The Desecration of Arlington National Cemetery by the naming commission:
My Public Comment as an Invited Consulting Party
The Public Can Submit Comments Online Until Nov. 3 (11:59 p.m.)
In Honor of Moses Ezekiel, by H.K. Edgerton
[Publisher's Note, by Gene Kizer, Jr. - Click HERE to make a Comment to Arlington National Cemetery about their proposed removal of the 109 year old Confederate Reconciliation Memorial that came about because of extremist leftist fake Indian Elizabeth Warren's amendment in the FY2021 NDAA, and the subsequent naming commission's historically fraudulent report.
The naming commission left out the primary history of the Confederate Memorial, which is the reconciliation of the United States of America after our bloodiest war. There is no question about this because numerous presidents helped create the Confederate Memorial and all presidents including Barack Obama sent annual memorial wreaths to the Confederate Memorial.
As part of the Section 106 Process required by the National Historic Preservation Act, ANC is looking for two things: Assessment of Effects, and Mitigation Measures.
There is information on their website but the bottom line is this:
The Assessment of Effects that demolishing the world class 109 year old Confederate Reconciliation Memorial surrounded by 500 Confederate graves in concentric circles out from the Memorial, is that those 500 graves will become freaks and objects of hate and derision, which makes Arlington National Cemetery ITSELF a desecrator of American soldier graves. By law that was passed in FY 1901, Confederate soldiers are American soldiers entitled to the same respect and protection as all American soldier graves. That law and others are still in effect.
The naming commission KNEW about the irrefutable reconciliation theme but in their Woke dishonest political report, left it out.
Following my Comment is a short powerful article from our good friend, fearless compatriot and tireless fighter for our Cause of historical truth, H. K. Edgerton. It is entitled "In Honor of Moses Ezekiel." There are links to HK's substack writings under "HK Edgerton's Reports & Letters" and ways to get on his blog list.
Following HK are links to valuable information and how to donate to Defend Arlington for our crack legal team.
We will win or lose the Confederate Memorial in the next few weeks.
Click HERE to view the Army's 28 Breathtaking High Resolution Photographs of Ezekiel's world class monument then click HERE to write your Comment of DISGUST at the proposed act of demolishing such a magnificent work of history and art surrounded by 500 graves in our nation's most sacred burial ground.
The shredding of the fabric of our nation must stop in Arlington National Cemetery.
PLEASE DONATE as much as you can!
Thank you and God Bless!]
ASSESSMENT OF EFFECTS, AND MITIGATION MEASURES
Confederate Memorial Removal
COMMENT by:
Gene Kizer, Jr.
Charleston Athenaeum Press
Invited Consulting Party
November 1, 2023
Section 106 Process of the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act regarding the 109 year old Confederate Reconciliation Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.
PREAMBLE TO COMMENT
In all of Arlington National Cemetery's public documents regarding the Confederate Memorial, ANC makes an INCORRECT statement to characterize what they are doing such as this one under heading "Arlington National Cemetery: Confederate Memorial Removal Public Comments" (https://anmc-confederatememorialpubliccomments.com/):
"As required by Congress and implemented by the Secretary of Defense, Army National Military Cemeteries (ANMC) is required to remove the Confederate Memorial in Section 16 of Arlington National Cemetery (ANC)."
That statement is not true and is a gross mischaracterization.
Congress in the FY2021 NDAA does not mention the Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.
The FY2021 NDAA authorized a "Commission on the Naming of Items of the DoD that Commemorate the Confederate States of America" and that so-called naming commission has resulted in multiple law suits because of its allegedly illegal processes, and unquestionably incorrect historical assessments such as concerning the Ranger Memorial at former Fort Benning, Georgia.
Retired United States Army Brigadier General Joseph S. Stringham, Chairman of the National Ranger Memorial Foundation, confirms that the naming commission's report is "without verification" and mistakes have been made that have required legal action that is ongoing. BG Stringham wrote to his Rangers last spring:
Implementation of dramatic/radical edicts and shifts in policy at issue here are frequently accompanied by inaccuracies, (stupid) interpretations, injustices to survivors and a strong political slant offensive to substantial sectors of society. The deceased named in this directive, the Mosby family and the Bowen family in particular, are victims of woefully targeted legislation enacted by the Pelosi, WOKE, 117th Congress. Interpretations of this legislation have received the slavish obedience by both civilian and military management at the national level as passed down, apparently without verification, to our installations. For example, and wrongly identified with the Confederacy, Gen Morgan was a BG in the Continental Army under Gen Washington and the hero of the Battle of Cowpens against the British. Gen. Morgan had passed away 57 years before the start of the Civil War. The injustice to the name of John S Mosby and his descendants is extraordinary and thoughtless. Notwithstanding his extraordinary combat record, Ambassador Mosby, a staunch anti-slavery activist, was appointed by President Grant as US Ambassador to China later in his distinguished service to our nation.
