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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hegseth says Army base renamings will move ahead, despite concerns
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said military officials are looking for ways to honor the individuals whose names are being removed from Army bases as they return to their old designations, but rejected the idea of slowing or stopping the renaming process. 'The orders will soon be going to those bases to change back to the original names that never should have been changed,' he told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. 'Veterans and servicemembers across the country who have deployed from Fort Bragg or Fort Benning or Fort Hood or Fort Pickett, there's a legacy. There's a connection to those bases and to those places, to what they trained for there and what they did when they came home. That matters to them.' Last week, President Donald Trump announced plans to revert the designations of seven Army installations previously named for Confederate soldiers. He previously ordered the renaming of North Carolina's Fort Liberty to its old name, Fort Bragg, in February. Despite the presidential announcement last week, several of the changed base names were mentioned during the Army's 250th anniversary parade in Washington, D.C. last weekend, because renaming ceremonies have not yet taken place. Trump orders return to old, Confederate-linked names for 7 Army sites Service officials have emphasized that the reverted names will no longer commemorate their original Confederate namesakes, but instead other Army alumni with similar names. For example, Fort Hood in Texas, originally named for Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood, will now instead honor Distinguished Service Cross recipient Col. Robert B. Hood, who served during World War I. The moves undo decisions by Congress and President Joe Biden's administration to remove any connection to the Confederacy from current military bases. Lawmakers approved base name changes as part of the annual defense authorization bill process, noting the divisive nature of the association with the Confederacy. But Trump — and Hegseth on Wednesday — have argued that the names are sacred to troops and their families, and returning to the better-known names will boost military morale. Democrats on the panel rejected that argument. 'I don't understand what the motivation is to rename bases for people who took arms against their country on behalf of slavery,' said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine. 'What possible motivation can there be for this?' Several lawmakers suggested the move was an insult to the individuals for whom the bases were renamed, a group that includes Medal of Honor recipients and military trail blazers. Hegseth insisted the decision is not a reflection of their contributions and service. 'We'll find ways to recognize them,' he said, without providing further specifics. Army officials are expected to hold formal renaming ceremonies for the affected bases later this year.
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump makes treason great again, one Army base at a time
Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up But to circumvent Congress's mandate that military facilities no longer evoke Confederate officers who fought against the United States in defense of slavery and the rupture of the Union, the name change came with a twist: The Pentagon now claims Fort Bragg honors a little-known World War II private named Advertisement On June 11, the Army announced it would Advertisement But during his appearance at Fort Bragg, Trump didn't trouble to keep up the pretense. 'For a little breaking news,' he said, 'we are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort A.P. Hill, and Fort Robert E. Lee. We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It's no time to change.' Though the Pentagon may have a new namesake for Fort Lee, Trump's loyalty clearly lies with the original Confederate leader. His rhetoric may As a kid in grade school, I was taught that while Lee fought on the wrong side during the Civil War, he was a good and gallant American who personally detested slavery and backed the Confederacy only out of loyalty to his home state. For decades, that was the received wisdom. Even some US presidents echoed it. Advertisement This is a fable — ' As the Lee legend was first being manufactured in the decades following the Civil War, abolitionists and civil rights advocates did their best to debunk it. Frederick Douglass, the foremost Black leader of his age, The historian John Reeves debunked much of this mythology in a 2018 book, ' Lee insisted after the Civil War that 'the best men of the South' — a group in which he obviously included himself — had always 'been anxious to do away with this institution' of slavery. In reality, as Reeves documented, the 'best men of the South' — or at least the South's most prominent politicians — engineered secession for the explicit purpose of upholding slavery. Every state that joined the Confederacy, including Lee's Virginia, Advertisement Lee embraced that attitude. For decades he had been an enslaver. At the start of the war, he held approximately 200 individuals as property and was known for breaking up enslaved families and brutally punishing recaptured runaways. True, he once opined, in 'I think it however a greater evil to the white man than to the black race, & while my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more strong for the former,' he wrote. 'The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially & physically.' Slavery, he added, was 'necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare & lead them to better things. How long their subjugation may be necessary is known & ordered by a wise Merciful Providence. Their emancipation will sooner result from the mild & melting influence of Christianity, than the storms & tempests of fiery Controversy.' In short, while Lee considered slavery undesirable in the long run, he regarded it as 'necessary' for Black people's welfare. And he firmly believed its demise should be left patiently in God's hands, not hastened by abolitionists and their 'fiery Controversy.' Advertisement No less ludicrous than the myth that Lee hated slavery is the insistence that he should not be faulted for having sided with Virginia and the Confederacy instead of fighting for the Union. But Lee understood the moral wrong he was committing by breaching his oath of loyalty to the United States. 