Army Refuses To Rename Brooklyn Streets Honoring Confederate Generals

FORT HAMILTON, BROOKLYN — The U.S. Army won't rename two Brooklyn streets that are named after Confederate generals

Congresswoman Yvette Clarke and three other Brooklyn representatives had asked in June that General Lee Avenue and Stonewall Jackson Drive, both located on the Fort Hamilton military base in southern Brooklyn, be renamed, calling them "a grievous insult to the thousands of people in Brooklyn who are descendants of the slaves held in bondage."

General Robert E. Lee commanded the Confederate forces during the Civil War, and Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was another one of the breakaway nation's top generals.

"The usage of General Lee Avenue and Stonewall Jackson Drive effectively honors two individuals who fought to deny our humanity," Clarke wrote. "The names are a continuing insult to many Brooklyn residents, including members of the armed forces stationed at Fort Hamilton. Other monuments to Confederate leaders — most recently a statue of Robert E. Lee in New Orleans — have been removed for this very reason."

The Army responded in July and said it would keep the names in place.

"Streets on our military installations are often named for a Soldier who holds a place of significance in our military history," the letter, from Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Diane M. Randon, said.

"The great generals of the Civil War, Union and Confederate, are an inextricable part of our military history. The men in question were honored on Fort Hamilton as individuals, not as representatives of any particular cause or ideology."

Randon said that renaming the streets after a century of use would be "controversial and divisive" and contrary to the "spirit of reconciliation" the Army had when naming the streets in the first place.

Clarke issued a blistering statement Monday in response, saying that "reconciliation" was "actually complicity by the North and the South to ignore the interests of African Americans and enforce white supremacy, effectively denying the result of the Civil War for generations."

She added: "These monuments are deeply offensive to the hundreds of thousands of Brooklyn residents and members of the armed forces stationed at Fort Hamilton whose ancestors Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson fought to hold in slavery."

Her full statement, along with her original letter and the Army's response, is below:

I am disappointed that the Department of the Army will not even consider renaming these streets honoring Confederate generals who waged war against the United States. The department claims that the streets were named ‘in the spirit of reconciliation.’ But that ‘reconciliation’ was actually complicity by the North and the South to ignore the interests of African Americans and enforce white supremacy, effectively denying the result of the Civil War for generations. We are still living with the failure of this nation to fully accept that result, as well as the post-Civil War amendments that were ratified to establish the freedom of women and men who had been held in bondage. The department describes any possible renaming of these streets as potentially ‘controversial.’ Nonsense. These monuments are deeply offensive to the hundreds of thousands of Brooklyn residents and members of the armed forces stationed at Fort Hamilton whose ancestors Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson fought to hold in slavery. For too many years, the United States has refused to reckon with that history. I commend the City of New Orleans for initiating this important and often difficult work. I will continue to petition the Department of the Army to contribute to that effort.

Original letter:

The Army's response:

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