Sen. John Kennedy says that rather than targeting military bases named after Confederate figures, the sites should instead bear the names of Medal of Honor winners.
The Louisiana Republican Tuesday proposed a substitute amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would rename all military installations after Medal of Honor winners.
It would replace the amendment offered by Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, adopted in committee last week, which would establish a protocol to rename military installations named after Confederate generals such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, and Camp Beauregard in Louisiana. There are currently 10 military bases named for Confederate officers.
“I’m opposed to the amendment in its current form. I’m going to offer a substitute amendment to rename every single, solitary military installation in this country after a Medal of Honor winner,” Kennedy told reporters Tuesday. “I do not think that the attitudes that we’ve been discussing about — racial discrimination and anti-Semitism, misogyny — are limited only to the South.”
The move to rename military bases has gained traction among some lawmakers following a string of protests (and some looting) triggered by the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis three weeks ago.
“I think history will show that in the 18th century and in the 19th century, as well into the 20th century, there were many non-Confederate generals, soldiers, and others in both the South and the North who practiced racial discrimination, anti-Semitism, and misogyny,” he said. “And I don’t think we ought to just pick on the South.”
The Congressional Medal of Honor is the country’s highest military award for valor. It was first authorized in 1861, and 3,525 American service members have been recipients of the Medals of Honor.
“I think times change. History doesn’t. And there’s no question that our generation, this generation, some of you are younger than me, some of you are older, we view race and misogyny and anti-Semitism somewhat differently than people who came before us,” Kennedy said.
Additionally, a demand by activist groups from around the country came for the removal of statues of Confederate generals and other historical figures in American history, regardless of their position on slavery.
While some local governments removed monuments, other groups took matters into their own hands and toppled the statues themselves from their pedestals.
“I think anybody who commits felony, rioting, and the destruction of public art and the destruction of public property should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Kennedy said of the monument damage.
Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, whose own state is in the midst of fighting a lawsuit related to whether or not a Robert E. Lee statue should remain in a public space, told the Washington Examiner, “I think the better process by far is to let government take action encouraged by the citizens by far. I think any city has to decide how it’s going to use its police resources.”
Kaine, a former Richmond mayor, Virginia lieutenant governor, and governor, said, “But I think that’s by far the better practice. And it’s not only the better one, to let the legal process work as it’s going to, but it’s also safer.”
