Free Republic

In last week's memorial service for George Floyd, the Rev. Al Sharpton noted that the recent demonstrations against abusive policing were caused not just by Floyd's death after a white officer kneeled on his throat. Instead, it was the last straw after centuries of oppression. Mr. Sharpton noted, "Because ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed of being is you kept your knee on our neck." One weapon to suppress African Americans: monuments to white supremacists. Soon after the Civil War, Southern whites began reasserting their dominance. During the following 80...

Confederate monuments have been toppled in Southern states including Alabama, South Carolina, and Virginia during the historic George Floyd protests sweeping the country. On Tuesday morning the bronze statue of Confederate soldier 'Appomattox' was taken down in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia by its owners who feared it would be vandalized in demonstrations. The statue, erected in 1889 to honor Confederate soldiers, has been a point of controversy for years but remained standing despite repeated demands for removal, until this week. Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson tweeted photos of the statue removal saying: 'Alexandria, like all great cities, is constantly changing and...

A new reserve group, inspired by the Monuments Men of the World War II era, will aim to protect antiquities and important cultural sites in war zones. It’s no secret that the war-ravaged nations where American soldiers have been enmeshed in conflict for nearly two decades are home to many of civilization’s oldest and most prized antiquities and cultural treasures. But in the heat of battle in Afghanistan or Iraq, how are troops to know whether they are taking their positions behind mounds of insignificant rubble or inside the precious remains of a 3,000-year-old temple complex? The Pentagon’s answer, announced...

After literally scrubbing references to the "Lord" from a memorial honoring fallen police officers, a "divided" South Carolina city has removed the monument outright. The City of Tega Cay City Council announced the decision to take down the memorial Tuesday in a Facebook post. Three references of "Lord" had been washed off the monument, which is a police officer's prayer and was in front of the police department, after some residents complained. But the decision to remove the three references to "Lord" also drew outrage. City officials said they removed the monument while they sought to find a solution that...

The monument depicting Calvin, Farel, Bèze and Knox appeared covered in paint with the rainbow colours. The city files a complaint.Toursits walking through the Parc des Bastions in Geneva (Switzerland) discovered on July 15 that the Reformation Wall had been vandalised. The monument is one of the main touristic attractions of the city in which Jean Calvin, one of the key French Protestant Reformers, developed his work after 1536. The wall, inaugurated in 1909, also honours the influence of Guillaume Farel, Théodore de Bèze and John Knox. The paint was thrown on the monument forming a rainbow, a symbol of...

History should be taught and scrutinized, but should never be sanitized, at least not in a country that aspires to learn from its imperfect past. July 2, 2019 “To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero In 1962, President John F. Kennedy welcomed a group of Nobel Laureates to a dinner in their honor at the White House. To provide the requisite historical context and to underscore the accomplishments of those in attendance, he observed that “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human...

In a ruling that is sure to make Left-wing haters’ heads explode — again — a local judge in Charlottesville, N.C., has ruled that Confederate monuments there are protected by state law and thus cannot be removed. According to local CBS affiliate WCAV, the ruling by Circuit Judge Richard Moore flies in the face of a trend by city councils, schools, and other political subdivisions in removing Confederate historical symbols and markers under pressure from Leftists who claim they are monuments to slavery and ‘white supremacy.’

Editor's note: This column was authored by Ross Marchand.To say the least, America has a complicated relationship with its past. Hundreds of Confederate monuments dot town squares, mountains, and prominently-placed paintings, and recent tussles show we still have no idea how to deal with them. Dallas’s Confederate War Memorial (near City Hall) was recently deemed by the City Council as “non-contributing to the historic overlay district” in which it resides, and will probably be removed soon—at a cost of half-a-million dollars. Soon, one of Winston-Salem’s most prominent Confederate statues will also come down, amidst “public safety” concerns cited by Mayor...

From simple rock arches to Stonehenge, tens of thousands of imposing stone structures dot Europe’s landscapes. The origins of these megaliths have long been controversial. A new study suggests that large rock constructions first appeared in France and spread across Europe in three waves. The earliest megaliths were built in what’s now northwestern France as early as around 6,800 years ago, says archaeologist Bettina Schulz Paulsson of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Knowledge of these stone constructions then spread by sea to societies along Europe’s Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, she contends in a study posted online the week of...

