Hey, Secretary Hegseth

 

This repugnant initiative was just in the news. 

Confederate memorial will be returned to Arlington Cemetery, Hegseth says

The memorial was removed in 2023 at the recommendation of a commission appointed by Congress to rid the military of Confederate symbols and names.

So what's this all about? 

"The 32-foot bronze statue commissioned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy was unveiled at a ceremony presided over by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914, almost 50 years after the Civil War ended. Its supporters said it was dedicated in part to promote reconciliation between the North and the South. But critics said the memorial glorified the Southern cause and glossed over slavery, with elements such as a frieze showing an enslaved Black man following his owner and an enslaved woman — described on the cemetery’s website as a “mammy” — holding the baby of a Confederate officer."

Yeah, it's about that.

Even more repugnantly, the current Secretary of Defense, who could also be the Secretary of Offensiveness, said this about it:

" “I’m proud to announce that Moses Ezekiel’s [see below the picture] beautiful and historic sculpture — often referred to as “The Reconciliation Monument” — will be rightfully be returned to Arlington National Cemetery near his burial site,” Hegseth posted on X, referring to the memorial’s creator. “It never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don’t believe in erasing American history — we honor it.”

Right, we honor the dishonorable. That much is clear.

I've got news for you, Mr. Secretary.  The woke lemmings are on the march.

A bit more about Moses Ezekiel (the link goes to Wikipedia):

"Ezekiel was "the first American-born Jewish artist to receive international acclaim". Ezekiel was an ardent supporter, in both his writings and in his works, of the Lost Cause view of history, asserting that in the Battle of New Market he had "never fought for slavery, but for states' rights and for free trade."

"He has been described as a "Confederate expatriate" and a "proud Southerner" and the Confederate battle flag hung in his Rome studio for 40 years."

"Although Ezekiel never married, he had a daughter, Alice Johnson (1859–1924). According to a census document of July 14, 1860, Alice Johnson was 10 months old, suggesting she was born in September 1859. She would therefore have been conceived at the beginning of 1859 when Moses was 14. Her mother was Isabella, a "beautiful mulatt housemaid" of his father."

"[F]edor Encke accompanied Ezekiel on a visit to the United States. According to writer Michael Feldberg, Ezekiel and Encke had "a forty-five year homosexual relationship…that neither acknowledged publicly."

Ezekiel is buried in Arlington Cemetery,  and his tomb and remains had been at the foot of the memorial.  So basically, his place by the memorial is a place of honor for a Jewish homosexual who served in the traitorous Confederate army, who also just so happened to father an illegitimate mixed-race child with a family servant when he was just a teenager. 

Did Secretary Hegseth know all of that?

But what, there's one thing more. Also from Wikipedia:

"On August 20, 2017, in the aftermath of the Unite the right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia — members of Ezekiel's extended family sent a letter to the Washington Post, asking for the Arlington monument's removal: 

"Like most such monuments, this statue intended to rewrite history to justify the Confederacy and the subsequent racist Jim Crow laws. It glorifies the fight to own human beings, and, in its portrayal of African Americans, implies their collusion. As proud as our family may be of Moses's artistic prowess, we — some twenty Ezekiels — say remove that statue. Take it out of its honored spot in Arlington National Cemetery and put it in a museum that makes clear its oppressive history."

So that's what the Secretary is honoring by returning the memorial to Arlington Cemetery.

It would be humorous if it wasn't so despicable and odoriferous.