Judge Allows Removal of Confederate Memorial in Arlington Cemetery

A federal judge cleared the way Tuesday for the removal of a Confederate monument from Arlington National Cemetery, just one day after a temporary restraining order halted the plan to move one of the Confederacy’s most prominent monuments from its most famous cemetery of the country. .

The monument has been criticized for its sanitized depiction of slavery, and its removal is part of a military effort to remove Confederate symbols from bases, ships and other facilities. Dozens of Republican lawmakers have opposed removing the monument.

In his statementJudge Rossie David Alston Jr. of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that a group called Defend Arlington had failed to demonstrate that it is in the public interest for the monument to remain standing and that its claims that nearby graves were located at risk on damages were “misinformed or misleading”.

At a hearing earlier in the day, Judge Alston said he had visited the site and “did not see any desecration of graves”. according to the Associated Press.

“The grass wasn’t even disturbed,” he said.

Disassembly of the monument was halted Monday after Defend Arlington, affiliated with the organization Save Southern Heritage Florida, filed for a restraining order. The group had filed a lawsuit against the Defense Ministry on Sunday, claiming the decision to demolish the monument was hasty and that work to remove it would damage surrounding graves and headstones.

The monument, funded by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, features a woman representing the American South atop a 35-foot pedestal. according to the cemetery. Near the base, dozens of life-size Confederate soldiers sit next to mythical gods and two enslaved black people.

One is of a black woman holding a Confederate officer’s child, and the other is of a man “following his owner to war,” according to the cemetery’s description.

The removal process will continue immediately, Kerry L. Meeker, a spokeswoman for the cemetery, said in an emailed statement.

“While the work is being carried out, the surrounding graves, headstones and landscape will be carefully protected by a dedicated team, preserving the sanctity of all those laid to rest,” she said.

The monument is expected to be removed on Friday, December 22, Ms Meeker said. It will then be stored in a secure area “until final disposition is made.”

“While we respect the Court’s decision, we continue to believe that the evidence shows that the Department of Defense, in its haste to remove the Reconciliation Memorial, failed to conduct the historic preservation studies required by law and the environmental impact,” said John Rowley, an attorney for Defend. Arlington, said in an emailed statement.

More than 40 Republican members of Congress signed last week a letter arguing that the monument does not commemorate the Confederate States of America, but rather the “reconciliation and national unity” between North and South.

But for others, including the members of the Naming CommitteeThe intricate images and inscriptions etched in bronze honor the story of the Lost Cause, the myth that the South’s rebellion was a noble struggle for states’ rights. The United Daughters, made up of descendants of men who had served in the armed forces or the government of the Confederacy, raised money for the memorial and dozens of others who presented a romanticized view of the Confederacy and a sanitized view of slavery, historians say.

Alison Parker, a historian at the University of Delaware, said these types of monuments, which were erected in the early 20th century, were about a “certain kind of reification of a nostalgia based on the idea that slavery wasn’t really .” bad, that people weren’t really bothered by it, and in fact it was part of this so-called happy family on the plantation.”

Professor Parker said there is “a misconception about the idea that these monuments should be preserved as a representation of history, in the sense that they are historic and therefore should remain.”

“In some cases, I think it’s okay to take down these types of monuments because they still have hurtful meanings today,” she said.

Rebecca Carballo And Mayor of Orlando reporting contributed.