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In the 1930s and 1940s, revolutionary and reformist forces distrusted Columbus statues because they had been erected with a clearly racist and Eurocentric spirit. You said that moving to statues like George Washington and the Founding Fathers is going from one extreme to another extreme. 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 Capitol's Statuary Hall. Lets argue about the facts, lets put them down on paper or on a marker and have a conversation about them. [24], Geoff Palmer, Scotlands first black professor, who disagrees with taking down the statues, warned against being distracted by the simple, concrete action of taking down statues: We dont want to leave this so that people looking back in 50 years will say: you know, they took the statues down, why didnt they do something about racism? [53]. And that is, in fact, a very imperialist vision. I dont think theres any value there. Was there no other way to handle that situation? It is no surprise that he is not fondly remembered by his descendants, who consider themselves natives. Study 15 Terms | History Flashcards | Quizlet [35]. She was supposed to be the civil rights movements most visible figure until she became pregnant. I think in general in this country, statues have held up a very white, male virtue. Michelangelos David is not only a statue of a man, but also a statue of God. Who Abraham Lincoln was. Elliot Ackerman, The Confederate Monuments We Shouldnt Tear Down, nytimes.com, July 7, 2020, 49. 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. For example, a statue of black abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass was damaged over the July 4, 2020 weekend in Rochester, New York. Tomas Strakas Vida Poltica de las Estatuas is a collection of essays. On July 13, 2022, a statue of Mary McLeod Bethune was dedicated in Florida in place of the Confederate soldier statue. 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. To the best of our knowledge, no resistance is shown in 1895 in the Neapolitan pieza de mrmol; all hecha pedazos must be resisted. Yes, other celebrated Americans were also deeply wrong about slavery, but they aspired to something greater. This was before he became president or even commanded the Union Army. Disputation in the political sphere is difficult to come by. As a student at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, Arizona State University English Professor Natalie Diaz remembers seeing the Robert E. Lee monument every time her basketball team traveled to play the University of Richmond Spiders. 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. Interview was edited for clarity and space. Perhaps that is precisely why the standard is flouted by those who want to politicize everything. 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. Photograph: Schalk van Zuydam/AP A similar story can be told in the southern states of the US. [45] [46] Martin Luther King, Jr. regularly cheated on his wife. FHA loans have more relaxed credit score requirements than traditional mortgages. On the one hand, some argue that they are historical landmarks and should be preserved. Those who argue against keeping political statues in public spaces typically make the following points: 1. GREENE: You said something interesting. Who Jefferson Davis was. And I think most Civil War historians have been against Confederate statues - if not removal, at least with contextualization. Two hospitals may have violated federal law in denying woman an emergency From bad to worse: Student misbehavior rises further since return of in-person McConnell insists hes sitting out debt talks to disbelief. An FHA loan is a mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Symbolic annihilation can result in society valuing groups of people less and in internalized negativity among those groups. Monuments of people statuary I think come out of a tradition of imitation. There are many other people who could be represented by statues who would better represent the historical progress and diversity of the country. They can be kept in museums with proper historical context rather than on a plinth to be admired. Sophia A. Nelson, Opinion: Don't Take Down Confederate Monuments. It started in the 1890s with the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The removal of Confederate monuments is usually around $1.8 million in total, but this varies by location. Pro and Con: Historic Statue Removal in the United States The rally protested the proposed removal of statues of Confederate Army GeneralsRobert E. LeeandStonewall Jackson. Confederate monuments can find an appropriate home in museums and cemeteries. GREENE: Historian Manisha Sinha is the author of "The Slave's Cause: A History Of Abolition.". When were talking about the Lee statue, its a really good example of what can happen when there is disagreement in the community about what its values are. Chan School of Public Health celebrates opening of $25M Thich Nhat Hanh Center for research, approaches to mindfulness, Women who suppressed emotions had less diverse microbiomes in study that also found specific bacterial link to happiness, Tenn. lawmaker Justin Pearson, Parkland survivor David Hogg 23 talk about tighter gun control, GOP attempts to restrict voting rights, importance of local politics, Dangers involved in rise of neurotechnology that allows for tracking of thoughts, feelings examined at webinar, 2023 The President and Fellows of Harvard College. The Paseo del Cambio, which is located on the opposite side of the street, has been the site of a number of busts. The ceremony was whites only, and featured children forming a Confederate flag and singing Dixie.. 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. The idea is, this is a statue of a civil leader, and they are someone whose virtue or deeds were meant to emulate as citizens. 2. Those who disagree with the beliefs upheld by the statues should work to understand the history these monuments represent, rather than trying to simply remove them and the history from sight. BBC, Confederate and Columbus Statues Toppled by US Protesters, bbc.com, June 11, 2020, 21. Protesters for. 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. The consensus renders the commemoration process more meaningful and less political than it otherwise would be. Several years have passed since the debate over the removal of Confederate statues began. All rights reserved. Confederates died defending slavery as an institution. 