The same is true, but it is worse, with the 109 year old Confederate Memorial. The Confederate Memorial is not in the naming commission's remit as they falsely claimed.
Secretary Austin made his decision on the Confederate Memorial based on the naming commission's historically fraudulent report that left out the Memorial's primary history, which is the reconciliation of the United States of America after our bloodiest war.
The reconciliation theme is irrefutable, thoroughly documented, and beyond the shadow of a doubt.
If Austin had been told about the reconciliation theme and symbolism of the Confederate Memorial, it is not conceivable that he would have ordered it demolished. We are in a military recruiting crisis and traditionally, 44% of our military has been recruited in the South.
The naming commission's report on the Confederate Memorial was driven by politics and prejudice, not history.
The massive amount of history left out of the naming commission's report follows my Assessment of Effects, and Mitigation Measures.
ASSESSMENT OF EFFECTS, AND MITIGATION MEASURES
ANC's "Section 106 Process Submission: Revised Area of Potential Effect (APE) and Assessment of Adverse Effects (Oct. 3, 2023)" contains, among other things:
Confederate Memorial: Assessment of Potential Effect
Arlington National Cemetery Historic District: Assessment of Potential Effect
In both, ANC admits serious "adverse effects on the characteristics that qualify the Confederate Memorial [and ANC Historic District] for individual listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)".
ANC also states that the 109 year old Confederate Memorial if removed would likely not survive deconstruction and the "materials, design, and workmanship (which are qualifying characteristics of the historic property)" would be damaged or destroyed.
The Confederate Memorial is one of the most magnificent memorials on earth. It was the great Jewish artist and VMI Confederate soldier, Moses Ezekiel's, finest creation.
Art critic Michael Robert Patterson states that ". . . no sculptor, as far as known, has ever, in any one memorial told as much history as has Ezekiel in his monument at Arlington; and every human figure in it, as well as every symbol, is and of itself, a work of art."
Destroying that would be an egregious crime against history and art, especially based on a historically fraudulent report from the political naming commission. It would put Arlington National Cemetery in the same class with other monument destroyers such as ISIS, Hamas and the Taliban, and it may well be illegal.
Over 70% of the American public do NOT want our historic monuments destroyed.
There are currently multiple court cases pending that need to be decided including any appeal before anything should happen with the Confederate Memorial.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING under "Confederate Memorial: Assessment of Potential Effect" is ANC's statement that "the proposed undertaking should have no adverse effect on the graves in Section 16 . . .".
That is UTTERLY FALSE.
There are over 500 Confederate graves in concentric circles emanating out from Ezekiel's magnificent monument, and there are four graves, including Ezekiel himself, at the monument's base, making the Confederate Monument a grave marker. Grave markers are specifically exempt from the naming commission's remit.
If ANC removes the Confederate Memorial it will leave those 500 graves in concentric circles around a mangled shaft, out in the open with no context, like freaks to spit on and laugh at.
Those 500 Confederate graves are AMERICAN soldier graves, by law, which BG Stringham pointed out in his May 23, 2023 letter to then-US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and Hon. Mike Rogers, Chairman, House Armed Services Committee.
Stringham writes:
. . . we draw your attention to President McKinley's address at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in which he urged reconciliation based on the outstanding service of Southerners during the U.S. war with Spain. Congress's response to this plea was magnanimous and resulted in the Appropriation Act of FY 1901, in which Confederate soldiers were recognized as fellow countrymen deserving of the respect and honor accorded to U.S. soldiers. These laws are still in full force and effect to this day . . . .
It would not only be 500 Confederate graves that Arlington National Cemetery would be desecrating, it would be an enormous dishonor to the descendants of Confederate soldiers who have spilled OCEANS of Southern blood enthusiastically for our great nation from the Spanish-American War, on.
