Other statues of historic figures, such as slave-owning presidents or imperialists like Christopher Columbus, promote similar oppressive and revisionist messages. These loans are available for those with a credit score of at least 500. A statue of Cecil Rhodes being removed from the University of Cape Town campus, South Africa, 2015. George Gerbner, PhD, and Larry Gross coined the term symbolic annihilation in 1976 to describe the lack of representation of a group of people. What do you think of that idea? [27] [28] Statues celebrating the diversity of the country could help remedy symbolic annihilation of black Americans, women, and other groups. They are both excellent candidates for the kind of contextualization you alluded to. The argument is that these statues glorify individuals who have harmed marginalized groups, and that they should be removed from public spaces. They can be seen as a form of art. I dont. GREENE: But is there an argument that removing these statues could help further the fight for racial equality in our country? When a king dies, his or her statue is also taken down, as are those of their ancestors. Advocates of removing statutes of controversial figures suggest that these monuments represent individuals whose actions and legacies should not be celebrated or memorialised. Since antiquity, statues in public places have been primarily used to represent power and authority. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Monuments of Hope, Memorials to a Poisoned Past, britannica.com, May 25, 2018, 23. A 2018 investigation published in the Smithsonian Magazine found that over the prior ten years at least $40 million in taxpayer dollars were allocated for Confederate statues, other monuments, and heritage organizations. The rally protested the proposed removal of statues of Confederate Army GeneralsRobert E. LeeandStonewall Jackson. Theres a reason Christians in Rome didnt topple all the pagan statues and buildings in the city, or raze the Colosseum. [36], Each Confederate monument is a reminder not only of the Civil War and the end of slavery, but the assertion of the federal governments dominance over states rights, as well as the persistence of systemic racism. Kehinde Wiley, Instagram.com, June 4, 2020, 34. Senior Editor at Arc Digital. GREENE: Oh, so actually edit the arrangement of the statues. I think the difference that George Floyd's murder has made and that's been a bit heartening for me is that ordinary American citizens have finally realized what these statues symbolize and how they have been a standing affront for African Americans and their quest for equal citizenship in this country because Black Americans have always been against it. They often depict political leaders, but more often military leaders. Neil Vigdor and Daniel Victor, "Over 160 Confederate Symbols Were Removed in 2020, Group Says," nytimes.com, Feb. 23, 2021, 56. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives. There are statues being targeted of people like Ulysses S. Grant, of people like President George Washington, who were not involved in the Confederacy. It depends on who the person is and what the objections are. Charisse L'Pree, Racial and Gender Exclusion from Media Affects Novel Group Identity; An Experimental Investigation of Symbolic Annihilation, sites.google.com/site/charisselpree2 (accessed July 8, 2020), 29. GREENE: Professor, thank you so much for your time. Dreamers and DACA supporters rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court. Following the white nationalist rally in Virginia on August 12, 2017, it was back in the news. 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. But thats incredibly problematic. On October 12, 2006, a bust of Almirante was smashed in Mrida, Mexico, in the aftermath of the Columbus statues being torn down. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. It was a great energy to be a part of removing that statue and seeding something new in its place; a little piece of respect and love for the land, which is what I consider the poem to be.. Several years have passed since the debate over the removal of Confederate statues began. As a result, when you reach the tierra, you will reach the arena. Confederate monuments were put up in response to Blacks getting more rights, as a kind of a backlash. Monticello, Jefferson's Attitudes toward Slavery, monticello.org (accessed July 7, 2020), 41. Robert Draper, Toppling Statues Is a First Step toward Ending Confederate Myths, nationalgeographic.com, July 2, 2020, 24. This was before he became president or even commanded the Union Army. Linda Lopata, If Susan B. Anthony Was Racist, susanb.org (accessed July 7, 2020), 47. However, they have also been the centre of much heated debates surrounding their significance. History protests Confederate Monuments and Other Disputed Memorials Have Come Down in Cities Across America. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. Annette Gordon-Reed, JD, Professor of American Legal History at Harvard University, explained, There is an important difference between helping to create the United States and trying to destroy it. We shouldn't shy from the fact that many of these men were slave owners, but we should also be able to judge each case individually. 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. 2. 5. Lawrence A. Kuznar, PhD, Professor of Anthropology at Indiana UniversityPurdue University Fort Wayne, stated that removing Confederate statues is a whitewashing of our history that destroys our ability to remember inconvenient truths from our past. Even more importantly, however, erasing monuments of once-revered figures upsets an unspoken but long-prevailing consensus governing our decisions of whom to commemorate. Sophia A. Nelson claims in her book that Washingtons Lee University didnt hate black students because it had statues of Robert E. Lee and George Washington. Parental selection of spouses is anathema today, but in Ciceros society, everybody did it.. To access extended pro and con arguments, sources, discussion questions, and ways to take action on the issue of whether historic statues should be taken down in the United States, go to ProCon.org. Are you. 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. Sarah Fling, The Formerly Enslaved Household of the Grant Family, whitehousehistory.org, Apr. Alexander Stephens, vice president of the Confederacy, was completely clear about its goal: The cornerstone [of the Confederate States of America] rests upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.. 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. If we disqualified all figures because we now reject their societys practices, we would commemorate few people indeed, and we would deprive ourselves of many sources of inspiration. A monument to Cecil Rhodes is located in South Africa, and another stands in Britain. She was supposed to be the civil rights movements most visible figure until she became pregnant. It is not acceptable to state that statues represent history if they do not represent the roles and responsibilities they serve. What is that extreme? The statues misrepresent history, and glorify people who perpetuated slavery, attempted secession from United States, and lost the Civil War. Theyre models of civic behavior that we should all strive to. I understand the importance of remembering those who died fighting for both sides of the war. Author of "Drones and Terrorism.". A 2018 report from the Southern Poverty Law Center found there are more than 1,700 monuments to the Confederacy still in public spaces. Ted Mann, Lincoln Statue With Kneeling Black Man Becomes Target of Protests, wsj.com, June 25, 2020, 14. Photo courtesy of Getty Images/iStockphoto, (480) 965-9657 Phil Davis, George Washington Monument in Druid Hill Park Spray-Painted with Destroy Racists, Anti-Police Sentiment, baltimoresun.com, June 21, 2020, 11. I dont think theres any value there. And that was simply not correct. Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews. The standard traditionally applied is as follows: When deciding whom to commemorate by statues, place names, monuments, holidays, currency, or coins we select individuals who performed. Annie Grayer and Clare Foran, "Statue Honoring Mary McLeod Bethune Unveiled in Statuary Hall in US Capitol,". Hannah Natanson, Theres a New Way to Deal with Confederate Monuments: Signs That Explain Their Racist History, washingtonpost.com, Sep. 22, 2019, 53. They are not an accurate representation of our countrys diverse population. A high-profile decision to tear down a famous bronze figure of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Va., was halted by a court challenge, which was extended indefinitely on Thursday. Also removed from the monument's base was a 133-year-old copper time capsule containing artifacts and ephemera related to the Confederacy. Chicago, Illinois 60654 USA, Natalie Leppard Jackson was a slave owner. Stephen E. Ambrose, Founding Fathers and Slaveholders, smithsonianmag.com, Nov. 2002, 43. Perhaps that is precisely why the standard is flouted by those who want to politicize everything. The statues represent the countrys history, no matter how complicated. Petition Pushes for Parton Statues, arkansasonline.com, June 23, 2020, 30. Pros And Cons Of Removing Confederate Statues. First, virtually everyone acts in ways consistent with contemporaneous social normsnorms of which later generations may disapprove. 