A Confederate monument was toppled in Seattle. Why was it even there?
In 1926, a confederate monument sponsored by the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy was put up at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle.
At the dedication ceremony for the United Confederate Veterans Memorial at the Capitol Hill cemetery, M.G. Tennant, the mayor-elect of Tacoma at the time, struck a hopeful tone in his keynote address, saying: "We know now that never again will there be a division in the United States."
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer from May 24, 1926, said the mayor-elect "declared that the great understanding that has come out of the struggle justifies its terrible cost."
Last weekend, after weeks of protests in Seattle where tens of thousands of people marched in the streets to stand up against police brutality and systemic racism, the 10-ton monument that's stood for nearly 100 years was toppled. It was not immediately known who was responsible.
It came as part of a push that has been ongoing for years across the country to take down Confederate monuments, as people argue they represent a symbol of hate and seek to memorialize slavery and white supremacy. In 2018, a project called "Make it Right" launched, committed to "righting social justice wrongs" and "taking down Confederate monuments and addressing American historical truths." It pointed to the Seattle monument as a target for removal.
"The inaugural project is focused on the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials, which are tangible eulogies to heroes of a treasonous anti-American campaign and a reflection of U.S. investment in white power and supremacy," Kali Holloway, senior project director for the Make It Right project wrote at the time.
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