The National Park Service announced plans to restore and reinstall a statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike in Washington, D.C., five years after demonstrators toppled and set it on fire during
protests in 2020.
The bronze statue, which stood outside the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters, is undergoing restoration to remove corrosion and paint. The Park Service stated that this effort is in line with federal historic preservation laws and executive orders aimed at “beautifying the nation’s capital” by reinstating previously existing monuments.
Demonstrators used ropes to pull down the statue in June 2020, doused it with lighter fluid, and set it ablaze, an event broadcast live on television. The statue had been a target of controversy for decades, with local officials including the D.C. Council and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton calling for its removal as early as 1992.
Pike, a Confederate general and prominent Freemason leader, has long been a divisive figure. Critics, including Holmes Norton, have condemned the decision to reinstall the statue, citing allegations of Pike’s ties to the post-Civil War Ku Klux Klan—a claim disputed by Masonic organizations. Holmes Norton vowed to introduce legislation to permanently remove the statue, asserting that monuments honoring “a racist and a traitor” belong in museums, not public spaces.
Activist Jason Charter, who was arrested after the 2020 toppling but later had charges dropped, criticized the move as part of a broader effort to revive values that have historically divided the nation. “This is the federal government, specifically the executive branch, imposing its will on D.C. residents. That is not democracy,” Charter said.
The reinstatement follows a March executive order from former President Donald Trump, directing the Interior Department to assess statues removed since 2020 and mandate their return if deemed necessary to preserve historical integrity.
Restoration crews aim to reinstall the statue by October, with preliminary work on the damaged stone base to begin shortly. Photo by David from Washington, DC, Wikimedia commons.