'Secession is nothing but revolution,' he wrote in Lee spent the better part of four years 'levying war against' the United States and 'adhering to their enemies.' That made him an American traitor, not an American hero. To have named a US Army base after him was an appalling blunder, one that Congress belatedly corrected. By pledging to undo that correction and to reattach names like 'Fort Robert E. Lee' to American military installations, Trump isn't upholding history. He is defiling it. Lee and other Confederate leaders waged war on their country to keep fellow human beings in chains. No patriot can make America great again by honoring such men. Jeff Jacoby can be reached at
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Yahoo
Harriet Tubman's church in Canada was a crucial force in the abolitionist movement. It's still standing today
On a cold day in January 2024, Rochelle Bush walked up the steps of Salem Chapel, British Methodist Episcopal church in St Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Bush, the owner and primary tour guide of Tubman Tours Canada and Salem Chapel's historian, moved quickly through the church pointing out the history, which spans generations back to when the building was built centuries ago. The church's roots stretch to about 1788 when Black people, many of whom were seeking freedom from slavery in the US, began to settle in the St Catharines area. Along with their hopes, dreams and plans for the future, these settlers, many of whom were followers of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and Richard Allen, a founder of the African Methodist Episcopal church, brought their religions with them. Bush, like many parishioners of Salem Chapel today, is a descendant of those people, whom she calls 'freedom seekers'. Through her tours, she seeks to keep the memory of the Black Americans who sought freedom in Ontario, and the lives they built on arriving there, alive. Salem Chapel is one of the oldest Black churches in Ontario. Though it may not be widely known to most Americans or Canadians, its influence on both countries' history is undeniable. The church, which is still in use as a religious institution, is considered a sacred site and tourist destination because of its importance for people who participated in the Underground Railroad and for their descendants. After the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, which required that people who escaped slavery be returned to the people who enslaved them even if they had made it to a state in which slavery was illegal, the Black community in Ontario rapidly increased with the arrival of thousands of fleeing Black Americans. The expanding community outgrew the church they were using to worship, and the congregation decided to build a larger church to serve the growing population. On 4 November 1855, the new African Methodist Episcopal church, 'dedicated to the service of Almighty God', by Daniel Alexander Payne, an American bishop, was opened. Related: Secrets of Success: the church that served a plantation remains a monument of resistance The church's pulpit is the original – the same one that Harriet Tubman, who lived in St Catharines for about a decade, Frederick Douglass and John Brown would have sat before as parishioners or would have spoken behind as lecturers. Display cases contain original wrought iron rails, and the pews upstairs date back to the 1800s – the lower-level pews are from the 1950s. There are other time-specific items, such as an original offering plate, a first edition copy of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, a union jack flag from around the 1880s and a first edition copy of the biography of Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president. St Catharines was known by prominent abolitionists, including Douglass, who wrote that the Underground Railroad had many branches, but that the one with which he was connected started in Baltimore and ended at St Catharines. 'He legitimized us as a final terminus on the Underground Railroad,' Bush said. 'We're the only ones in Canada that received that distinction. Thank God for Frederick Douglass.' Salem Chapel and its community was a crucial force in the abolitionist movement –the church routinely held anti-slavery talks, its congregants protested against enslavement and also provided aid and shelter to people who had crossed via the Underground Railroad into Canada. With its close proximity to New York, and the Underground Railroad terminus in Rochester, where Frederick Douglass lived, the church became a meeting space for abolitionist leaders. 'The church was constructed when my family was living here, it was constructed when Harriet Tubman was living here,' Bush, who was born in St Catharines, told the Guardian. Black Americans who escaped enslavement 'wanted to put down roots and they wanted to secure their safety and freedom, because they knew that in the eyes of God, we're all the same, we're all equal. This church stands as a tribute to all of that.' In late 2023, Salem Chapel became the first international listing in the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program by the US National Park Service, an acknowledgment that formerly enslaved people's lives did not end with their journey into Canada. 'The Network to Freedom commemorates the courage, resilience and creativity of freedom seekers and provides insight to their struggles against oppression,' Chuck Sams, the National Park Service director, said in a statement at the time. 