Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said it was now time to rename military bases after “modern leaders,” and drop the names for Confederate generals.
Stephanopoulos asked, “We’re also seeing now, efforts to rename military bases across the country. The Senate Armed Services Committee voted on that this week.; We have seen leading voices like General David Petraeus saying it’s time to stop having military bases named after Confederate generals like Braxton Bragg. Is it time?”
Lankford said, “I do, actually. I think the right way to do this is to be able to have a study to look where the name came from, to take a serious look at it, and be able to transition. There are a lot of great military leaders around the country that are modern leaders, that we can honor and continue to put names forward.”
He added, “I see it like schools. Every school has a name. You want those children in that school to be able to learn about the person that school is named after. You would have that on a military base as well. So, if you have a military base that is named after someone that actually rebelled against the United States government, then you would want to be able to go back and look at that name. That should be a pretty basic principle.”
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