As Black History Month comes to an end, we are encouraged by the Pentagon’s directive to the U.S. Military to proceed with plans to rename nine Army bases in six states and hundreds of other items whose names honor the Confederacy by the end of 2023.
It has been too long coming, but is, perhaps, a step in the right direction to reckon with decisions made at the end of the civil war – over 150 years ago – that have had dire consequences in our society.
The nine bases are, by state;
Alabama: Ft. Rucker
Georgia: Fts. Benning and Gordon
Louisiana: Ft. Polk
North Carolina: Ft. Bragg
Texas: Ft. Hood
Virginia: Fts. A.P. Hill, Lee and Pickett
Army Brigadier General, Ty Seidule, a professor emeritus at West Point, sat on the Pentagon’s Naming Committee. he also grew up in Virginia where he says he bore witness to what he described as a systemic effort to negate the terms of the confederate army’s surrender by naming schools and other institutions after confederate leaders and displaying statues in their honor, despite the indisputable fact that Robert E.Lee and the confederacy committed treason against the United States.
May this important step lead to others, help this country heal and live up to its true potential.