Stupendous vision, energy, competence, and couragedistinguished Christopher Columbus from others of his generation. https://www.britannica.com/story/pro-and-con-historic-statue-removal-in-the-united-states, According to theSouthern Poverty Law Center. In response to a question posed by The Daily Mail, the Queen Mothers statue in Trafalgar Square should be chosen. Taney's bust was replaced with one of Thurgood Marshall. MANISHA SINHA: It always astonished me as a Civil War historian to see statues commemorating Confederate generals and politicians who had literally committed treason against this country in order to uphold human bondage. Other statues of historic figures, such as slave-owning presidents or imperialists like Christopher Columbus, promote similar oppressive and revisionist messages. The Lee statue had been designated a historic monument, so people thought that would protect it from removal, but the governor of Virginia said, no, were taking it down. [37], Lawrence A. Kuznar, PhD, Professor of Anthropology at Indiana UniversityPurdue University Fort Wayne, states, removing Confederate statues amounts to whitewashing our history, turning our heads away from the inconvenient truths of our past. Top photo: The base of the Robert E. Lee monument in Richmond, Virginia, after his statue was removed from atop it. What do you think? The plaques can not only detail the history of slavery and the Civil War, but also the white segregationist history that promoted the building of such statues to promote the revisionist Lost Cause history. procon@eb.com, 2023 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. With most American figures, certainly most presidents, you will find many reasons to actually criticize them and criticize their record, even our heroes. Interview was edited for clarity and space. For proof, just look at the 1911 dedication of a Jefferson Davis statue in New Orleans. Becky Little, How the Cult of Robert E. Lee Was Born, history.com, Aug. 14, 2017, 18. Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, Martin Luther King Jr., Women, and the Possibility of Growth, chicagoreporter.com, Jan. 18, 2019, 48. A monument to Cecil Rhodes is located in South Africa, and another stands in Britain. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Monuments of Hope, Memorials to a Poisoned Past, britannica.com, May 25, 2018, 23. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? [4], As Karen Cox, PhD, Historian of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, concludes, The state is giving the stamp of approval to these Lost Cause ideas, and the money is a symbol of that approval. They can be offensive and hurtful to certain groups of people. Most monuments I'm aware of attest to conquered people and lands, including my people., The Robert E. Lee monument, erected several decades after the Civil War to commemorate the Confederate general, was recently removed following more than a year of protests for racial justice. Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals. The interpretations have been contradictory, and the results are presented in the form of commentaries. FHA loans have more relaxed credit score requirements than traditional mortgages. Donald Trump, Twitter.com, June 30, 2020, 35. The consensus renders the commemoration process more meaningful and less political than it otherwise would be. Despite its relatively small price tag, it is still worth considering, especially when compared to the total cost of the Civil War and its aftermath. Since this fundamentally conflicts with American values and ideas, they should be removed. Some people argue that these statues are a reminder of the countrys history and should be left in place, while others believe that they are a symbol of oppression and should be removed. These statues not only glorify anti-abolitionists but they remind people of the strong racism of the time. The Confederate Monument to Robert E. Lee Is Removed from Its Perch, Creative Commons, May 19, 2017, While the debate whether Confederate statues should be taken down has been gaining momentum for years, the issue gained widespread attention after the June 17, 2015, mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Then youre asking museums to do a lot of work they dont want to do and maybe shouldnt be doing. GREENE: You said something interesting. I understand the importance of remembering those who died fighting for both sides of the war. Anti-racist protesters want to remove statues that were erected at the peak of Jim Crow segregation in the United States and at the peak of colonial expansion. Confederate monuments can find an appropriate home in museums and cemeteries. [45] [46] Martin Luther King, Jr. regularly cheated on his wife. [29] [30], Walmart donated $100,000 to help Arkansas replace statues of Confederate sympathizers Governor James P. Clarke and attorney Uriah Rose in the US Capitol, with statues of Johnny Cash and civil rights pioneer Daisy Bates. Gino Spocchia, Christopher Columbus Statue Torn Down, Set on Fire and Tossed in Lake by Anti-Racism Protesters in Virginia, independent.co.uk, June 10, 2020, 9. Squares with statues of ostensibly virtuous civil leaders at the center often came out of the City Beautiful movement. I think what you see with the Lee monument and this new time capsule is a good example of how we can handle that. The Confederate symbols and associated values that Americans hold in high regard are paid for by them. Lee was distinguished from his contemporaries by an exemplary career, both in the U.S. and Confederate armies, of competence and honor. Phil Davis, George Washington Monument in Druid Hill Park Spray-Painted with Destroy Racists, Anti-Police Sentiment, baltimoresun.com, June 21, 2020, 11. For one thing, it can be a close question whether a persons extraordinary feats made the world a better place: Franklin D. Roosevelt is widely commemorated, even though scholarsstill argueover whether his leadership during the Great Depression actually improved American life. What did the Civil War mean for both the Union and the Confederacy? The reason for that was a movement called City Beautiful. Was there no other way to handle that situation? THE HILL 1625 K STREET, NW SUITE 900 WASHINGTON DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 TEL | 202-628-8503 FAX. All rights reserved. While the debate whetherConfederatestatues should be taken down has been gaining momentum for years, the issue gained