Audie Murphy, Alvin York and millions of others who are and were proud of their Confederate ancestors - and indeed drew great inspiration and bravery from them - would be dishonored by Arlington National Cemetery itself.
Does Arlington National Cemetery really want to weaken our military by sending a message that only some American veterans are worthy of respect while others can go to the devil as the Woke political winds blow? Will our Vietnam veterans be dishonored one day or our dead from the wars on terror?
If the Confederate Memorial is demolished, then 500 graves in Section 16 and all their descendants and fellow Southerners, some 80 million Americans, will be dishonored for all time.
Eighteen states from where those 500 burials come will also be dishonored.
The reconciliation that makes our country so unique and exceptional will be repealed by hateful Woke politics, and all the presidents who created the Confederate Memorial, and the veterans, North and South who celebrated it, will be dishonored.
MITIGATION MEASURES
There is no Mitigation for the degradation that demolishing the Confederate Memorial will have on not just the Arlington National Cemetery Historic District, but on Arlington National Cemetery itself.
ANC's logo states that it is "Our Most Sacred Shrine" but ANC ITSELF will become a desecrator of soldier graves that President McKinley said were all tributes to American valor.
Arlington National Cemetery would no longer be worthy of respect but would be just another place that filthy Woke politics can degrade.
ANC should always be above politics, a place for all of us to cherish and be proud of, and not one that helps shred the fabric of our country.
All ANC Advisory Committee members should resign before allowing the desecration of Arlington National Cemetery due to the potentially illegal processes of the Woke political naming commission.
As stated, the Confederate Memorial is not in the naming commission's remit. It does not commemorate the Confederacy. It commemorates the reconciliation of North and South and the reunification of the United States of America into the great nation we are today.
The report submitted by the naming commission on the Confederate Memorial is a historical fraud.
Here is some of the massive amount of history the naming commission left out of its report:
The monument was the idea of Union soldier and later president, William McKinley, after enthusiastic Southern participation in the Spanish-American War and it was approved by Congress.
McKinley said:
. . . every soldier's grave made during our unfortunate civil war is a tribute to American valor . . . And the time has now come . . . when in the spirit of fraternity we should share in the care of the graves of the Confederate soldiers . . . The cordial feeling now happily existing between the North and South prompts this gracious act and if it needed further justification it is found in the gallant loyalty to the Union and the flag so conspicuously shown in this year just passed by the sons and grandsons of those heroic dead.
President William Howard Taft spoke and was warmly received at the UDC ceremony the evening the cornerstone was laid.
President Woodrow Wilson gave the dedication speech June 4, 1914.
President Theodore Roosevelt sent the first memorial wreath that started an annual tradition observed by all presidents including Barack Obama.
President Warren G. Harding sent a message of condolence that was read at the funeral of Moses Ezekiel. Harding's words are beautiful, inspiring, and definitive. Here is some of his message from The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, March 30, 1921:
'Ezekiel will be remembered,' the President wrote, 'as one who knew how to translate the glories of his own time and people into that language of art which is common to all peoples and all times. He served his state in the conflict that threatened to divide and that at last served to unify our country. He accepted the verdict of the civil war's arbitrament with all the fine generosity that has been characteristic of both the north and south; and the splendid product of his art, that here testifies to our nation's reunion, will stand from this day forth as guardian over his ashes.
'Every line and curve and expression carries the plea for a truly united nation that may be equal to the burdens of these exacting times. It speaks to us the ardent wish, the untiring purpose, to help make our people one people, secure in independence, dedicated to freedom, and ever ready to lend the hand of confident strength in aid of the oppressed and needy. Its long-drawn shadows of earliest morn and latest evening will always fall on sacred soil. The genius that produced, the love that gave, the devotion that will cherish it will forever be numbered among our ennobling possessions.
'[H]e wrought them into works which compelled the recognition of the chief art schools and won the honors of nations and cities that boasted of being the homes of sculpture's best traditions. Crowned with these honors, he turned his thoughts to his own country, and as the final and finest product of his talents gave to us the monument that from this day will mark his resting place. It is the memorial of reunited America the testimony to the tradition of indissoluble union, the shrine to which we are gathered today, and will gather through the years to come, those who would dedicate themselves to the ideal of unselfish, enlightened, upstanding Americanism as a force for our country's maintenance and all humanity's betterment.'
Clearly, the Confederate Memorial represents RECONCILIATION, peace, love and patriotism, all things the naming commission left out of its historically fraudulent, unverified report.
