UNPATRIOTIC ACTS...

(60.) IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE MOST, PASSIONATELY BELIEVE, THEIR ANCESTORS' NAMES SHOULD, AS ONE OF THE SENATE BILLS STIPULATES, BE EXCISED FROM ALL MILITARY MONUMENTS, BUILDINGS, STREETS, SHIPS, PLANES OR PARAPHERNALIA. A MINORITY OF THEM ARE EQUALLY FERVENT THAT THEIR ANCESTORS DESERVE TO BE HONORED. AND SOME WHO HOLD THESE DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSING VIEWS ARE IN THE SAME FAMILY. SOME OF THE KIDN OF THE NOTORIOUS NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST, WHO HAS A STREET NAMED IN HIS HONOR, AT FORT CAMPBELL IN KENTUCKY, ARE NOT ON SPEAKING TERMS OVER THE ISSUE. MOST DESCENDANTS OF LEONIDAS PolOLK WANT THE BASE NAMED FOR HIM CHANGED, BUT NOT ALL. THE DESCENDANTS OF GENERAL A.P. HILL INSIST THAT RENAMING THE BASE BEARING HIS NAME WOULD BE AN UNJUST HUMILIATION. THE RELATIVES OF GENERAL JOHN BELL HOOD ARE TORN ABOUT HOW TO STRIKE THE PROPER BALANCE BETWEEN RIGHTING THE WRONGS OF HISTORY AND STILL ACKNOWLEDGING THEIR ANCESTOR'S HONORABLE POST-WAR ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THE ARMY BASES IN QUESTION ARE FORT RUCKER IN ALABAMA; FORTS BENNING AND GORDON IN GEORGIA; FORT POLK AND CAMP BEAUREGARD IN LOUISIANA; FORT BRAGG IN NORTH CAROLINA; FORT HOOD IN TEXAS; AND FORTS A.P. HILL, PICKETT AND LEE IN VIRGINIA. THEY WERE ESTABLISHED LONG AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, MAINLY AT TWO KEY JUNCTURES WHEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WAS UNDERTAKING MAJOR MILITARY BUILDUPS—FIRST TO WAGE WORLD WAR I AND THEN WORLD WAR II AT THE TIME, WHEN THE MILITARY WAS STILL SEGREGATED INTO BLACK AND WHITE UNITS, MANY ELECTED LEADERS FROM THE SOUTH, INCLUDING POWERFUL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, WERE AVOWED RACIST. THEY ALSO SOUGHT TO RECAST THE CIVIL WAR AS NOT ABOUT SLAVERY BUT A DEFENSE OF STATES’ RIGHTS. ONLY RECENTLY HAS THE ARMY SAID THERE IS REASON TO RECONSIDER THE NAMES. AS RECENTLY AS 2015, FOLLOWING A DEADLY MASS SHOOTING IN A BLACK CHURCH IN SOUTH CAROLINA BY A WHITE SUPREMACIST, MAJOR GENERAL MALCOLM FROST, THEN THE ARMY'S CHIEF SPOKESMAN, EXPLAINED THAT “EVERY ARMY INSTALLATION IS NAMED FOR A SOLDIER WHO HOLDS A PLACE IN OUR MILITARY HISTORY.” HE STRESSED THAT THE NAMES “REPRESENT INDIVIDUALS, NOT CAUSES OR IDEOLOGIES,” AND THE DECISION TO NAME BASES FOR CONFEDERATES WAS “IN THE SPIRIT OF RECONCILIATION, NOT DIVISION.” “CONFEDERATE GENERALS WERE NOT MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY SO I THINK THE ARMY POST SHOULD BE NAMED FOR PEOPLE WHO SERVED IN THE UNITED STATES MILITARY.” BUT FOR MANY IN THE BLOODLINE OF THESE REBEL OFFICERS, THERE IS NO DOUBT ABOUT WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TODAY. “I THINK WHITE PEOPLE SHOULD FOLLOW THE LEAD OF BLACK ACTIVIST AND PEOPLE OF COLOR MORE BROADLY FIGHTING AGAINST INEQUALITY AND FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, AND SUPPORT THIS STRUGGLE IN ANY WAY WE CAN,”  THE GORDON ANCESTORS, WANT GEORGIA'’S FORT  GORDON RENAMED SO IT IS NOT HONORING A LEADING WHITE SUPREMACIST. FOR OTHERS, SUCH A MOVE WOULD BE AN AFFRONT. “NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT,” SAID TIM HILL, 53, WHEN ASKED IF THE POST IN VIRGINIA NAMED FOR HIS DIRECT ANCESTOR, A.P. HILL, SHOULD BE CHANGED. “AT THE TIME, HE FOUGHT FOR WHAT HE BELIEVED IN. FROM WHAT I’VE READ, THE FIGHT FOR HIM WASN'T’ ABOUT SLAVERY, IT WAS JUST ABOUT, HE REFERRED TO IT AS ‘NORTHERN AGGRESSION.’” OTHERS SAY THEY ARE STILL STRUGGLING WITH HOW THEIR ANCESTOR'S LEGACY SHOULD BE REMEMBERED. HOOD'S COUSIN, STEPHEN M. “SAM” HOOD, WHO HAS PUBLISHED TWO BOOKS ABOUT THE GENERAL, MAINTAINS IT IS “INSTRUCTIVE TO LOOK AT THE INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE HONORED, NOT THE CAUSES FOR WHICH THEY SERVED FOR A BRIEF PERIOD OF THEIR LIVES OR CAREERS.” BUT MOST OF THE DESCENDANTS WHO HAVE SHARED THEIR VIEWS SAY IT IS PAST TIME TO HONOR ONLY AMERICAN'S WHOM EVERYONE CAN AGREE ARE DESERVING. “WE HAVE A LOT OF PEOPLE IN AMERICAN HISTORY THAT WE SHOULD BE VALUING THAT WE’RE NOT AND I THINK NOW IS THE TIME TO REASSESS THOSE THINGS AND HAVE OTHER PEOPLE—NATIVE AMERICAN'S, WOMEN, IIII AMERICAN'S,” SAYS MILBRY POLK, 66, WHOSE FOREBEAR GEN. LEONIDAS POLK IS HONORED WITH FORT POLK IN LOUISIANA. “SO MANY PEOPLE MAKE UP OUR FABRIC OF AMERICA THAT WE SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR ROLE MODELS THERE, NOT JUST PEOPLE WHO WERE GENERALS.”