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. Bethunes is the first state-commissioned statue of a Black person to be included in Statuary Hall. During the global Black Lives Matter protests 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-holding Founding Fathers in general, as well as historic monuments to Abraham Lincoln and abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass. There is no path to a peaceful and prosperous country without challenging and rejecting that as a basis for our society. The greatest tragedy in the history of the United States was the loss of over a thousand lives as a result of the countrys wars. [23] For example, the Confederate statues in the Capitol building should embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation. In recent years, there has been a movement to take down statues of historical figures who have been accused of racism, sexism, and other forms of bigotry. Statues and monuments of historical figures are commonplace in almost every city in the world. Should Confederate Monuments Be Removed. Monuments of people statuary I think come out of a tradition of imitation. A global anti-gender movement is coming for our democracy. For proof, just look at the 1911 dedication of a Jefferson Davis statue in New Orleans. In a 5-4 vote, the court rejected the Trump administration's push to end an Obama-era program that gives nearly 700,000 Dreamers the ability to work in the United States and avoid deportation. SINHA: I think then it becomes a purely destructive exercise, a way you are simply destroying all monuments and all statues. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Many of them were erected decades after the fall of the Confederacy as a way to remind Black Americans of their place in society. While he hoped the next generation would abolish slavery, he wrote in 1820 that maintaining the institution of slavery was like holding a wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. [40], Grant came from an abolitionist family, freed the one slave he owned in 1859, supported black enlisted Army men, led the Union Army in the Civil War to abolish slavery, and was endorsed by Frederick Douglass for president. The significance of a Civil War memorial varies from group to group, and there is always an urgent need for history to be told. BBC, Confederate and Columbus Statues Toppled by US Protesters, bbc.com, June 11, 2020, 21. The main duty is not to hide the bitter parts. I cannot see myself pulling down a statue in that way. Becky Little, How the Cult of Robert E. Lee Was Born, history.com, Aug. 14, 2017, 18. His disreputable actions reflected attitudes and practices common to his society. Q: What can you tell us about Americas history with monuments and memorials? 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. [32]. [56], When 11 Southern states seceded from the Union in 1861, they were very clear that the reason was the impending abolition of slavery. Dessi Gomez, Hello, Dolly? 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. Here's Why., nbcnews.com, June 1, 2017, 51. The Confederate statues have no redeeming qualities to them, but other statues certainly do. Many celebrities have asked that their names be added to the list over the years, including David Beckham, Bill Morris, Mary Seacole, Benny Hill, and Paul Gascoigne. The debate over removing Confederate statues continues to rage. May 16, 2017 0 The statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his mount, Traveler, face the setting sun on Monument Ave. in Richmond,. [20] [21] These statues, like their Confederate counterparts, serve a revisionist purpose, allowing people to maintain a racist ideology. Do we protect Confederate graves and battlefields? So for instance, a lot of the sort of backlash against taking down Confederate statues was precisely this. Heres how we fight back. They teach us, and it depends on us whether we practice what we learn. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. A statue of George Washington in Caracas, Venezuela, was damaged during an attack by a bomb in 2008. Confederate statues were the focus of protests in Richmond, Virginia, last summer. [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. It started in the 1890s with the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The statues do not cause racism and could be used to fight racism if put into historical context. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. In the United States, Confederate generals were overthrown or voted out. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. Any statue removal may result in the removal of monuments from any individual with a problematic history. A petition in Tennessee gained 22,736 signatures (and counting as of July 8, 2020) to replace all Confederate statues in the state, including the statue of Confederate Army General and KKK Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest that stands in the states capitol building, with statues of Dolly Parton. Like, FDR, after all, was responsible for the internment of Japanese American citizens. Robert E. Lee has become a target among those seeking to obviate history allegedly because he held slaves and fought for his home state rather than the nation. Here are the proper bibliographic citations for this page according to four style manuals (in alphabetical order): [Editor's Note: The APA citation style requires double spacing within entries. Take away these men who seem to be inferior to Roosevelt, but leave him. I have a complex relationship with monuments, said Diaz, now a world-renowned poet. GREENE: You said something interesting. Q: Why is the removal of statues such a fraught topic? [41]. NPR