OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Currently 10 United States military installations, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, are named after Confederate generals.
Republican Congressman Don Bacon is aiming to rename them.
“It was for an evil cause, of slavery. And I don’t think that America wants these folks to be honored at these bases. We should find folks that everybody can agree that served our nation honorably," says Bacon.
Bacon's legislation would form a bi-partisan commission that would make recommendations on renaming these installations, which were originally named to appease southern interests.
“There are folks that everyone can agree to, like General Marshall. General Eisenhower,” says Bacon.
But Bacon is getting push back from his own party, and the President. President Trump recently tweeted that his administration won’t consider renaming them.
Kayleigh McEnany says it’s an insult to the troops who last saw those bases before they were sent overseas.
She also asked where do you draw the line?
“Should George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison be erased from history? What about FDR and his internment camps?” says McEnany.
Bacon draws the line at those revolting against the country.
“Those people (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson) did not violate the constitution, they didn’t lead a war against us,” says Bacon.
He also says he thinks his party will come around.
“The majority of the Republicans support this, and I think the President will come around," says Bacon.
Bacon says now is the chance to fix the mistakes of last century, to no longer make minority troops enter a base named after men that defended slavery.
“Those guys stood on the wrong side. We’re not going to honor them, right? They are not going to be erased from history, we’re acknowledging the bad history that they represent,” says Bacon.
There is a similar bill being proposed in the Senate by Sen. Elizabeth Warren. If both pass, the bills will be combined before they arrive on President Trump’s desk.
Congressman Jeff Fortenberry said in a statement, “I am in the process of evaluating a variety of proposals that deal with violence by police and past injustices.”
