Name: Oklahomans rethink Confederate monuments around state
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Oklahomans rethink Confederate monuments around state

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Ellie Melero Two Confederate monuments commemorating the Cherokee Nation’s role in the Civil War were removed from the Cherokee Nation’s Capitol Square in Tahlequah on Saturday, almost 100 years after they were installed.The monuments, a fountain memorializing Confederate soldiers and Gen. Stand Watie and a granite monument honoring Watie, were removed under the supervision of Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.“I think for many people, the Confederacy is a reminder of the painful period of slavery, of the ripping apart of our nation,” Hoskin said in a news release. “That kind of pain shouldn’t be associated with our historic Capitol grounds.”Hoskin said the removal of the monuments, which were installed when the Capitol Square was property of the U.S. government and didn’t belong to the Cherokee, is part of the Cherokee Nation taking back its ability to tell its own story.Symbols of the Confederacy across the country are being removed after the Black Lives Matter movement brought attention once again to the issues of institutional racism in the United States. On Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called for the removal of 10 Confederate statues from Congress, and cities in several states have removed Confederate monuments from government property.Even names honoring Confederate figures are being changed as a Senate Armed Services Committee approved an amendment to remove the names of Confederate generals from military bases, buildings, planes and ships. Additionally, NASCAR announced a ban on the Confederate flag on June 8.The push to remove Confederate symbols, which many people see as symbols of slavery, from states has been around for years, but recent efforts have gained more traction and attention.In 2015, South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its statehouse grounds after a white supremacist killed nine people at a Charleston church service. In 2017, violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, brought attention to the issue again. After this national outcry, the Confederate monuments in Oklahoma received local scrutiny.“We certainly need to tell the history of the Civil War,” Hoskin said. “We need to talk about pivotal figures and times in the Cherokee Nation, like Stand Watie and what happened in the Civil War and removal.“But we need to do it in a way that’s appropriate. There’s some painful references on these monuments, and we live in a time that we need to be mindful of the unity that we ought to have here at the Capitol Square.”The Cherokee Nation was split during the Civil War, and some Cherokee, including Watie, fought on the side of the Confederacy. Watie was the only Native American general on either side during the conflict. In 1913, the United Daughters of the Confederacy commissioned the fountain to honor the fallen soldiers, and in 1921, the same group commissioned the monument to Watie.The United Daughters of the Confederacy were responsible for erecting statues and monuments to the Confederacy throughout the South, including a statue of a Confederate soldier that sits outside that Bryan County Courthouse in Durant.Although the Bryan County Confederate soldier still stands, other Confederate symbols across Oklahoma have been removed in recent years.Since 2017, several public schools in Oklahoma have changed their names to remove Confederate generals. In Oklahoma City, Jackson Elementary, named for Stonewall Jackson, became Ross Elementary; Stand Watie Elementary became Esperanza Elementary; and Lee Elementary became Adelaide Lee Elementary. In Tulsa, Lee School, which was named for Gen. Robert E. Lee, became Council Oak Elementary School.The removal of Confederate symbols from schools and government buildings has received support from citizens and local politicians, but not everyone is on board with these changes.Ty Wilson, the president of the Cherokees for Black Indian History Preservation, said that while he understands Hoskin’s reasoning for removing the monuments from the Cherokee Capitol Square, he thinks the money could have been put to better use. He also thinks the Cherokees need to tread carefully going forward to be mindful not to erase their own history.“I’m a Black Cherokee, and my family got here by walking the Trail of Tears like the rest of the Cherokee,” Wilson said. “(Black Cherokee) history got erased ... I just think it’s a dangerous slope to start getting rid of history because then, you know, people pick and choose what’s able to be erased and what’s not.”Hoskin said he plans to commission Cherokee artists to build a monument to the Trail of Tears in place of the Confederate monuments.

Ellie Melero Two Confederate monuments commemorating the Cherokee Nation’s role in the Civil War were removed from the Cherokee Nation’s Capitol Square in Tahlequah on Saturday, almost 100 years after they were installed.The monuments, a fountain memorializing Confederate soldiers and Gen. Stand Watie and a granite monument honoring Watie, were removed under the supervision of Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.“I think for many people, the Confederacy is a reminder of the painful period of slavery, of the ripping apart of our nation,” Hoskin said in a news release. “That kind of pain...

Oklahomans rethink Confederate monuments around state

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