The return of a confederate general
A statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike that demonstrators toppled and burned in 2020 will be reinstalled in D.C.
Decades of democratic opposition
The statue had long faced local opposition. The D.C. Council first called for the statue's removal in 1992—over 30 years ago. For three decades, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced multiple bills in Congress seeking its removal. This wasn't a sudden, reactive decision made in the heat of 2020's protests—it represented the consistent will of D.C. residents.
The reinstallation highlights a troubling disconnect between federal authority and local democratic will. All local efforts have been overruled by federal intervention.
A monument from the Jim Crow era
As with most confederate monuments, the Pike statue wasn't erected during the the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. It was dedicated in 1901, during the height of the Jim Crow era when Confederate monuments were being constructed across the South as symbols of white supremacy and resistance to Black civil rights. This timing wasn't coincidental—these monuments served to intimidate and remind newly freed Black Americans of their "place" in society.
Pike himself remains a controversial figure, with critics pointing to accusations linking him to the founding of the post-Civil War Ku Klux Klan. The Masons, who revere Pike as one of their own, dispute this, but of course they would, wouldn't they.
Whether or not these specific Klan claims are verified, the statue's 1901 dedication date places it squarely within the period when Confederate symbolism was being weaponized against civil rights progress.
Federal trampling of local will
The decision to restore the statue represents a troubling pattern. Federal authorities from the current administration overriding the expressed wishes of local communities.
The fact that it glorifies the confederacy is surely just a coincidence.
Non in cautus futuri.
