Geoff: For the first time in
history, U.S. Army bases will be
named after women and black
officers, instead of only white
men.
Today fort Lee, named for
general Robert E. Lee, became
fort gregg-adams, for two black
officers who made significant
contributions to the army.
It is one of nine renamed bases,
part of a congressional and
military effort, to change
confederate names and honor
American heroes.
Nick schifrin is back with that.
Nick: Until today the site was
named for the commanding officer
of the confederate army.
160 years after Lee surrendered,
fort Lee has surrendered to
trail blazers.
>> I hope this community will
look with pride at the name fort
Gregg Adams and instill pride in
every soldier.
Nick: 94-year-old lieutenant
general enlisted in the army in
1946.
He wanted to be a lab tech but
went into logistics after facing
racial barriers.
He retired after 36 years as the
military's highest-ranking black
officer.
The once whites only officers
club is now named after him.
This is all part of an effort to
rename forts.
He'll renamed for Mary Edwards
walker, the only woman to
receive the medal of honor.
The naming commission was
chaired by the first black woman
to command a U.S. Navy ship.
I spoke to her yesterday.
Why overall is the renaming
important?
>> After the George Floyd
murders, many states started to
rethink our vision and memories
of the civil war.
At the federal level, congress
realized naming a building or
shift -- ship after someone
honors them and the people who
fought for the confederacy were
traders who waged war against
the United States.
So those names should be removed
or replaced with names of people
who remain faithful to the
United States.
Our military bases are important
symbols of the might and right
of the United States and the
names that are on the base signs
and ships should reflect the
values of our country and of its
people.
Nick: You report that as you did
your work you were criticized of
erasing history but you write
that history is who we were.
Commemoration is who we strive
to be.
>> Wen Yu name and at -- when
you name an asset after a
person, it is someone you look
up to them want to remember for
their example of leadership and
heroic acts.
History is the retelling of the
facts.
We are not looking at changing
schoolbooks.
We are looking to have names now
that when a soldier serves on a
base, they can look up and learn
about that person and be
inspired to be a better military
member.
Nick: You acknowledge many of
the bases named after
confederate leaders have more to
do with the culture under which
they were named than they do
with the historical acts of the
namesake.
>> After the civil war, there
was not a naming of
confederates.
There were no symbols.
They were considered traders --
trea turner -- traitors,
they were named after World War
II.
The idea was bases in the north
should be named after union
generals and in the south after
confederate generals to create
patriotism.
But they forget about all the
Americans who are
African-American or other
communities that naming after
confederate generals is not
inspiring.
It completely ignored their
perspectives.
Nick: For years the army fought
some of these efforts.
We went back to 2017.
I found a statement that
removing the names of stonewall
Jackson and Robert E. Lee would
be controversial and divisive.
The debate still goes on.
President trump vetoed the
national defense authorization
to impart objecting the
provision that requires changes
to the bases names after
confederate leaders and he said
these monumental bases have
become part of a great American
heritage, that history is the
greatest nation in the world and
that will not be tampered with.
Do you think today the debate is
ongoing?
>> You start with the Vito.
I start with the fact that the
veto was overturned in a very
strong bipartisan manner and
that the elected officials of
this country understood this was
something that needed to be
looked at.
Nick: And fixed and reckoned
with.
>> We have had reckonings over
the aftermath of the slavery and
civil war but I am not sure we
ever had reconciliation and in
some ways the work charted to
the commission to do starts us
down the path of reconciliation.
Nick: Regardless of changes, how
large of a challenge is
reference of the confederacy and
racism?
How large does it continue to
be?
>> The military is made up of
humans.
They are wonderful individuals
but I will be the first to say
we are not saints.
We carry our own biases with us.
Nick: Some have argued that the
reverence of the confederacy and
racism are institutional.
>> The country has changed over
the years.
It is remarkable we are having
this conversation on the 75th
anniversary of Truman's
integration act.
Our military reflects the change
in the law and reflects the
changes in the constitution.
Nick: On those changes need to
be ongoing.
>> I am not sure that our
founding fathers thought of the
constitution is a leaving --
living, breathing document that
would expand rights to all
Americans, but that is what is
happening so this democracy
continues to evolve but I think
the better it evolves, it just
continues to make our country
greater.
Nick: Thank you so much.
>> Thank you.