Model Train Journal

Amid push to remove Confederate monuments, little outrage over Robert Byrd’s namesakes in home state

Confederate monuments are being taken down or vandalized in cities across the country in the wake of George Floyd's death in police custody -- but so far the revived push to remove symbols of slavery and segregation has largely overlooked the late Democratic senator who was a former Ku Klux Klan member yet later rejected those views.

West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd's legacy is visible throughout his home state of West Virginia, with his name on numerous buildings and roads.

Byrd was a former member of the Klu Klux Klan who later regretted that affiliation, renounced his past views supporting segregation and described it as a mistake.

University Buildings & Institutes:

Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center—located at Marshall University in Huntington.

Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education—located at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown.

Robert C. Byrd Center for Pharmacy Education—located at the University of Charleston in Charleston.

Robert Ct. Byrd Center for Rural Health—located at Marshall University in Huntington.

Robert C. Byrd Clinical Teaching Center—located at CAMC Memorial Hospital in Charleston.

Robert C. Byrd Health and Wellness Center—located in Bethany.

Robert C. Byrd Health and Sciences Center—located at West Virginia University in Morgantown.

Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing—located at Marshall University in Huntington.

Robert C. Byrd National Aerospace Education Center—located in Bridgeport.

The Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center—located in Wheeling.

Public Schools:

Robert C. Byrd High School—located in Clarksburg.

Government Buildings:

Robert C. Byrd Rooms— located in West Virginia and in Washington D.C.

Robert C. Byrd U.S. Court House —located in Beckley and Charleston.

Robert C. Byrd Auditorium—located in Shepherdstown.

Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam—located along the Ohio River in West Virginia

Community Buildings:

Robert C. Byrd Clinic—located in Lewisburg.

Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope—located in Green Bank.

Robert C. Byrd Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health Center—located in Wheeling.

Robert C. Byrd Industrial Park—located in Old Fields.

Robert C. Byrd Conference Center—located in Elkins.

Major Highways & Bridges:

Robert C. Byrd Appalachian Highway System—located in West Virginia.

Robert C. Byrd Bridge—located in Huntington.

Robert C. Byrd Drive—located in Beckley.

Wait for it. They're busy working on the Civil War stuff and will have to work their way forward in time - Byrd was not that old.

Heard today folks in DC are considering renaming military bases.......named after Civil War generals

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:Wait for it. They're busy working on the Civil War stuff and will have to work their way forward in time - Byrd was not that old.

Heard today folks in DC are considering renaming military bases.......named after Civil War generals

renaming military bases is old news.....

Poor old Christopher Columbus got his head cut off in Boston.

What does all the art end up, after removal?

HONDO74 wrote:

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:Wait for it. They're busy working on the Civil War stuff and will have to work their way forward in time - Byrd was not that old.

Heard today folks in DC are considering renaming military bases.......named after Civil War generals

renaming military bases is old news.....

Yes, but in VA it's possible and now being debated in Congress.......by republicans!

Poor old Christopher Columbus got his head cut off in Boston.

Seems a little extreme. Wonder if any native americans were involved? Seems a very French thing to do...........

Waiting for the outrage to visit the various battlefields............

robert. wrote:What does all the art end up, after removal?

Some of it has been relocated to various memorial graveyards and some into warehouses

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:

robert. wrote:What does all the art end up, after removal?

Some of it has been relocated to various memorial graveyards and some into warehouses

Perhaps, some in museums, too, if the piece is not too large (?)
Societies cannot go back and "fix" history by destroying artifacts and monuments .
However, I must admit, I do not mind one bit that statues of Hitler and some of his huge swastika insignia have not remained in Germany. Has anything. ?

Societies cannot go back and "fix" history by destroying artifacts and monuments .

True.

Most of these monuments/memorials were erected long after the war, like 70 years after? The people that were alive at the end of the civil war did not want any "recognition". They had lost and they wanted to move on. Lee explicitly stated this. Placing memorials in cemeteries makes sense. In parks, in front of government buildings, schools, etc does not.

What part of "They Lost" wasn't clear?

Re, Sen Byrd, if he a) truly believes that his original position was wrong and b) he had acknowledged it publicly and c) made no attempt to cover his past actions then he should be viewed/judged on what he did last.

Re Columbus, he was a state sponsored pirate that didn't even come close to where he was allegedly trying to go.

MurphOnMillerAve wrote:Societies cannot go back and "fix" history by destroying artifacts and monuments

Yet they have tried to do just that for eons; eradicate the past and re-write history.

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:
Waiting for the outrage to visit the various battlefields............

On;y if they have a Walmart, Target or liquor store to loot.....

chuck wrote:Re, Sen Byrd, if he a) truly believes that his original position was wrong and b) he had acknowledged it publicly and c) made no attempt to cover his past actions then he should be viewed/judged on what he did last.

If he had been a republican he would never get away with that....

If he had been a republican he would never get away with that....

Get away with what? If he truly believed he had been wrong in the past and renounced his old ways then he should be judged on that. Even the Catholic Church subscribes to this.

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:

MurphOnMillerAve wrote:Societies cannot go back and "fix" history by destroying artifacts and monuments

Yet they have tried to do just that for eons; eradicate the past and re-write history.

That's where the whole "Lost Cause" schtick comes in, an effort to rewrite history and the reasons the war was fought from a Southern viewpoint. States rights was a smokescreen in the effort to preserve the land-owners and the agrarian economy of the South, almost totally dependent on slavery. As far as the statues go, take 'em down...those guys, at least the ones that graduated from West Point, were a bunch of traitors. The North was very magnanimous in their postwar treatment. But it shouldn't stop there...Sheridan and a number of Union generals have blood on there hands when it comes to the postwar slaughter of the red man...rip theirs down too.

HONDO74 wrote:

chuck wrote:Re, Sen Byrd, if he a) truly believes that his original position was wrong and b) he had acknowledged it publicly and c) made no attempt to cover his past actions then he should be viewed/judged on what he did last.

If he had been a republican he would never get away with that....

Hondo, check out what McConnell and his wife (Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation) are doing for Kentucky...might rival Byrd's legacy.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/475831-mcconnell-flexes-reelection-muscle-with-1b-gift-for-kentucky

HONDO74 wrote:

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:
Waiting for the outrage to visit the various battlefields............

On;y if they have a Walmart, Target or liquor store to loot.....

Yup. There it is.
Do you know that during one of their rampages - ah...er...excuse me, during one of their "demonstrations" - they robbed and burned a Shoprite that is owned by a hard-working African-American couple, which found themselves devastated. I have not heard one word of regret or apology. Will we ever? Hellno.