Despite GOP pushback, Confederate monument at Arlington National Cemetery to be removed

Sarah Al-Arshani, Louisville Courier Journal
·1 min read
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FILE - A man salutes after placing a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023, in Arlington, Va. A Confederate memorial is to be removed from Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia in the coming days, part of the push to remove symbols that commemorate the Confederacy from military-related facilities, a cemetery official said Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard, File) ORG XMIT: NYWS301

A Confederate Monument in Arlington National Cemetery is expected to be removed this week as part of a national effort to remove Confederate symbols from military-related spaces.

In a news release, Arlington Cemetery said safety fencing has been installed around the memorial and officials expect removal to be done by Friday. The landscape, graves and headstones surrounding the memorial will be protected while the monument is taken down.

"During the deconstruction, the area around the Memorial will be protected to ensure no impact to the surrounding landscape and grave markers and to ensure the safety of visitors in and around the vicinity of the deconstruction," the cemetery news release said.

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Republican push back

Removal of the monument comes despite pushback from Republican lawmakers. On Monday, 44 lawmakers, led by Georgia Republican Rep. Andrew Clyd wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin demanding the Reconciliation Monument be kept, Fox News reported.

Clyd said the monument, “does not honor nor commemorate the Confederacy; the memorial commemorates reconciliation and national unity.”

In a September 2022 report to Congress, an independent commission recommended the removal of the monument, which was unveiled in 1914 and designed by a Confederate veteran. The memorial "offers a nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery," according to Arlington Cemetery.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Confederate monument at Arlington Cemetery to be removed this week