Well, who would have ever thought the U.S. Congress would take on the task of trying to rewrite history, or maybe I should say erase history. Yes, it's distressing to most Americans, but that doesn't seem to matter to the woke minority. Crazy as it may seem, we are living in a nation of gross "hypocrisy." Yes, our proud and mighty Fort Bragg, along with many other military installations that bear the names of Confederate heroes, has been mandated by Congress to be renamed. Look it up. The National Defense Authorization Act.

Now they are authorizing and organizing virtual town meetings, asking the general public to comment, and making them feel that they are actually participating in the process of renaming the traditional and proud home of the 82nd Airborne Division and the U.S. Army's Special Operations Command. Again, the hypocrisy of this arrogant woke style of national thinking is frustrating and distressing to most Americans. That is if they are thinking at all.

How do you declare a word like Confederacy taboo, socially unacceptable and obscene, not unlike the N-word or the C-word? Then we have to ask ourselves: Where does this end? Indeed, not just with military bases. There are literally thousands of institutions, schools, roads, businesses and organizations named after some aspect of the Confederacy. Here in our community of Fayetteville, Murchison Road was named in honor of a local wealthy plantation owner, Duncan Murchison. He not only owned slaves but had three sons that served in the Civil War. It gets better: Two of the Murchison boys, John R. and Kenneth, were commissioned officers in the Confederate Army. So, what we have here is a "twofer." The Murchison's were both slave owners and Confederate soldiers. So, as the NDAA mandate dictates, will they embrace Fayetteville's historical past or strip our community of the Murchison name that has meant so much to so many in our community and rename Murchison Road? I think not. And, I hope not.

This newspaper is on the record advocating with Grilley Mitchell. Mitchell is a U.S. Army veteran, VFW member, program coordinator for ALMS House in Hope Mills, and candidate for the Hope Mills Board of Commissioners. Mitchell is a voice of reason representing the Cumberland County Veterans Council. They put forth their common sense recommendation: The installation should be renamed after Edward Bragg, Braxton Bragg's cousin, a Union officer in the Civil War. He put forth this recommendation on behalf of the CCVC, stating, "That's the decision that we also believe that belongs to the men and women that have served this nation, as well as their family members because they paid the price to have that choice to make that decision."

There are numerous common sense reasons that Fort Bragg (and Murchison Road) should remain Fort Bragg. Trying to change history is futile. And, trying to change history selectively is divisive and destructive to our nation. Again, when and where does the canceled culture and hypocrisy end? When will America again start focusing on the real issues facing our country? It's idiocy to concentrate on changing streets signs when Americans are abandoned and being slain in Afghanistan. Why mandate vaccines and threaten American citizens with fines and punishment when 40 thousand illegal and unvaccinated immigrants cross into the U.S. every week? Hypocrisy and setting priorities — two of America's biggest challenges.

Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly.

Pictured above: Many are calling for Fort Bragg to be renamed Fort Bragg in honor of Union General Edward S. Bragg. (Photo courtesy Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)