Veterans North and South, with love and enthusiasm for our reunited nation, supported the Confederate Memorial and spoke at its ceremonies.
Esteemed British art critic and historian, Alexander Adams, writes in his "Testimony regarding Arlington National Cemetery Confederate Memorial submitted to the Advisory Committee on Arlington National Cemetery Open Session," 7-8 November, 2022:
Having viewed a large amount of public statuary from the beaux-arts era (1850-1914), it is my professional opinion that the Memorial is a serious, iconographically complex and technically accomplished piece of art. In my view, it is a handsome sculpture and an entirely appropriate funerary monument. I consider it an internationally significant piece of art of its type and era. Any nation should be proud to host such a magnanimous and dignified monument.
The inscription “And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks” provides a Biblical guidance to turning from war to peace. This is echoed by the personification of the South, which holds the wreath of glory and touches the plough of peaceful prosperity. The frieze below depicts the contributions of those who supported the war effort.
The Area of Potential Effect (APE) is all of Arlington National Cemetery and the entire United States of America, indeed, the world.
Millions of good Americans will lose respect for Arlington National Cemetery if it commits the barbaric act of destroying a world class historic monument on what is supposed to be sacred ground.
The United States House of Representatives passed an amendment that is included in its version of the FY2024 NDAA prohibiting spending any money for the removal of the Confederate Memorial in ANC. That bill is now in the Senate and may well end up law.
ANC cannot disregard the will of Congress today after the smoke of the George Floyd riots has disappeared and minds are much more clear.
With our country indirectly involved in two wars, we do not need to desecrate our most sacred military cemetery with Woke iconoclasm that disgusts 70% of the country.
The Confederate Memorial must stay right where it is forever. As President Harding said in his message read at Moses Ezekiel's funeral:
Every line and curve and expression carries the plea for a truly united nation that may be equal to the burdens of these exacting times. It speaks to us the ardent wish, the untiring purpose, to help make our people one people, secure in independence, dedicated to freedom, and ever ready to lend the hand of confident strength in aid of the oppressed and needy. Its long-drawn shadows of earliest morn and latest evening will always fall on sacred soil. . . .
Gene Kizer, Jr.
Charleston Athenaeum Press
November 1, 2023
In Honor of Moses Ezekiel
by H. K. Edgerton
First published on HK Edgerton's Reports & Letters, October 29, 2023
Dear Ms. Lunelle,
While I could not secure the funds to travel to Arlington National Cemetery on October 28, 2023 to celebrate the 179th birthday of the Honorable Moses Ezekiel, I would don the uniform of the Southern Soldier and post the Southern Cross at the base of what is left of the Honorable Governor Zebulon Baird Vance's Cenotaph that was illegally removed at the direction of disgraced Mayor Ester Manheimer.
I would soon find myself surrounded by two Northern couples who would ask why a Black man would be standing beside a Monument base wearing a Confederate soldier’s uniform with the Confederate Battle flag?
“In celebration of the Honorable Moses Ezekiel's birthday,” I would reply.
“Who is Moses Ezekiel they would ask?”
He was a famous and world-renowned Jewish Sculptor and a Confederate Veteran who was given the Charge by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to build a Monument in Memorial to the Confederate Veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery at the request of President McKinley who had watched and read the reports of how those former Confederate soldiers and their sons had so distinguished themselves on the field of battle during the Spanish American War displaying unprecedented valor. It would not be a Memorial depicting the legality of secession or the battles fought. It was to be a shrine depicting the hour of reconciliation between the North and South.
Arlington Estate was made holy and given the grace of the Almighty God when the women of the United Daughters of the Confederacy finally relented to the pleas of President McKinley to accept the burials of the Confederate soldiers and to build a Memorial that would be a symbol of reconciliation forever between the peoples of the North and South.
Yet here in the 21st century, the Anti-Semitic Army would go beyond their charge of the United States Congress to enact the recommendation of an appointed “so-called” Naming Commission under the direction of an Anti- Semitic, Southern hating, criminal Senator….one Elizabeth Warren… to remove this Holy Shrine fought so hard to have built by President McKinley and applauded by sitting Presidents ever since it's unveiling.
