August 5, 2025
There are more than 2,000 Confederate symbols still standing in public spaces nationwide
A statue of a Confederate general that demonstrators toppled in Washington, D.C., in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd will be reinstalled. The bronze statue depicting Gen. Albert Pike is currently undergoing restoration, the National Park Service announced on Monday.
“The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and reinstate pre-existing statues,” the agency announced in a statement.
According to NBC News, demonstrators used ropes to tear the statue down outside the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters before dousing it in lighter fluid and setting it ablaze.
The statue has been in secure storage since its removal and is currently undergoing restoration by the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center.
“Site preparation to repair the statue’s damaged masonry plinth will begin shortly, with crews repairing broken stone, mortar joints, and mounting elements,” the statement continues.“ The NPS is targeting October 2025 for completing the reinstallment of the fully restored statue.”
Confederate General Albert Pike’s Ties To The Ku Klux Klan
Initially authorized by Congress in 1898 and dedicated in 1901, the NPS says the statue honors Pike’s leadership in Freemasonry, including his 32 years as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient Rite of Scottish Freemasonry.
According to the History and Social Justice Center at Tougaloo University, there is strong evidence of Pike’s membership in the Reconstruction-era Klan. While there is no definitive evidence, historical works, including Susan Lawrence Davis’s 1924 work, Authentic History, Ku Klux Klan, 1865-1877, Pike is in the front of a photo, which historians say shows his importance to the group.
However, even without direct membership, Pike’s views on race were aligned with the Klan’s white supremacist ideology. He opposed the mixing of races and the integration of Masonic lodges. He also joined others in advocating for the expulsion of free Blacks from Arkansas before the Civil War, according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
Nationwide, there are more than 2,000 Confederate symbols still standing in public spaces, according to a report released by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
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