'Every listing added to the program moves us closer to telling a more complete and inclusive history of our nation and its quest to form a more perfect union.' For Bush and other stewards of Salem Chapel, it is increasingly important that the church's storied history is preserved and perpetuated. 'Salem Chapel is a forgotten treasure in African American history,' Bush said. 'When it comes to the majority of American scholars, predominantly white, they write that the freedom seekers or the runaways or fugitives went north or they went to Canada, and then that's the end of their journey. No! There's a lot about their journey and where they settled here.' Bush's great-great-grandfather the Rev James Henry Harper was a free Black man from Columbia, South Carolina, who moved to St Catharines. He worked as a principal carpenter and minister at the church for a period of time during which Tubman was a frequent visitor. He and Bush's great-great-grandmother Margaret Harper, also of Columbia, South Carolina, are both buried in St Catharines. When Bush shows tourists around St Catharines and Salem Chapel, she's showing them buildings and places that are linked both to her own personal history, and to American and Canadian history at large. 'It's a thrill to be in here for me. Growing up, you don't appreciate it until you hear it from others,' Bush said. When describing the work done by members of the church, even those from centuries past, Bush uses 'we', 'us' and 'our'. Her words, like her existence, are testimonies to the deep connection she feels and embodies with her Black American ancestors. Her work with the church and on her tours are also a testament to that connection. On her tours, Bush communicates quickly and casually. Through her words, the vestiges of old Black St Catharines come to life, even though the neighborhood and town around the church have changed in the centuries since it was founded. Bush, a wellspring of knowledge, talks about the freedom-seeking ancestors, as if they are old friends, rattling off key dates and sites of interest. One of the most prominent former residents of the province is also the tour's namesake: Harriet Tubman, whose niece and sister-in-law are buried in St Catharines. 'This was her main base of operation. The scholars today believe she made no less than 13 trips back and forth … We do know that this was her base of operation and she attended this church,' Bush said. When people visit Salem Chapel, Bush said they are typically astounded by the fact that Tubman was once there, too. 'They want to touch the pews, and nobody leaves without touching the pulpit,' she said. 'Many are brought to tears. They say they feel the ancestral spirits in here. People are usually just blown away and they praise God that the church is still standing.' One of the stories she shares is of John Brown, who Bush calls the 'greatest white abolitionist to ever live'. He was in St Catharines in April 1858 to meet with Tubman for the first time. Tubman had previously dreamed about meeting Brown, according to WEB DuBois's biography of the leader, and when they actually met, she assisted him in planning the raid on Harpers Ferry. Bush intertwines stories of the past with stories of the buildings that are still standing, contextualizing the shared histories of both. Bush's tour around St Catharines includes other significant, if surprising, American civil war history. She tells those who participate about Confederate soldiers who fought against the US in their treasonous effort and are now buried in St Catharines after fleeing persecution in the states. She shows attenders on the tour Niagara Bank, from which John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, had an uncashed bank note when was captured. But the focus of the tour is on the people who escaped slavery to make new lives for themselves. Bush tells attenders about Anthony Burns, who was enslaved in Virginia and was the centerpoint of one of the largest abolitionist revolts in US history before eventually gaining his freedom and pastoring Zion Baptist church in St Catharines. She shows them the burial site of John Lindsay, born in Washington DC and enslaved in Tennessee and Louisiana before eventually becoming one of the wealthiest men in Ontario. A highlight of the tour is Richard Pierpoint, who was born in Senegal, captured and enslaved, and forcibly sent to the 13 colonies. There, he eventually gained his freedom by fighting with the British during the American revolution, and helped found the Colored Corps, Upper Canada's only unit comprising solely men of African descent, during the war of 1812. Pierpoint eventually settled in Ontario, near St Catharines. The joy people experience is often marked by sobriety and an acknowledgment of pain. Bush's tours do not shy away from the seriousness of the horrors from which enslaved Black Americans were fleeing. 'The focus is on Black history and what our ancestors were running away from,' she said. 'The raping on the plantation … The number one dynamic of enslavement was the separation of families. You had no voice, you had no say … We mention that so everybody is on the same page because the idea now is to try to turn it into the yellow brick road and enslaved people had it good. No, we didn't.' Related: 'We feel the pain but there is also joy': the healing power of diasporic connection While some tours or sites that deal with locations and people who were either enslaved, enslavers or otherwise involved with the institution of slavery choose to passingly allude to the horrors of enslavement, Bush sees it as a central and necessary component of ensuring guests understand the importance of the freedom seekers' actions, the lives they eventually built in Canada and what they left behind. 'There's nothing positive about slavery and the Underground Railroad,' she said. 'Whereas you go to other locations and they don't want to discuss the atrocities of what people were running away from and so they try to make it all happy and that's not telling the truth. That's not telling the story, so you can't do that. You have to let them know what people were running away from.'