Of this spectacular shrine, Mr. Ezekiel would describe it as his greatest work. He would capture the honor and dignity of the Blacks of the South in such detail that a man of my age feels strong enough to stand up and fight with the people of Jesus (the Jewish people) in Israel today. And not to forget at the passing of Mr. Ezekiel, he would be buried at the base of the Reconciliation Memorial.
And this Anti-Semitic Army that proposes to tear down this Shrine is not playing on the same playing field of morality as President McKinley, President Taft, President Roosevelt, and a host of other Commander In Chiefs to include President Obama who would lay a wreath at its base on Confederate Memorial Day.
Instead of removing the Reconciliation Cenotaph, perhaps the Anti-Semitic Army ought to get politically correct and remove the signage that depicts the Black Union soldiers as “Colored”. Instead of removing the Reconciliation Cenotaph, the only integrated entity in this Cemetery (the Reconciliation Memorial), perhaps at the asking of the Black Union soldiers in two petitions to Congress and was denied on both occasions; the right to be buried alongside the Union soldiers they fought beside.
In today's time, Hamas wants to rid the world of Christians. My dad was a Baptist Minister and a Christian, and along with my mother, taught their children to be the same. How could I not support the people of Jesus Christ, the Jews of Israel?
God Bless you,
HK
Chairman Board of Advisors Emeritus Southern Legal Resource Center- Member Save Southern Heritage Florida
- Honorary Life Member Zebulon Baird Vance Camp 15 Sons of Confederate Veterans
- Honorary Life Member Jackson Rangers Camp 1917 Sons of Confederate Veterans
- Member Judah P Benjamin Camp 2210 Sons of Confederate Veterans
- Honorary Associate Member Abner Baker Chapter 14 United Daughters of the Confederacy
- Honorary Life Member North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia Orders of the Confederate Rose
- President Southern Heritage 411
Links to Important Resources
Defend Arlington Fundraising Site where you can help save Moses Ezekiel's MAGNIFICENT 109 year old Confederate Reconciliation Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery by Buying Outstanding Merchandise featuring BEAUTIFUL images from the monument. Art critics have said that every image on the monument is a work of art by itself. There are all kind of things like shirts, hats, hoodies, clocks, art prints, tote bags, note cards, stickers, ipad skins and cases, cell phone cases and skins, wall art, coasters, mugs, pins, throw pillows, water bottles, journals, magnets, etc.! ALL PROCEEDS GO TO THE DEFENSE FUND! Go spend some time on this site! You will love it!
Defend Arlington's recording of the 35 or so speakers on behalf of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery that took place Wednesday, March 15, 2023 in a virtual meeting of the Remember and Explore Subcommittee of Arlington National Cemetery.
View testimony which starts at 1:38:59.
Here is a link to Defend Arlington's donation page that states:
CHIP IN FOR THE ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY MEMORIAL LITIGATION DEFENSE FUND. You can also pay with Zelle. Send to
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Click Here to Donate AND Share on Facebook, et al.
Defend Arlington update with link to February 28, 2023 Tucker Carlson interview with Christopher Bedford on the Confederate Reconciliation Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.
Defend Arlington update, Tucker Carlson segment on YouTube
Hot off the press! Here is a link to the new 385 page PDF from Defend Arlington that flips pages as you read. It contains all the great scholarly white papers gathered up by Defend Arlington to make sure that Woke ignorance DIES at Arlington National Cemetery.
Defend Arlington's 385 Page Book of White Papers
Here is a link to an informative nine minute video, "The Arlington Confederate Monument," produced by the Abbeville Institute.
The Arlington Confederate Monument
Here is a link to the outstanding scholarly PDF white papers written for Defend Arlington. You can download them all with one click. Please share them far and wide, especially the letter from Defend Arlington's attorney, Karen C. Bennett, to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
PDF White Papers from Defend Arlington
Here is link to an excellent video refuting point by point a historically false Prager University video by Ty Seidule, who is naming commission vice chair. This one is produced by Bode Lang and entitled "The Civil War Was Not for Slavery."
Click Here for Bode Lang's excellent video
Here is a link to an excellent video of a Georgia lady calling out Elizabeth Warren and her Massachusetts hypocrisy.
Click Here for Georgia Lady Teaching Elizabeth Warren a Lesson
Here are important Southern Legal Resource Center links. SLRC mailing address is: Southern Legal Resource Center, 90 Church St., Black Mountain, NC 28711-3365.
Click Here to donate to the Southern Legal Resource Center