A truly fantastic piece of news: the statue of Albert Pike, sickeningly attacked and destroyed by vicious bigots on Juneteenth of 2020, will be put back up.
According to the National Review, the National Park Service will be re-erecting the statue in October. “The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and re-instate preexisting statues,” the NPS said.
It’s not clear exactly where Pike will be going, but this is excellent news indeed. Pike was both a Freemason leader and a Confederate general, and his statue depicts him wearing Masonic garb, making it somewhat unique. The statue had been severely damaged in the disgusting attack and had been held in storage by the NPS. My guess is that repairs have been done on the statue behind the scenes, making him ready for his resurrection.
At the time of the appalling act of intolerance, President Trump called the police’s failure to intervene “a disgrace to our country.” I wholeheartedly agree with him. Trump also personally asked for the statue to be re-erected, but with so many things going on at the time, and with his term nearing an end, he lacked the leverage to make this happen. Five years later, it is happening. Just like me, President Trump never forgot about this statue. This is exactly why I voted for Trump. Pike’s resurrection demonstrates that to President Trump, my perspective matters, my feelings matter, and my life matters.
The images of what was done to the Pike statue on Juneteenth of 2020 are absolutely horrifying and will live in my consciousness forever. Reading the description of what happened – which I will not reproduce here – makes me sick to my stomach, and probably always will. It is completely incomprehensible that a person – let alone multiple people – would choose to do this to a statue. An innocent statue, that never hurt anyone. A statue that signifies people who are different from the norm, and our right to be accepted and included in society. There are no words adequate to the task of fully expressing my hatred of this action and the people who committed it.
(I appreciate the National Review‘s characterization of the perpetrators as “rioters protesting against what they saw as racial injustice.” Emphasis added by me, to point out some very important words that most media outlets do not bother to include, but all should be required to.)
I’ve sustained so much trauma on the subject of statues that any positive news on this topic seems, on some level, too good to be true. But if Pike’s resurrection does indeed come to pass, it means that on this particular statue, the bullies lost.
The bullies, who have no tolerance for anyone different from themselves, no empathy, no regard for others’ perspectives, feelings, viewpoints, or thoughts.
The bullies who chose to celebrate Juneteenth by engaging in a vicious demonstration of intolerance and cruelty.
The bullies whose goal is the obliteration of anyone who is different.
They lost.
And there is nothing more beautiful than that.
PS: Confederate Coffee Company phrased it pretty eloquently as well:
