Alexandria, Virginia's City Council Takes a Clear Stand on Honoring the Confederacy
All too often city councils do whatever they can to push aside questions about where they stand personally on the question of Confederate monuments. Residents have a record of their vote, but that’s about it. That’s not the case in Alexandria, Virginia, which recently voted to change the names of streets that honor Confederate military and political leaders.
This past Saturday council members answered questions from the public about this and other issues. One question in particular apparently caught the attention of the council. Rather than duck and swerve, a number of them chose to address it head on.
It seems to me that the renaming of Alexandria streets is woke. Instead of embracing our perverse and at times sad history, we are trying to erase it. We are a city of slave traders and… we should speak proudly of all we embody. What do you think?
Having read the question a number of times now, I have a suspicion that it wasn’t intended to be taken seriously, but was mocking members of the community that believe that this is just another example of “woke” ideology and a brazen attempt to erase the past.
Either way, it offered the council a chance to share their thoughts. And they did.
It was done to send a message of hate,” council member Kirk McPike said. “A message of exclusion to African Americans and to those who supported what at the time was emerging civil rights movement. These people who were never part of Alexandria’s past should not pretend to be a part of Alexandria’s future.”
Council member Alyia Gaskins had this to say: “I have a real issue with the term of ‘woke.' As a black woman who is a descendant of slaves, I cannot proudly walk around and celebrate people who wanted to erase me, who thought of me than not just as less of a person, but not even a person. Let’s understand, but that doesn’t mean we have to create monuments or signs to celebrate people who did heinous and horrible acts, who wanted to recognize and believe that other people did not deserve to live and be valued in the Alexandria that we love and appreciate.”
Regardless of whether you agree, it’s nice to see elected officials taking a clear stand on this issue. Disagree with their beliefs and their vote? At the next election, vote them out of office.
I was also pleased to see that one of the council members pointed residents to the 1953 ordinance that authorized changing street names to honor Confederate leaders. It’s a wonderful reminder that these acts have little to do with history and everything to do with the current political climate and various agendas. The ordinance is easily accessible on the city’s website.
Look at all that history that was erased in 1953. I suspect that few people complained about it at the time. The city council’s plan to change the city’s street names wasn’t labeled as “woke” or whatever the 1950s equivalent term would have been. It’s another reminder that the process of commemorating and honoring our past in public spaces is an ongoing and evolving effort. In other words, it changes over time.
The 1953 ordinance is even more insidious than you think, however, if you are truly interested in preserving the status quo. I suspect that most of the original street names that honored individuals and places referenced local history. But as many of you know, Alexandria was occupied by the United States army for pretty much the entire war. I don’t believe that any of the Confederates listed in the ordinance came through Alexandria during the war or at any time for that matter.
And what about Nathan Bedford Forrest? I couldn’t even find his name in the 1953 ordinance, which suggests that it was added even later. How did his name get on the list and what did he represent to white Virginians in the 1950s?
Wait, don’t tell me.
Thanks for this - interesting read with a lot to think about. The ordinance itself also points to something that has always interested me about the intersection of good government administration and overtly political acts. The purpose of the ordinance is a good one - with the post-WWII growth in Alexandria, it was important to better and more purposely name streets, require certain property numbering conventions, etc. Just look at all the streets that went from "no name" to having one. However, it also provided an opportunity for those that wanted to make a political point to make their mark on what the final names ended up being. Not to put too much of a 21st century political spin on their efforts, but I can almost hear someone speaking about opposition to the ordinance framing it as a vote against good governance and progress, despite the step backwards that some of the names represented.
In the case of Alexandria, it also is interesting to see the intersection of Confederate Names, and the embrace of colonial era names - the ordinance takes a step toward the naming convention of what is now "old town" with the King and Duke street names that fit now with Queen, Prince, Princess, etc. For an area that embraces its founding fathers connections, the almost loyalist tinge to the names always fascinated me.
As one born and raised directly on the other side of the Potomac, I unreservedly endorse the Alexandria's City Council.
And on a closely related topic, the Washington Post got secret permission to film and report on the partial dismemberment of Charlottesville's REL statue -- Lest Democracy Die in Darkness! Deliciously beautiful filming, especially the glowing end of Bobby Lee's face; only a few modern demons merit the same fate of "glowing to hell".
A sidebar related: "The Washington Post spent a day watching foundry workers cut up parts of Charlottesville’s statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, including the head and sword, and melt those in a furnace. Post journalists were allowed to join on the condition they did not identify the foundry’s location and state or record the workers’ faces to protect them and the facility." (It appears that the horse was spared. If no better use for the horse can be found, then I nominate the back half to be joined to the torso of a personage who has 91 counts falling on his also-orange-but-not-yet-glowing head.)
(Wapo is a pay site and I couldn't find the "gift article" box to click.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2023/civil-war-monument-melting-robert-e-lee-confederate/?utm_campaign=wp_the_5_minute_fix&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_fix&sourceApp=fusionWidgetLarge