widespread attention after the June 17, 2015, mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Here in Washington, D.C., last night, protesters in Lafayette Square right by the White House tried to take down a statue of President Andrew Jackson. In the event that these statues are removed, the country would lose a valuable educational tool about the effects of the Civil War. Share This: Over 100 busts, statues, columns, and other memorials to the Confederacy and Confederate general and politicians have been removed around the country. Where do we draw a line? When activists deface statues, ultimately what theyre doing is forcing the citys hand so that they either have to put money into restoration, which doubles down on whatever message that monument is sending, or they can just remove it. The United States was far from perfect, but the values of the Confederacy, open and unrepentant white supremacy and total disregard for the humanity of black people, to the extent they still exist, have produced tragedy and discord. The monuments go up because, without Washington, there likely would not have been an American nation. In several cities, these tributes have been vandalized or torn down by protestors or removed by public officials. They can be kept in museums with proper historical context rather than on a plinth to be admired. Many people believe that these statues and monuments are inciting white supremacy and promoting violence. Some were unlawfully torn. [4], Monuments are ultimately about which values we want to honor and put on public display. The campaign to remove controversial monuments and memorials has attracted a lot of criticism - charges that we are "erasing" history or imposing our own values and perspectives on people . On the other side, opponents of the statues argue that they celebrate white supremacy. In illuminating how vulnerable Americans have long been to ugly racial appeals, and how willfully blind we have been to racial injustice, those statues could remind us of the catastrophic consequences of not putting bigotry aside. [51], Some jurisdictions have chosen to put explanatory plaques beside Confederate monuments to teach a more complete history. Like, FDR, after all, was responsible for the internment of Japanese American citizens. In recent years, there has been a growing debate over whether or not political statues should be in public spaces. The Recycling Economic Information (REI) Report found that, in a single year, recycling and reuse activities in the United States accounted for 757,000 jobs, $36.6 billion in wages and $6.7 billion in tax revenues. [25], Further, Americans pay to have Confederate statues and the associated values on display. Taneys bust was replaced with one of Thurgood Marshall. Common faults are, by definition, common. The media should publish their anniversaries and conduct tests based on their significance. Also removed from the monuments base was a 133-year-old copper time capsule containing artifacts and ephemera related to the Confederacy. 13.8K Followers. Its a different use of the space, one that recognizes the damage done by colonialism and that values self-representation of people of color and Indigenous people that have previously been excluded from such spaces. A: Thats such a complex issue. They are usually constructed to commemorate momentous events or important figures in history. A common type of monuments in this situation are the Confederacy monuments. The rally protested the proposed removal of statues of Confederate Army Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. New Orleans a city of many nations America's largest slave market Research reveals the long-term impact following the destruction of the Greenwood District, Harvard experts talk about how to turn the moments energy into lasting change, Harvard faculty recommend the writers and subjects that promote context and understanding, Ash Center panel puts defining moment of Floyd killing into context of fight for social justice, Biomolecular archaeology reveals a fuller picture of the nomadic Xiongnu. During the 1970s, a reformulated version of the Tariff Act of 1930 was enacted, which allowed the venezolano to dispensa a Cristbal Col*n. This reaccin is made up of two components: the poblacin fluctu and the condena a la indiferencia. By removing them, we can censor, whitewash, and potentially forget about the history. Kehinde Wiley, Instagram.com, June 4, 2020, 34. OK, actually, that makes it easier. These loans are designed to help low and moderate-income borrowers obtain affordable financing. But I think a better idea there would have been to actually remove the statues of the African American man and the Native American man and maybe let Teddy Roosevelt be there to commend him for his support of conservation and his support for the Natural History Museum. Keep reading for all the pros and cons of removing Confederate statues. Despite being recognized around the world as a hero, Columbus statues have long been criticized as a result of his colonization and genocide of Indigenous cultures. GREENE: But what about historical figures with complicated, often racist histories who were also Union generals or former presidents? Eight US presidents owned slaves while in office, with an additional four owning slaves while not in office. Some jurisdictions have placed explanatory plaques beside Confederate monuments to teach a more complete history of the Confederacy. I have a complex relationship with monuments, said Diaz, now a world-renowned poet. GAZETTE: Many believe that taking the statues down is an attempt to cover up or erase history. SINHA: Exactly. Robert E. Lees statue, for example, is regarded as particularly offensive due to his role in defending slavery and the Confederacy. They were on the wrong side of history. Q: Are there any monuments that, even though they send a message most agree is now outdated or harmful, should still be kept as a kind of reminder of what not to do, or what we have overcome? Natalie Huet, Sir Geoff Palmer, Dont Take down Statues - Take down Racism, euronews.com, June 11, 2020, 54. The ornaments do not represent the history of the world; rather, they represent what the past chose to celebrate and commemorate. George Gerbner, PhD, and Larry Gross coined the term symbolic annihilation in 1976 to describe the lack of representation of a group of people. This was before he became president or even commanded the Union Army. Caleb Parke, From