Monument of former-Confederate gets renovated in Washington
(MENAFN) The U.S. government has reinstalled the only outdoor monument in the nation’s capital honoring a Confederate general. The statue of Albert Pike, a Massachusetts-born Confederate officer, was returned to its spot in Judiciary Square on Sunday following extensive renovations.
Originally dedicated in 1901 by local freemasons to commemorate Pike’s service to the fraternity, the monument remained in place until June 2020, when it was vandalized, toppled, and set on fire amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests. The damaged statue was removed by the National Park Service (NPS), though its pedestal remained, briefly bearing graffiti linked to the protests before being cleaned.
Plans to restore and reinstall the statue were announced in August, citing presidential executive orders on “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful” and “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” “The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and reinstate pre-existing statues,” the NPS stated at the time.
The decision has drawn strong criticism from Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat representing D.C. in Congress. She called the reinstallation “an affront to the mostly Black and Brown residents of the District of Columbia” and argued that it was “offensive to members of the military who serve honorably,” highlighting Pike’s controversial Confederate service.
“Pike himself served dishonorably. He took up arms against the United States, misappropriated funds, and was ultimately captured and imprisoned by his own troops,” Norton said. She emphasized that Confederate statues should be preserved in museums as historical artifacts rather than displayed in public spaces that imply honor, arguing that Pike “represents the worst of the Confederacy and has no claim to be memorialized in the nation’s capital.”
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