In order to remain a #PeopleFirst Army, we must be honest about our past, understanding and reckoning with moments that have held us back. Changing posts named for Confederate leaders, many who never served in the U.S. Army, is an important step. 1/
While we do this, we need to educate ourselves about why these names came to be in the first place, and why it matters in the 21st century. 2/
The Confederate names were products of the WWI and WWII mobilizations, which occurred in the Jim Crow era of white supremacy, racial violence, and disenfranchisement of Black people. 3/
Army leaders used established policies and processes to select these names, and carefully considered community opinion around the post locations. They did not explicitly aim to celebrate the Confederacy, but context matters. By WWI, the myth of the Lost Cause was established. 4/
The Lost Cause, propagated by the defeated South, held that the US and CS causes were morally equivalent and that the Civil War was not about slavery. In this environment, the entire white nation celebrated the Confederacy as a valorous expression of American patriotism. 5/
In this context, it was natural for the Army to name posts in the former Confederacy for Confederates. But now, in the 21st century, with a diverse force and a clear understanding of the causes and consequences of the Civil War, we can do better. 6/
This matters for our Army because our history is quite literally a part of our cultural DNA. A young African American Soldier reporting to Fort Benning, GA, is well aware now that Benning was a slaveholder who never served a day in the U.S. Army, and was committed to slavery. 7/
We should not assume that educated people in the Army who don’t understand why this is a big deal are ignorant or racist. We should discuss and educate. But neither should we bend over backwards to placate white snowflakes who hold on to an completely mythical past. 8/
We can do this, and we can do it promptly, with transparency, and with empathy and sensitivity to our diverse past. Let’s go. 9/
Our website, history.army.mil, has lots of updated info on the history of post naming. 10/
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