George Washington to Ulysses S. Grant: Statues, Monuments Vandalized Extend beyond Confederates amid Black Lives Matter Protests, foxnews.com, June 22, 2020, 13. In later years, Lee alsodistinguished himself as an educator: As president of the institution that is nowWashington and Lee University, he was largely responsible for fashioning the modern college honor code. The bus will arrive in Che Guevaras honor. Take away anything that smacks of the sort of imperialist legacy which clearly that statue embodies. CBS News, Protesters in England Topple Statue of Slave Trader Edward Colston into Harbor, cbsnews.com, June 7, 2020, 8. Must we allow symbols of racism on public land? Ive been studying the impact of Black Lives Matter on statues and memorials around the world for the past few months. The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill, by Rob Natelson, opinion contributor - 09/20/17 7:40 AM ET, First Republic fallout: Democrats fume as regulators bail out yet another failed bank, Yellen says drop-dead date for debt ceiling is June 1, Hunter Biden appears in court for paternity case, Big birds are having fewer chicks as climate changes, AI chatbot outperforms human doctors in responding to patient questions, Bidens plan to address migrant surge may make it worse, Who will replace Tucker Carlson at Fox News? Even after the statues were erected, there was never a common ground between them. Greta Anderson, When Free Speech and Racist Speech Collide, insidehighered.com, June 23, 2020, 36. The principal legacy of Confederate statues is white supremacy and slavery. A: My first book (A City of Marble) was about the Roman emperor Augustus and how he used the built environment to shape civic identity at a time of great change for Rome. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives. Slavery is represented in statues by people who distort history and commemorate individuals who perpetuated it. Workers in Richmond, Va., removed a statue of. Activists are campaigning for a statue of Cecil Rhodes to be removed from an Oxford college. It is not acceptable to state that statues represent history if they do not represent the roles and responsibilities they serve. John Daniel Davidson, Political Editor at The Federalist, explained, That they were wrong about slavery does not excuse us today from the burden of trying to understand what motivated them to fightand what motivated them and their families to undertake a flurry of monument-building decades later as the surviving veterans began to die off A more mature society would recognize that the past is always with you and must always be kept in mind. During the globalBlack Lives Matterprotests in the summer of 2020, calls to take down the statues were met with citizens not only actively damaging or removing statues of Confederate figures, but targeting statues of slave-holdingFounding Fathers in general, as well as historic monuments to Abraham Lincoln and abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass. Statues could be built to honor George Washington Carver, Madame CJ Walker, Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Owens, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ruby Bridges, Mae Jemison, Charles Richard Drew, Mary Jackson, and countless others. The state's governor introduced legislation in April 2020 to allow cities to remove statues, paving the way for a US$10 million (7.2 million) plan to transform Richmond Virginia's famous . 5. Confederate monuments, in our society, are an artifact from an era gone wrong. ASU News sat down with Lamp, whose current scholarship focuses on the classical influence on U.S. public art, memorials and monuments, and how those sites guide understandings of citizenship and civic participation, to learn more about the issues at play in this ongoing dialogue. Heres a List., nytimes.com, Aug. 28, 2017, 6. As Rod Dreherargues in The American Conservative,Americans should not make the same mistakes as France. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. Are you. Because civil rights groups have grown in prominence, the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) dedicated a monument to Shepherd, a so-called faithful slave. When it was founded, there was a lot of discussion about how it was important to have representations of leaders of civic virtue in the space where our current leaders are, so they have an example to strive for. Michelangelos David is not only a statue of a man, but also a statue of God. The architect Daniel Burnham was a leader in the movement; he went on to do the McMillan Plan for the National Mall in D.C. Their actions also took a violent turn, as when revolutionaries murdered bishops and priests who refused to sign a loyalty oath. A global anti-gender movement is coming for our democracy. PRO AND CON: Should Confederate monuments be removed? How? The Removal of All Confederate Statues, Flags, Symbols in America; The topic should be a controversial social issue. The statues do not cause racism and could be used to fight racism if put into historical context. They want to demolish our heritage so they can impose a new oppressive regime in its place. [9] Trump argued the plight to save the statues is a battle to save the Heritage, History, and Greatness of our Country! [34], Citizens of the United States have the right to hold controversial opinions and build statues to honor their beliefs. There are lots of terrible. The SPLC reported at least 160 monuments were removed in 2020 after George Floyds death, more than the prior four years combined At last count, about 704 Confederate monuments remained on public land. On the other hand, others argue that they are offensive and should be removed. GORDON-REED: Ha! [32] [33], Of the calls to take down Confederate monuments, President Donald Trump stated, This cruel campaign of censorship and exclusion violates everything we hold dear as Americans. No one puts a monument up to Washington or Jefferson to promote slavery. Many of the men with whom George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Ulysses S. Grant were associated at the time were slaves. Copyright 2020 NPR. And there was a real concern about assimilating these immigrants into you can call it Americanization, but what it really was was an assimilation into white, Protestant culture. The movement against him is part of a wider drive to get rid of monuments to figures who are now.
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