Southern General: Trump government represents controversial statue

The government of US President Donald Trump plans to re-establish a statue of a controversial southern general in Washington five years ago in anti-racism protests. In October, General Albert Pike’s restored statue should be seen again in the capital, said the Authority National Park Service responsible for monuments on Monday (local time). With the step, the Trump government is followed, it said.

The statue was inaugurated in 1901, the authority said. According to the US media, in public over their removal, according to the US media.

Protests triggered debate about memory culture

After the killing of African American George Floyd in a brutal police operation in 2020, there were mass protests against racism and police force in the United States. They also triggered a debate about the country’s culture of remembrance.

During the protests at the time, the statue of the southern General, just a few minutes’ walk from the Capitol, was smeared by demonstrators, brought down and reported on media reports. Trump was in the middle of his first term and called this “a shame for our country”.

It was not the only incident of this kind. As part of the Black-Lives-Proteste, demonstrators fell through several statues of historical figures nationwide, which they combined with racism.

Trump brings back controversial historical symbols

With the announcement that the bronze sculpture of almost three and a half meters tall, Trump drives his endeavor to bring historical symbols of the confederated back to public space, the “New York Times” wrote.

The Confederates fought for the independence of the southern states and the preservation of slavery during the American Civil War (1861–1865). According to the “New York Times”, General Pike was also a diplomat of the Confederated, who worked with tribes of the indigenous people who held slaves themselves and stood on the side of the Confederate.

In June, Trump had instructed the US military to give back several bases-names that originally honored Southern Generals. However, the Pentagon used a trick: it officially called other namesers, not the generals themselves, but earned soldiers with the same last names as the southern generals.

Previously, Trump had already signed a decree in which authorities and local bodies to restore public monuments that had been removed in the course of protests.