What to do with Arlington Cemetery’s Confederate Memorial

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What to do with Arlington Cemetery’s Confederate Memorial

The Pentagon says it must come down, but the process of determining what comes next has only just begun

By Hope Hodge Seck

Updated January 2, 2023 at 10:45 a.m. EST|Published December 29, 2022 at 5:00 a.m. EST

For 108 years, a massive bronze statue hailing the glory of the South has stood sentry over Confederate war dead buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Soon it will be dismantled on orders from the Pentagon, but then planners will face a quandary: what to do with a disgraced monument that some say may still have a historical lesson to impart.

 The Defense Department’s directive, included within an extensive mandate to strip away all remaining attachment to the Confederacy, is stark and vague. The statue is to be taken down, it says, its bronze features removed, and the Department of the Army, which manages Arlington, should find “the most cost-effective method” for disposal. While an advisory committee has identified some options — storing away the 22 main components, trashing the memorial entirely, or donating it to another organization or museum — thus far, no consensus has emerged.     

I say  leave the monument where it is.