Virginian Civil War general worthy of commemorating

+ regulating AI US Edition - Today's top story: US Army Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas' journey from enslaver to Union officer to civil rights defender [View in browser]( US Edition | 3 June 2023 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( You probably know there is a movement afoot to remove Confederate flags, monuments and other symbols of white supremacy from local, state and federal government spaces. That movement picked up steam in 2020 after George Floyd was murdered by police officer Derek Chauvin. Floyd’s death shined a spotlight on racial injustice in the U.S. That Americans would decide to remove prominent symbols of white supremacy at a time of racial reckoning is not surprising. What is surprising is that the government chose for so long to celebrate the defeated Confederacy with monuments, flags, statues and more. A federal commission tasked with renaming all U.S. Army bases bearing the names of Confederate generals is getting to work. On Friday, Fort Bragg became Fort Liberty, for example. As sociologist Christopher Justin Einolf writes, one name worthy of consideration is Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas. I hadn’t heard of Thomas before receiving Einolf’s pitch. But [Thomas’ story is fascinating](. Raised in Virginia, he went from being a racist enslaver before the Civil War to a Union Army officer during the war – and ultimately a staunch defender of African American civil rights after the conflict ended. This week we also liked articles about [China’s currency](, [weight-loss drugs]( and [Latino hip-hop artists](. Lorna Grisby Senior Politics & Society Editor Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, who fought for the Union army during the Civil War, stands in uniform for a photo. Heritage Images/ Hulton Archive [US Army Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas’ journey from enslaver to Union officer to civil rights defender]( Christopher Justin Einolf, Northern Illinois University A Southerner, Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas was a racist enslaver before the Civil War. But he fought for the Union because he prioritized his oath to defend the Constitution over state interests. Puerto Rican singer Residente performs in Havana in 2010. His back reads, ‘We receive flowers and bullets in the very same heart.’ STR/AFP via Getty Images [Street scrolls: The beats, rhymes and spirituality of Latin hip-hop]( Alejandro Nava, University of Arizona Latino artists have been forging their own paths in hip-hop for decades, giving voice to young peoples’ pain, faith and demands for change. Despite the promise of drugs that can help people shed pounds, healthy lifestyle choices are still key to overall health. 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