful goodbyes to their families as they prepare to go off to war.
But no more. According to a statement from the cemetery, the monument will be removed by December 22 thanks to a 2020 congressional mandate that all "names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederate States of America” be removed from DoD property by January 1, 2014.
Republicans are fighting to save a Confederate memorial statue at Arlington Cemetery. The Pentagon is set to remove the memorial by the end of the week.
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) December 18, 2023
MORE: https://t.co/YSY6o4nktf #MorningInAmerica pic.twitter.com/qlGri6pynx
Forty-four Republicans in Congress penned a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pointing out that the entire point of the sculpture isn't to honor the Confederacy, but to recognize the reunification of the Northern and Southern states following the war.
"The Reconciliation Monument does not honor nor commemorate the Confederacy; the memorial commemorates reconciliation and national unity," they wrote.
Related: Charlottesville's Robert E. Lee Statue Secretly Melted Down For New 'Inclusive' Art Piece
The statue is just the latest to be torn down, either via federal order or thanks to local and state mandates. Iconic monuments honoring Confederate leaders such as those in Richmond, Virginia have already been removed following the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots that left many statues and memorials vandalized and desecrated. Others, like the infamous statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, were not only removed, but melted down to create "inclusive" art at the demands of leftist groups.
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Republicans are fighting to save a Confederate memorial statue at Arlington Cemetery. The Pentagon is set to remove the memorial by the end of the week.
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) December 18, 2023
MORE: https://t.co/YSY6o4nktf #MorningInAmerica pic.twitter.com/qlGri6pynx