Historian Anton Chaitkin Denounces National Park Plan To Reinstate Statue of Klan Founder
Aug. 9—In response to news that the National Park Service plans to “restore and reinstall” the statue of Ku Klux Klan founder and “Chief Judicial Officer” Albert Pike to its former location in Washington, D.C.’s Judiciary Square, historian Anton Chaitkin, who was one of the leaders of the movement to have it removed, wrote a statement Aug. 5 on Pike and the anti-Americanism behind the statue. In April 1993 Chaitkin was arrested, along with the late Civil Rights leader and associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rev. James Bevel, at one of the weekly Friday rallies held by the LaRouche movement demanding the statue’s removal.
Chaitkin's statement reads as follows:
“The Albert Pike statue was dedicated October 23, 1901, a month after the assassination of President McKinley and the sudden rise to the presidency of McKinley’s enemy, Theodore Roosevelt.
“By putting a statue of the founder of the Ku Klux Klan and the leader of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in the nation’s capital, the Anglo-American fascist element announced their intention to destroy the American Revolution and enlist the power of the United States in the service of war and fascism.
“This was a great turning point in our history, to change sides in the world struggle, to abandon the anti-imperialist leadership, bowing to the enemy and joining the enemy.
“So, now they intend to restore the statue on that October anniversary of dishonor and humiliation for our country.
“Perhaps educational rallies could be started once again on the site. The message is simple, that we should go back to the American side and renounce and shut down support for Israeli genocide, war against China, war against Russia, and all the other sanctions and wars that the empire has dictated that America should sponsor. Republicans, whose ranks are now breaking, should be invited to participate. Democrats, whose progressives are in some sense speaking the same language as Tucker Carlson and Taylor Greene, should be invited to participate. It’s a time for reconciliation, of Americans to do the right thing. Let this not be a partisan affair. We need to rebuild CIVILIZATION.
“If something like that could get going at the statue site, I think it would be quite popular.
“How about instead of Pike, we get a statue of John Kennedy, giving his [American University] peace speech?”
(The ancient, LaRouche-hating D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton claims she will prevent this from happening. Best to not leave this fight up to her.)