KKK plaque and Confederate symbols at prestigious West Point should be removed, panel demands

A congressional committee has said that a bronze Ku Klux Klan plaque and relics to Confederate chief Robert E. Lee hanging at the prestigious West Point military academy ought to be removed. 

The request from the Naming Commission, which is tasked with reviewing and changing military assets that memorialize Confederate figures, was aired in a report published by the agency Monday.

In addition to West Point – the nation’s oldest and most respected service academy, situated in Upstate New York – the report also saw the committee hone in on the US Naval Academy in Maryland, demanding multiple facilities at the school be renamed by next year.

The commission, however, conceded that it would not call for the removal of the KKK decoration – which adorns the entrance of the Bartlett Hall Science Center – due to the fact that it is not linked to the rebel army, and therefore out of its jurisdiction.

A West Point spokesperson said the academy is reviewing the recommendations and will implement whatever changes are approved by the Defense Department and US Army, who are assessing the report.   

That sentiment has since sparked outrage across the country, with Americans demanding why the woke government body can nix names associated with their nation’s history, but still not have the authority to pull an openly racist artifact.

The congressional Naming Commission, which is tasked with reviewing and changing military assets that memorialize Confederate figures, would not, however, ask that a bronze plaque that pays homage to the Ku Klux Klan at one the campus’ entrances (pictured) be removed, due to its content not being related to the Confederacy or US Civil War

Altogether, the report saw seven Department of Defense assets flagged for renaming at West Point. Five of them are named after Lee, who led the Confederate Army during the Civil War, as well as several other sites on the storied campus.

A further three assets were flagged at the Annapolis Naval Academy for renaming. 

The committee, which earlier this year pushed for the renaming of nine Army bases named after Confederate generals in a move would cost an estimated $21 million, has yet to comment on the backlash.

US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat who co-sponsored a bill to remove anything that commemorates the Confederacy, said she would push Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III to approve the Naming Commission’s recommendations. 

‘I am supportive of the findings in the report and will continue working with the Naming Commission and D.O.D. to remove these harmful tributes that uphold the legacy of Confederate leaders who killed thousands of American service members in order to preserve the institution of slavery,’ Gillibrand said in a statement. ‘It’s a disgrace and damaging to our nation.’

US Rep. Sean Maloney, a Democrat whose district oversees West Point, told the New York Times that he has pushed for the renaming of the academy’s facilities since 2020 and fully supports the latest recommendations. 

‘We cannot allow bigotry of the past to be perpetuated and celebrated in the same halls that educate our leaders of the future,’ he said in a statement. ‘It is essential that West Point’s campus and culture be one that is welcoming to students of all backgrounds.’ 

Following the report’s release Monday, several citizens expressed their distaste with the agency’s do-nothing approach to the KKK adornment – and the fact that it has remained for so long.

‘That’s a no-brainer,’ one Twitter user sniped of the commission’s halfhearted proposal when it came to the sign, which shows a man in a hood and cape holding a rifle, with the hate organization’s name emblazoned prominently underneath.  

‘That should have been taken down years ago.’

Another internet user poked fun at the government body’s inability to address an issue that should be a simple fix, due to it being entrenched in the channels of American bureaucracy.

‘How many layers of command does it take to decide having a KKK plaque at West Point is wrong and it should just be removed ASAP?’ the observer sarcastically wrote.

The commission also called for the relocation or removal of a portrait of Lee in full Confederate garb, displayed prominently in one of the academy’s buildings

In addition to the seven DOD assets flagged for renaming at West Point – which included a barracks and a child development center – to rename a further five buildings, roads and gates named after Lee and other Confederate leaders

A further spectator declared that despite usually being against woke government agencies renaming sites and structures associated with periods of American history, this instance should be a no-brainer. 

‘You know, normally I oppose taking down statues, plaques, etc. But in this case I’d make an exception.

‘Short reasoning is,’ the commenter continued, ‘most other folks who have monuments or plaques were complex and did good (or at least great) things, as well as bad.’

He then declared: ‘KKK only stood for one thing.’

In addition to the seven DOD assets flagged for renaming at West Point – which included a barracks and a child development center – to rename a further five buildings, roads and gates named after Lee and other Confederate leaders.

The three assets flagged at the Naval Academy, meanwhile, included an engineering building and the superintendent’s quarters.

Aside from those structures and assets, the commission also called for the relocation or removal of a portrait of Lee in full Confederate garb, displayed prominently in one of the academy’s buildings.

The portrait of Lee, the commission wrote, is among the ‘paraphernalia’ it has ‘unanimously’ recommended for removal – as well as several other portraits of ‘individuals who voluntarily served’ under him, which they assert should be tossed.

Also suggested for removal was an engraved quote from Lee located near a prominent print of the West Point Honor Code – ‘A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do.’

West Point – the nation’s oldest military academy -has yet to comment on the proposed changes, which were leveled on Monday

Another display depicting Lee and three other Confederate soldiers was flagged for modification.

‘Lee’s armies were responsible for the deaths of more United States Soldiers than practically any other enemy in our nation’s history,’ the commission wrote in the report, referring to the 360,222 Union soldiers who died in the four-year conflict.

But when the subject of the Ku Klux Klan came up – a group responsible for the lynching of thousands of African-Americans and other minorities since its formation immediately after the Civil War – the commission was much less forward, asking the DOD to create the rules for dealing with such assets.

‘This marker falls outside the remit of the Commission; however, there are clearly ties in the KKK to the Confederacy,’ the commission wrote.   

The suggestions for both schools, they added, would cost taxpayers roughly $425,000.

The brazen demands come as part of a broader effort by the commission to nix the names of Southerners who fought against the US during the Civil War, ranging from the country’s many military bases, schools, and other DOD assets.

Final recommendations from the commission, including cost estimates for the proposed, costly tweaks, are due to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees by the first of October.

Before they are signed off on, however, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Congress need to sign off on them before they can take effect.

Prior to the October deadline, the eight-member panel is poised to release a third report of its final findings concerning the renaming of further DOD assets that did not make it into the agency’s first two reports.

Its first report, published in May, pushed for the renaming of nine Army bases that pay homage to various Confederate generals. The move would cost an estimated $21 million, according to the commission.