Donald Trump has refused to rename US military bases named after Confederate leaders who fought for the pro-slavery South in the 1860s Civil War.
The president stood his ground even after it was announced NASCAR would ban the Confederate flag from its races as debate rages around the world about monuments to historical figures with controversial pasts.
With Americans more conscious about race issues in the wake of the death of African American George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody, Trump drew a line in favour of keeping the names of 10 military bases from Virginia to Texas that are named for Confederate military leaders.
Trump’s announcement via tweet basically slapped down those Pentagon officials open to discussing the issue, which has emerged as a way of achieving racial reconciliation, Reuters reports.
US military bases named after Confederate military leaders are all located in former Confederate states. Many of those states helped elect Trump in 2016, and he is counting on them again for the election in November.
In the past few days, officials have said that the Pentagon, including defence secretary Mark Esper and army secretary Ryan McCarthy, was open to having a bipartisan conversation about renaming the army bases named for Confederate leaders.
In a series of tweets, Trump argued the bases have become part of a “Great American Heritage”.
The issue of the enslavement of African Americans tore the United States apart when Southern states broke away to form the Confederate States of America to protect slavery. Northern states defeated the South in the Civil War to restore the Union.
But slavery’s legacy continues to haunt race relations in America. In recent history, controversies over symbols of the Confederacy, such as statues of its leaders and its battle flag, have erupted.
Those arguing for their removal say they symbolise racism and oppression, while those opposing such action call them signifiers of Southern heritage and pride.
NASCAR, whose races frequently feature fans waving the Confederate battle flag, said on Wednesday it would ban the “stars and bars” flag from its events.
In an article published Tuesday in The Atlantic, retired General and former CIA chief David Petraeus called for renaming the bases, pointing out that the men they are named for “committed treason, however much they may have agonised over it” by fighting for the Confederacy.
At a news briefing Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany noted that the HBO Max streaming service had withdrawn the Civil War movie “Gone with the Wind” and asked “Where do you draw the line?”
“Should George Washington and Thomas Jefferson be erased from history?” she said of the first and third American presidents, both of whom owned slaves.
She said renaming the bases was “an absolute non-starter for the president.”