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Crowd Bursts Into Laughter at Biden's Holy Trump Dig
Joe Biden made veiled jabs at President Trump during public comments on Juneteenth, drawing a big laugh from a crowd when he made the sign of the cross instead of speaking his successor's name. Biden was at the Reedy Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Galveston, Texas, where he took part in a service and denounced 'ongoing efforts to erase history.' The church was one of the sites where an order announcing the end of slavery in Texas was read, according to the church. Biden, who made Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021 to commemorate the end of slavery, said at the church that 'the events of Juneteenth are of monumental importance to America's story,' according to CBS News. 'Still today, some say to me and you that this doesn't deserve to be a federal holiday. They don't want to moral stain of slavery,' Biden said. The former president spoke on the same day that Trump moaned that there are 'too many non-working holidays.' 'It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!' Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Juneteenth. A source familiar with the president's thinking told The Daily Beast that, despite the post, he does not plan on making any changes to federal holidays. One of the most notable moments in Biden's address at the church came when he chose to bless himself instead of using Trump's name. 'I took the view as president that we need to be honest about our history, especially because of ongoing efforts to erase our history, not just him, this guy...' Biden said before pausing and making the sign of the cross, drawing laughter and applause from the crowd. Biden also slammed 'ongoing efforts to erase history from our textbooks and our classrooms' and spoke about efforts to change the names of American military bases that honored Confederate officers. 'What are we doing now? Reinstating those names,' Biden said. Last week, Trump used a speech at Fort Bragg in North Carolina to promise that he would restore the names of Army bases that were once named for Confederate generals. 'Darkness can hide much but can erase nothing,' Biden added. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
News18
20-06-2025
- General
- News18
What Is Juneteenth And Why Is Donald Trump Not Celebrating It This Year?
Last Updated: Juneteenth is a day that marks the end of slavery in the United States. While the United States observes Juneteenth 2025 on June 19, President Donald Trump has maintained an indifferent silence on the federal holiday this year. Trump, who honoured the day every year in his previous term as President, in fact said the US has 'too many working holidays, costing the country billions of dollars" even as he didn't mention Juneteenth in his post directly. Juneteenth is a day that marks the end of slavery in the United States. The day is observed with parades, educational events, community gatherings, and moments of remembrance across the US. What is Juneteenth? Juneteenth is observed on June 19 every year. The day marks the end of slavery in the United States. The name is a combination of 'June" and 'nineteenth." On this day in 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that all enslaved people were free, in line with President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which had been issued over two years earlier, on January 1, 1863. Texas was one of the last Confederate states where slavery remained in practice, as Union forces had not yet taken control. When Granger issued General Order No. 3, it finally brought the message of freedom to more than 250,000 enslaved people in Texas. This moment came to symbolise the final end of slavery, even though it would take the 13th Amendment, passed later that year, to abolish slavery nationwide. Over time, Juneteenth grew from local celebrations in Texas to a nationwide event. It is observed with cultural events, music, food, and historical reflections. In 2021, Juneteenth became a federal holiday, underscoring its importance as a day of freedom, remembrance, and a continued call for equality and justice. How Did Juneteenth Become A Federal Holiday? Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, but the journey to the day's national recognition was long and hard-fought. For decades, African American communities across the US celebrated Juneteenth locally, especially in Texas where it was first officially recognised as a state holiday in 1980. However, efforts to make it a national holiday gained momentum following the racial justice protests of 2020 after the killing of George Floyd. Activists, lawmakers, and community leaders renewed calls for federal recognition, highlighting the importance of honouring the end of slavery as a key moment in American history. One prominent voice in the movement was Opal Lee, a lifelong activist from Texas, who, walked from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C. at 89, to campaign for Juneteenth's recognition. Her dedication and the growing national awareness around systemic racism helped push Congress to act. In June 2021, the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act passed swiftly with overwhelming bipartisan support, and President Joe Biden signed it into law on June 17, 2021. The move marked a historic step in acknowledging the legacy of slavery and the ongoing struggle for racial justice in America. Why Is Trump Not Celebrating Juneteenth This Year? This year, Trump did not issue any public statement or proclamation marking Juneteenth, a shift from his first term, when he routinely acknowledged the holiday. He, in fact, criticised 'too many non-working holidays" on his social media website Truth Social. 'Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed,"" Trump wrote. 'The workers don't want it either! Soon we'll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN," the US President added. Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed. The workers don't want it either! Soon we'll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE…— Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) June 19, 2025 In January 2025, Trump had also signed an executive order dismantling Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs across federal agencies. This was interpreted as a move to scale back observance planning for cultural and remembrance days like Juneteenth. First Published: News explainers What Is Juneteenth And Why Is Donald Trump Not Celebrating It This Year?