According to a report by the Moscow Times, pranksters in Bulgaria are repainting Soviet-era monuments so that Soviet military heroes look like American Superheroes. Needless to say, the Russians are not too happy about it: Russia is demanding that Bulgaria try harder to prevent vandalism of Soviet monuments, after yet another monument to Soviet troops in Sofia was spray-painted, ITAR-Tass reported. The Russian Embassy in Bulgaria has issued a note demanding that its former Soviet-era ally clean up the monument in Sofia's Lozenets district, identify and punish those responsible, and take "exhaustive measures" to prevent similar attacks in the future,...

Trafalgar Square and it’s monument in the heart of London is dedicated to the British naval victory over Napoleons combined French and Spanish fleet at Cape Trafalgar in October 1805. The British fleet was under the command of Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson, a statue of which sits atop of a 169’ granite and bronze column. Such a tall monument for such a small man in stature; 5’4”, 130 lbs , missing one arm and an eye from battle wounds. He also suffered from gout, chronic headaches, was often sea sick and had a ferocious temper. However, he was a tactical...

The North Carolina Historical Commission voted Wednesday to keep three Confederate monuments on the grounds of the state Capitol building amid controversy about the statues’ future in the state. The commission voted 10-1 not to remove the statues, but to add context about slavery and civil rights, according to the Associated Press. The commission also called for a monument to be built honoring African-Americans’ contributions to North Carolina. The state commission’s vote came in response to Gov. Roy Cooper (D), who called for the three monuments to be removed from the Capitol grounds and preserved at a Civil War battlefield....

The city councilors who voted for the removal of Charlottesville's two Confederate monuments may be liable for damages and legal fees if the court ultimately rules in favor of the plaintiffs in the case, according to a written opinion signed Thursday by Charlottesville Circuit Judge Richard E. Moore. In a news release, The Monument Fund, a group involved in the lawsuit against the city, announced that the court had sent the parties a letter explaining its opinion on whether the councilors are entitled to immunity. “There may still be some questions, even if defendants are not immune, as to what...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — It took generations to erect all the nation's Confederate monuments, and a new report shows they're being removed at a pace of about three each month. The study — released Monday by the Southern Poverty Law Center — shows that 110 Confederate monuments have been removed nationwide since 2015, when a shooting at a black church in South Carolina energized a movement against such memorials. The number — which includes schools and roads that have been renamed in California, a repurposed Confederate holiday in Georgia, plus rebel flags and monuments that have been taken down in...

Reining in federal land ownership--a drop in the bucket When the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was designated under President Clinton’s purview in 1996, it created real hardship for regional ranchers. New management rules locked up more than one and a half million acres, discontinuing grazing leases that were imperative to sustain cattle growers who’d been using the land responsibly for more than a century. Part of the impetus for closing off natural resource development at the time was to halt access to one of the best sources of low sulfur coal, including from tribal populations, putting a stranglehold on arid...

Former Navy SEAL and current Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke delivers brief remarks at the Capitol Building in Utah. Prior to President Trump signing a national monument proclamation, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told a packed-house crowd the Antiquities Act, an obscure law that Barack Obama used to broaden federal monuments in Utah, ‘was never meant to prevent. It was meant to protect.’ “Our public land is for the public to use,” Zinke said.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended scaling back 10 of the 27 national monuments under a review directed by President Trump. The scale of the monument changes was disclosed in a draft memorandum obtained by several news services on Sunday night. The White House said in a statement that it does not comment on leaked documents. According to the memo, Zinke would shrink 4 of the monuments on the list, and significantly alter the rules of land use for the remaining six. The memo went to President Trump last month but the administration would not disclose which monuments would be...

A statue to Francis Scott Key, the writer of the Star Spangled Banner, was defaced overnight in downtown Baltimore, with someone painting “Racist Anthem” on the side of the Bolton Hill monument. Baltimore Police received a report of the vandalism at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. They are investigating, but have no suspects.

Yes, America is the greatest country indeed, a superpower, democracy number one in the world. All the more so, it’s a high time to stop that monumental romp, and stop it as soon as possible. Usually, a practice of erecting the monuments comes from the ancient times. Emperors and empresses, kings, queens and their family members, different kind of dictators in different countries and parts of the world, different kind of gods and goddesses, beasts, even plants, even insects and even pissing boys….. What is it? A fashion, maybe passion, and maybe people’s occupation from just having nothing to do?...

We are witnessing a growing trend of angry attempts to erase past racial injustices through attacks upon Civil War monuments, those symbolically associated with a tragic era of slavery. Inflamed by violence leading to a death characterized in the media as a "white supremacist rally" protesting removal of a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia hundreds of other statues, markers and other symbols memorializing important Confederate figures and events are now also under siege throughout the nation. If we are to erase evidence and symbols of historical injustices, where does this end? After all, why stop with...