Controversial statue toppled during Black Lives Matter protest to be reinstalled under Trump
By Melissa Koenig
Daily Mail
Aug 4, 2025
The statue of Albert Pike, a brigadier-general in the Confederate Army, stood outside of the Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters in Washington before it was toppled in 2020 A statue of a Confederate general that was toppled and burned in Washington D.C. during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 will be reinstalled under President Donald Trump.
The
National Park Service announced on Monday that its crews are working to
restore and reinstall the bronze sculpture of Confederate Brigadier
General Albert Pike that once stood in the nation's capital.
It was the only statue depicting a Confederate leader in Washington DC until demonstrators used ropes to pull down the structure outside of the Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters.
They then doused the figure in lighter fluid and set it ablaze on live television.
President Trump - then in his first-term - immediately called for the statue to be put back up, but it has remained in storage ever since.
Officials
now hope to get the statue back up by October, as they shared a photo
of a worker removing corrosion and paint from the site.
'Site
preparation to repair the statue's damaged masonry plinth will begin
shortly, with crews repairing broken stone, mortar joints and mounting
elements,' the National Park Service said.
It
added that the move to reinstall the statue is in accordance with
executive orders Trump signed to beautify Washington DC and restore
'truth and sanity to American history.'
President Donald Trump has authorized a controversial statue of a Confederate general to be put back up in Washington DC
The
National Park Service shared this photo of a worker removing corrosion
and paint from the statue of Brigadier General Albert Pike Under the order, Trump directed Secretary
of the Interior Doug Burgum to determine whether statues have been
removed since the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 to 'perpetuate a
false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the
value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other
improper partisan ideology.'
The Pike statue has long been a source of contention in Washington DC.
It
was originally dedicated in 1901 at the behest of the Freemasons, who
successfully lobbied Congress to grant them land for the statue they
said would honor Pike's 32 years as Sovereign Grand Commander of the
Ancient Rite of Scottish Freemasonry.
Congress agreed to give the Masons the land so long as Pike would be depicted in civilian, and not military clothing.
The
DC City Council called for its removal for the first time in 1992, and
Delegate to the House of Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton has
introduced multiple bills in Congress to get it removed in the decades
that followed, NBC Washington reports.
One such resolution referred to Pike as a 'chief founder of the post Civil War Ku Klux Klan,' a claim the Masons strongly deny.
But
Pike did lead a regimen of Native Americans in Arkansas who sided with
the Confederacy and were accused of scalping Union troops in an 1862
battle.
He eventually received a pardon
from President Andrew Johnson for his wartime actions and went on to
become a prominent member of the Freemasons.
The statue, which was erected in 1901, was defaced during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020
Protesters used ropes to topple the statue, then set it on fire
During the riots in 2020, protesters spray
painted the statue, decrying Pike as a 'racist' and sharing their
support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
It was one of many such Confederate statues toppled that summer, which Trump decried in his first term.
'Very
sad to see States allowing roving gangs of wise guys, anarchists &
looters, many of them having no idea what they are doing,
indiscriminately ripping down our statues and monuments to the past,' he
tweeted at the time.
'Some are great works of art, but all represent our History & Heritage, both the good and the bad.
'It
is important for us to understand and remember, even in turbulent and
difficult times, and learn from them. Knowledge comes from the most
unusual of places!'
The president also
hit out at police for 'not doing their job as they watch a statue be
ripped down & burn[ed]' after it was reported that officers did not
respond to the scene until approximately an hour after the crowds
gathered - despite police headquarters being mere feet away, WUSA reports.
By then, the statue had already been toppled and torched, with officers left only able to extinguish the flames.
Delegate
to the House of Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton announced she
will now take action to prevent the statue from going back up
In the years since, Delegate Holmes Norton has lobbied for the statue to be placed in a museum.
'I've
long believed Confederate statues should be placed in museums as
historical artifacts, not remain in locations that imply honor,' she
told WUSA on Monday.
'President Trump's
longstanding determination to honor Confederate General Albert Pike by
restoring and reinstalling the Pike statue is as indefensible as it is
morally objectionable,' she continued.
She
went onto claim that Pike 'served dishonorably' and noted that he 'took
up arms against the United States, misappropriated funds and was
ultimately imprisoned by his fellow own troops. He resigned in disgrace
after committing a war crime and dishonoring even his own Confederate
military service.'
Holmes Norton then announced that she will take action to prevent the statue from going back up.
