New York U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is calling on top officials to rename Confederate monuments, including at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. This comes after the Senate and House recently passed their respective versions of the National Defense Authorization Act. Both include provisions that Trump opposes to remove Confederate names at military bases.
Gillibrand, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee Personnel Subcommittee, recently sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy. She urges them to remove the portraits of confederate General Robert E. Lee in the cadet mess hall and library at West Point, as well as rename Lee Gate, Lee Barracks and Lee Road. She also requests that they rename the streets General Lee Avenue and Stonewall Jack Drive at Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn. In June, fellow Democrat Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney wrote to both secretaries requesting the removal of all Confederate symbols at West Point, which is in his 18th District.
