OPINION:
Having already smashed the statues of famous residents, city leaders in Northern Virginia are preparing to pull down street signs and redraw city maps.
Alexandria will hold a hearing on Nov. 30 about its plan to erase the names of Breckinridge, Frost, Early, Jordan and Forrest from various streets because the men for whom they were named fought on the wrong side of a war over a century and a half ago.
That’s merely the first volley. The list of more than 60 potential expungement targets will guarantee visitors are lost and GPS systems confused for years to come. Businesses finding themselves on rechristened roads lack enthusiasm at the prospect of printing new business cards and advertising materials. Homeowners will also be forced to update their addresses, experiencing one of the headaches of moving without any of the benefits.
The City Council already thought of this and has helpfully removed the pesky barrier of democratic input. Instead of requiring 75% approval from property owners for a change to go forward, only 25% is needed if the street name is deemed “controversial.”
Actual facts are also not allowed to get in the way of such determinations. Alexandria is resolute about getting rid of Lee Street, following Fairfax County, which memory-holed the Lee District in December. When it did so, historians weren’t actually sure whether the district was named after Robert E. Lee, or was meant to honor the Lee family in general.
And there’s plenty to honor. Robert E. Lee’s father, Henry Lee III, was better known as Light-horse Harry, recipient of a gold medal from the Continental Congress for valor during the Revolutionary War. He was also governor of Virginia. Another Lee, Richard Henry, introduced the resolution in the Continental Congress proposing independence from the British crown.
These famous ancestors broke from a government over high taxes, undemocratic ways, censorship, and the abuse of the rule of law that saw the crown’s foot soldiers get away with serious crimes while opponents suffered arrest for “pretended offences.”
That sounds familiar. Perhaps the left is eager to shout at the sins of the Confederacy to distract from the baggage of slavery lurking in the Democratic Party’s own closet. A mere 16 years ago, Robert Byrd, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, served as president pro tempore of the Senate under the Democrats.
The Robert C. Byrd U.S. Courthouse and IRS Complex in West Virginia hasn’t been renamed, nor have dozens of roads constructed with tax dollars funneled into the Mountain State bearing the name of the notorious pork-barreler.
Democrats were the architects of Jim Crow laws designed to keep newly freed slaves from actually enjoying the freedom granted by the party of Abraham Lincoln. It was Democrat George Wallace who stood in the schoolhouse door to block Black students from attending the University of Alabama in 1963. Five years later, the former Alabama governor carried five states as a third-party candidate for president.
Perhaps Alexandria’s City Council members — Democrats all — ought to do something about the sordid past of the political party they represent before imposing further hardship on residents.
Correction: An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly affiliated George Wallace’s 1968 bid for the presidency with a major party (he was a third-party candidate) and misidentified the university that Wallace tried to prevent Black students from entering.
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