'Given
the NPS announcement today that it will restore and reinstall the
statue, I plan to reintroduce my bill, which would permanently remove
the statue of Pike and authorize the Secretary of the Interior to donate
the statue to a museum or a similar entity,' she said.
'A statue honoring a racist and a traitor has no place on the streets of DC,' she declared.
A statue of a Confederate general that was toppled and burned in Washington D.C. during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 will be reinstalled under President Donald Trump.
The National Park Service announced on Monday that its crews are working to restore and reinstall the bronze sculpture of Confederate Brigadier General Albert Pike that once stood in the nation's capital.
It was the only statue depicting a Confederate leader in Washington DC until demonstrators used ropes to pull down the structure outside of the Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters.
They then doused the figure in lighter fluid and set it ablaze on live television.
President Trump - then in his first-term - immediately called for the statue to be put back up, but it has remained in storage ever since.
Officials now hope to get the statue back up by October, as they shared a photo of a worker removing corrosion and paint from the site.
'Site preparation to repair the statue's damaged masonry plinth will begin shortly, with crews repairing broken stone, mortar joints and mounting elements,' the National Park Service said.
It added that the move to reinstall the statue is in accordance with executive orders Trump signed to beautify Washington DC and restore 'truth and sanity to American history.'
President Donald Trump has authorized a controversial statue of a Confederate general to be put back up in Washington DC
Under the order, Trump directed Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to determine whether statues have been removed since the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 to 'perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.'
The Pike statue has long been a source of contention in Washington DC.
It was originally dedicated in 1901 at the behest of the Freemasons, who successfully lobbied Congress to grant them land for the statue they said would honor Pike's 32 years as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient Rite of Scottish Freemasonry.
Congress agreed to give the Masons the land so long as Pike would be depicted in civilian, and not military clothing.
The DC City Council called for its removal for the first time in 1992, and Delegate to the House of Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton has introduced multiple bills in Congress to get it removed in the decades that followed, NBC Washington reports.
One such resolution referred to Pike as a 'chief founder of the post Civil War Ku Klux Klan,' a claim the Masons strongly deny.
But Pike did lead a regimen of Native Americans in Arkansas who sided with the Confederacy and were accused of scalping Union troops in an 1862 battle.
He eventually received a pardon from President Andrew Johnson for his wartime actions and went on to become a prominent member of the Freemasons.
The statue, which was erected in 1901, was defaced during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020
Protesters used ropes to topple the statue, then set it on fire
During the riots in 2020, protesters spray painted the statue, decrying Pike as a 'racist' and sharing their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
It was one of many such Confederate statues toppled that summer, which Trump decried in his first term.
'Very sad to see States allowing roving gangs of wise guys, anarchists & looters, many of them having no idea what they are doing, indiscriminately ripping down our statues and monuments to the past,' he tweeted at the time.
'Some are great works of art, but all represent our History & Heritage, both the good and the bad.
'It is important for us to understand and remember, even in turbulent and difficult times, and learn from them. Knowledge comes from the most unusual of places!'
The president also hit out at police for 'not doing their job as they watch a statue be ripped down & burn[ed]' after it was reported that officers did not respond to the scene until approximately an hour after the crowds gathered - despite police headquarters being mere feet away, WUSA reports.
By then, the statue had already been toppled and torched, with officers left only able to extinguish the flames.
Delegate to the House of Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton announced she will now take action to prevent the statue from going back up
In the years since, Delegate Holmes Norton has lobbied for the statue to be placed in a museum.
'I've long believed Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts, not remain in locations that imply honor,' she told WUSA on Monday.
'President Trump's longstanding determination to honor Confederate General Albert Pike by restoring and reinstalling the Pike statue is as indefensible as it is morally objectionable,' she continued.
She went onto claim that Pike 'served dishonorably' and noted that he 'took up arms against the United States, misappropriated funds and was ultimately imprisoned by his fellow own troops. He resigned in disgrace after committing a war crime and dishonoring even his own Confederate military service.'
Holmes Norton then announced that she will take action to prevent the statue from going back up.
'Given the NPS announcement today that it will restore and reinstall the statue, I plan to reintroduce my bill, which would permanently remove the statue of Pike and authorize the Secretary of the Interior to donate the statue to a museum or a similar entity,' she said.
'A statue honoring a racist and a traitor has no place on the streets of DC,' she declared.
1 comment:
Activists can burn, loot and destroy but they can't change history. In fact, they made dark history with their actions.
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