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. The fact that pro-Confederate sentiments have become unpopular is. Eventually, police descended on the. There is no path to a peaceful and prosperous country without challenging and rejecting that as a basis for our society. The Avalon Project, Confederate States of America - A Declaration of the Causes which Impel the State of Texas to Secede from the Federal Union, avalon.law.yale.edu (accessed July 8, 2020), 16. The statues can be kept without glorifying what they once stood for. The police killing of George Floyd sparked widespread protests and reignited efforts across the U.S. to remove Confederate and other statues viewed as symbols of slavery and racism. What purpose do they serve in society? PRO AND CON: Should Confederate monuments be removed? Arguments For And Against Removing Confederate Statues, Robert E. Lee opposed Confederate statues. What did the Civil War mean for both the Union and the Confederacy? Valerie Strauss, Christopher Columbus: 3 Things You Think He Did That He Didnt, washingtonpost.com, Oct. 14, 2013, 22. Colleen Walsh, Must We Allow Symbols of Racism on Public Land?, harvard.edu, June 19, 2020, 44. Why build a street for losers? Psychologically, its perpetuating a system. Lets talk about the history of these statues. So to me, if statues are performing this work of showing us what we most value as a society, once our values change, no, we shouldnt keep them. The removal of Confederate statues is a painful reminder of the countrys racist past and present. These are various statues across the US which honor Confederate leaders or "heroes". Do you agree? Pros And Cons Of Confederate Statues - 720 Words | Bartleby Lawrence A. Kuznar, I Detest Our Confederate Monuments. Many people believe that these statues and monuments are inciting white supremacy and promoting violence. Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals. Senior Editor at Arc Digital. Chvez was once an island with no borders and no land. Defunding the humanities, cutting history classes and departments. Why every single statue should come down - The Guardian GORDON-REED: No. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., PhD, Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, notes that enduringly charged symbols of the former Confederacy [add] to our fears that, instead of embracing the promise of democracy in a diverse society, some want to return us to a far more restrictive time, when freedom was circumscribed by race. [22], We cant get to learning from our history if we keep accepting that racism should be celebrated in American history, according to Khalil Gibran Muhammad, PhD, Professor of History, Race and Public Policy at Harvard University [1]. Kehinde Wiley, Instagram.com, June 4, 2020, 34. Statues Commemorating Slave Traders Should Be Removed But Not Disposed I think what you see with the Lee monument and this new time capsule is a good example of how we can handle that. Plaques can describe the history of slavery and the Civil War, as well as the white supremacist legacy that led to the creation of such monuments. [41]. SINHA: Exactly. Here's What to Know, time.com, June 24, 2020, 2. The shooter was said to have glorified the Confederate South, posing in Facebook photos with the Battle Flag of the Northern Virginia Army (also known now as the Confederate flag, though it never represented the Confederate States) and touring historical Confederate locations before the shooting. Should Confederate Monuments Be Removed. Heres a List., nytimes.com, Aug. 28, 2017, 6. A: Theres certainly a school of thought that says so, that maybe they could be taken out of civic spaces and put into a museum where they can be recontextualized. Rebecca Klar, Arthur Ashe Statue on Richmond's Monument Avenue Tagged with White Lives Matter Graffiti, thehill.com, June 17, 2020, 50. 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. Accessed April 27, 2023. https://www.procon.org/headlines/historic-statue-removal-top-3-pros-cons/, Whose Heritage: Public Symbols of the Confederacy, 1. The campaigns demise was both sad and pathetic. And dont forgetthe Confederacy lost. I cannot see myself pulling down a statue in that way. 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. Who Was He?, cnn.com, June 11, 2020, 7. 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. [39] [40] [41], However, Washington led the Continental Army to victory over the British, held together the country as the first President over two terms, resisted calls to become King of the country, and, in his will, freed his slaves upon his wifes death. If so, how? Today, some of the worst leaders of the French Revolution have names on public sights, like the metro station named for Maximilien Robespierre, architect of the Reign of Terror. [20] [21] These statues, like their Confederate counterparts, serve a revisionist purpose, allowing people to maintain a racist ideology. Both Washington and Jefferson were critical to the formation of the country and to the shaping of it in its early years. Politics, national security, and occasional nerdery. What do you think? NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Confederate monuments were put up in response to Blacks getting more rights, as a kind of a backlash. Some were unlawfully torn. A year after the United States had a diplomatic confrontation with Venezuela, Washington had a diplomatic confrontation with Caracas, and Venezuela had a diplomatic confrontation with Washington. Tomorrow, a white nationalist majority mightuproot monuments to Martin Luther King citinghis adulteries and other indiscretions. Citizens have the right to express themselves in ways that respect their personal beliefs by creating statues and holding controversial opinions. Those are the real threats to history. Ted Mann, Lincoln Statue With Kneeling Black Man Becomes Target of Protests, wsj.com, June 25, 2020, 14. So what should be the standard for taking down a statue? The Pros and Cons of Pulling Down Statues - Medium They are usually constructed to commemorate momentous events or important figures in history. History is almost never the sole motivator for the construction of schools. 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? Should Slavery's Statues Be Preserved? On Transitional Justice and Pros And Cons Of Removing Confederate Statues. Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to keep political statues in public spaces is a complex one. 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.