They ought to have been removed years ago! The bronze Ku Klux Klan plaque and Robert E. Lee relics must be removed from West Point, according to a congressional commission.
A congressional committee has asked that all West Point facilities associated with Confederate commanders, including Robert E. Lee, be removed or renamed.
However, the agency will not request that a bronze plaque honoring the Ku Klux Klan be removed from one of the campus’ gates.
This stance has prompted controversy across the country, with many questioning why the group can remove names involved with U.S. history but not a racist artifact.
A congressional committee has asked that the famed West Point military college remove or rename all facilities linked with Confederate leaders, such as Robert E. Lee, but not a racist plaque honoring the Ku Klux Klan at one of the campus’s entrances.
The request from the congressional Naming Commission, which is responsible with examining and altering military assets that commemorate Confederate figures, was detailed in a report released by the agency on Monday.
In addition to West Point, the nation’s oldest service institution located in Upstate New York, the committee demanded that numerous facilities at the US Naval Academy in Maryland be renamed by the end of next year.
The research recommended the renaming of seven Department of Defense assets at West Point, including five named after Lee, who led the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, as well as numerous other sites on the historic campus.
Three additional assets were flagged for renaming at the Annapolis Naval Academy.
The panel recognized, however, that it could not demand the removal of the KKK decoration that adorns the entryway to the Bartlett Hall Science Center because it is not expressly associated with the rebel army.
This feeling has subsequently prompted controversy across the nation, with Americans demanding to know why a progressive government body can remove historical names but lacks the right to remove an overtly racist item.
The organization, which earlier this year advocated for the renaming of nine Army bases named for Confederate generals at an estimated cost of $21 million, has not yet commented on the response.
A congressional committee has asked that all West Point facilities associated with Confederate commanders, including Robert E. Lee, be removed or renamed.
The congressional Naming Commission, which is tasked with reviewing and changing military assets that memorialize Confederate figures, would not ask for the removal of a bronze plaque that pays tribute to the Ku Klux Klan at one of the campus’ entrances (pictured), as its content is unrelated to the Confederacy or US Civil War.
Monday, following the release of the report, some residents voiced their displeasure with the agency’s inaction about the KKK emblem.
One Twitter user criticized the commission’s halfhearted recommendation regarding the sign, which depicts a man in a hood and cape clutching a weapon, with the hate group’s name plainly displayed underneath.
That ought to have been removed years ago.
Another Internet user made fun of the government agency’s reluctance to address an issue that should be easily resolved due to its entrenchment in American bureaucratic processes.
How many command levels are required to determine that a KKK plaque at West Point is inappropriate and should be removed immediately? The observer wrote cynically.
The commission also demanded the relocation or removal of a publicly exhibited portrait of Lee in full Confederate regalia in one of the academy’s buildings.
Another observer stated that, despite being generally opposed to woke government entities renaming sites and structures related with historical periods in the United States, this occasion should be a no-brainer.
Normally, I am opposed to removing sculptures, plaques, etc. In this circumstance, however, I’d make an exception.
The commenter said, “Short explanation is that most other people who have monuments or plaques were complex and did both good (or at least excellent) and bad things.”
He then stated that the KKK only represented one thing.
In addition to the seven DOD assets slated for renaming at West Point, including a barracks and a child development facility, five additional buildings, roads, and gates named after Lee and other Confederate figures should be renamed.
In addition to the seven DOD assets marked for renaming at West Point, including a barracks and a child development facility, five other buildings, roads, and gates named after Lee and other Confederate figures should be renamed.
The Naval Academy’s three flagged assets included an engineering building and the superintendent’s quarters.
In addition to these facilities and assets, the commission demanded the relocation or removal of a publicly exhibited painting of Lee in full Confederate regalia in one of the academy’s buildings.
The commission said that the portrait of Lee is among the ‘paraphernalia’ that has been ‘unanimously’ recommended for removal, along with many other portraits of ‘individuals who voluntarily served’ under him.
Also proposed for removal was an engraved phrase from Lee positioned beside a prominent print of the West Point Honor Code, which states, “A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do”
West Point, the nation’s oldest military institution, has yet to react on the Monday-issued proposed revisions.
Another exhibit portraying Lee and three additional Confederate troops was identified for revision.
‘Lee’s troops were responsible for the deaths of more United States soldiers than virtually any other opponent in our nation’s history,’ the commission concluded in its report, referring to the 360,222 Union soldiers who perished over the course of the four-year struggle.
But when the Ku Klux Klan was brought up, a group responsible for the lynchings of thousands of African-Americans and other minorities since its formation immediately after the Civil War, the commission was much less forthright, asking the Department of Defense to establish the rules for dealing with such assets.
The committee concluded, “This memorial lies outside the Commission’s jurisdiction, yet there are strong linkages between the KKK and the Confederacy.”
They said that the ideas for both schools would cost taxpayers approximately $425,000.
The bold demands are part of a larger push by the panel to remove the names of Southerners who fought against the United States during the Civil War from military sites, schools, and other DOD properties around the country.
The House and Senate Armed Services Committees must receive the commission’s final recommendations, including cost estimates for the proposed expensive modifications, by October 1.
Before they can take effect, however, they must be approved by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Congress.
Prior to the October deadline, the eight-member panel will submit a third report of its final findings about the renaming of more DOD assets that were not included in the agency’s initial two reports.
Its first report, published in May, pushed for the renaming of nine Army bases that pay homage to various Confederate generals. According to the commission, the relocation would cost around $21 million.