{"id":51012,"date":"2020-06-08T22:14:38","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T22:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/06\/08\/army-secretary-is-now-open-renaming-posts-named-for-confederate-generals\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:48:39","slug":"army-secretary-is-now-open-renaming-posts-named-for-confederate-generals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2020\/06\/08\/army-secretary-is-now-open-renaming-posts-named-for-confederate-generals\/","title":{"rendered":"SECDEF and Army secretary open to renaming posts named for Confederate generals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy<\/a> and Defense Secretary Mark Esper are open to the possibility of renaming the service\u2019s installations currently named after Confederate leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe secretary of defense and secretary of the Army are open to a bi-partisan discussion on the topic,\u201d said Army spokesperson Col. Sunset R. Belinsky in a statement Monday afternoon, which was first reported<\/a> by Politico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two leaders\u2019 openness to renaming installations comes after a week of protests across the United States, including in the nation\u2019s capital, following the death of George Floyd, a black man who prosecutors say was murdered by a white Minneapolis police officer who had his knee on Floyd\u2019s throat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army National Guard<\/a> personnel were brought into the Washington, D.C., area, and elsewhere in the country, in response to those protests. Active duty forces<\/a> from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Fort Drum, New York, were also briefly flown into the National Capital Region, though they were never used in D.C. and were ordered home late last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue of racial injustice was front and center during the tense first week of June, and as Confederate monuments were spotlighted by activists as symbols that should be removed, the Army\u2019s own history of naming installations after Confederate leaders gradually came under scrutiny once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army officials previously told Army Times in February that there were \u201cno plans to rename any street or installation, including those named for Confederate generals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those officials said in a statement that the naming of those sites was \u201cdone in a spirit of reconciliation, not to demonstrate support for any particular cause or ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t