Morning Edition, For Stanton, All Women Were Not Created Equal, npr.org, July 13, 2011, 46. Tomas Strakas Vida Poltica de las Estatuas is a collection of essays. The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the financial fallout, How Black protest may be key to finally ending racial violence, DNA shows poorly understood empire was multiethnic with strong female leadership. This article was published on January 20, 2022, at Britannica's ProCon.org, a nonpartisan issue-information source. As goes the South, so goes the nation: Tennessees HIV cuts are a warning for marginalized populations, Florida, Oklahoma double down on the death penalty we need nationwide abolition now, Supreme Court to consider overruling Chevron doctrine, Tucker Carlson, on leaked video, derides Fox streaming service, Al Franken blasts Supreme Court: Its illegitimate, Senate rankings: Here are the 5 seats most likely to flip, Human brains show larger-than-life activity at moment of death. I think the difference that Floyd's murder has made is that most American citizens are finally realizing what they represent. The movement against him is part of a wider drive to get rid of monuments to figures who are now. It would be odd for me to condone other people doing something I would not do. 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. The history of destroying monuments shows the dangers of tearing them down. We will know who Robert E. Lee was. It has also been suggested that statues shouldn't be removed but new plaques could be added which explain why the person is controversial, for example reflecting both the good and bad things. Many of Americas founders George Washington, Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. No one puts a monument up to Washington or Jefferson to promote slavery. By writing to US national senators and representatives, you can advocate for the position and policies you believe in. SINHA: I've been against it all along. Removing statues is a slippery slope that could lead to the brash removal of monuments to any slightly problematic person. GORDON-REED: I suppose, if people want to, everything can pave the way to some other point. 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. For example, The cost to remove all the monuments and statues in New Orleans could cost $600,000. Those who argue against keeping political statues in public spaces typically make the following points: 1. Other examples are the decisions to name towns in New York State, Illinois, and Indiana after the Roman consul,Marcus Tullius Cicero. Politics, national security, and occasional nerdery. 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? Valerie Strauss, Christopher Columbus: 3 Things You Think He Did That He Didnt, washingtonpost.com, Oct. 14, 2013, 22. They can be used as a teaching tool to help educate people about different periods in our past. Even after the statues were erected, there was never a common ground between them. This time also coincided with the creation of many Confederate monuments, though they were coming from a different set of concerns. And while it is true that many of the Virginian Founding Fathers - Washington, Jefferson, Madison - all owned slaves, we put up their statues not to commemorate their slave holding but for different reasons. [14] [55], In June 2021, the US House of Representatives voted to remove all confederate statues and bust of Roger B. Taney (the US Supreme Court Chief Justice who wrote the Dred Scott decision) from the US Capitols Statuary Hall. You said that moving to statues like George Washington and the Founding Fathers is going from one extreme to another extreme. The slippery slope goes further, allowing anyone to destroy any statue they disagree with. In several cities, these tributes have been vandalized or torn down by protestors or removed by public officials. These statues are a reminder of our history, both good and bad. Claudette Colvin was a member of the Womens Missionary Union before Rosa Parks was born. Cicero was a great orator, an outstanding lawyer, a spokesman for balanced government, and the single person most responsible for transmitting the Greek philosophical tradition to Western Europe. History will still be taught. The Mdia Exterior de Chvez highlights how the country responds to its problems: through its actions, the country seeks to advance human rights, including the rights of foreigners, as a result of the decreto de 1817. I grew up seeing hundreds of small stone and bronze markers along our desert roads telling us about the great white Americans who passed through or discovered the great West or our mighty Colorado River, said Diaz, whowas born and raised in the Fort Mojave Indian Village in Needles, California. She won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for her explosive 2008 work, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.. The removal of monuments erases the memory of those who fought against them in defense of the values they represent.
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