I think what you see with the Lee monument and this new time capsule is a good example of how we can handle that. 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. Claudette Colvin was a member of the Womens Missionary Union before Rosa Parks was born. Statues Commemorating Slave Traders Should Be Removed But Not Disposed A statue of Josphine de Beauharnais, who married Napoleon and became his first wife, was ripped down in Martinique. Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to keep political statues in public spaces is a complex one. In several cities, these tributes have been vandalized or torn down by protestors or removed by public officials. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Why every single statue should come down - The Guardian Who Frederick Douglass was. 5. A: Thats such a complex issue. GREENE: Professor, thank you so much for your time. In the United States, Confederate monuments are erected as public displays to commemorate the Confederate States of America, its soldiers and leaders. Consider the idea of placing the removed statues in museums with the American Alliance of Museums. [20] [21] These statues, like their Confederate counterparts, serve a revisionist purpose, allowing people to maintain a racist ideology. Several years have passed since the debate over the removal of Confederate statues began. Political iconoclasm has a dark and violent historyone we should be eager not to repeat. Should Statues Be Removed Pros And Cons - Gary Cluster Republican And thats so important, because future generations will see those images of self-representation of groups that have traditionally been excluded from these monuments making a statement about how colonization has affected them, or how they have survived and are resilient. The main duty is not to hide the bitter parts. Annette Gordon-Reed, a historian of U.S. slavery, legal scholar, and member of the Presidential Initiative on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, spoke with the Gazette about the issue. [10] [11] [12], Washington, Jefferson, and Grant had undeniable ties to slavery. Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage. Theres one school of thought that says communities should be the ones to decide. Its saying, We still have the upper hand. [23], Finley hit not only on the current psychological impact of the statues, but also on the intended historical impact. [49], Author Sophia A. Nelson, JD, who notes she is the granddaughter of a slave, states that she does not fear 150-year-old statues of old dead white men. Nelson argues that her classmates at Washington & Lee University didnt hate [black students] because there were statues of Robert E. Lee or George Washington (our nations first President and a slave owner) on campus. 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. Does removing statues of Columbus or Confederate officials pave the way for action against monuments honoring those who helped create the United States? If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the other side of the issue now helps you better argue your position. The slippery slope goes further, allowing anyone to destroy any statue they disagree with. 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. 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. 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. Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals. Arguments for why Confederate statues should be removed include the Confederacy's shameful history of treason and white supremacy, as well as the original purpose of these statues, which was to intimidate Black Americans while celebrating white power. 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.. George Gerbner, PhD, and Larry Gross coined the term symbolic annihilation in 1976 to describe the lack of representation of a group of people. The Day of the Race has been condemned by social science as a result of its extreme racism, including the Nazism of World War II. 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. However, they have also been the centre of much heated debates surrounding their significance. Mississippis secession declaration states, Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery the greatest material interest of the world. It would be odd for me to condone other people doing something I would not do. They are not an accurate representation of our countrys diverse population. Ultimately, as far as who gets to decide, I think activism is what gets it done. Jackson was a slave owner. Removing Statues Means 'Our Society Is Evolving,' Say Historians, Activists There have been other videos, of course, but there is something about this image of a prone individual who is not moving and who we know is losing, or has lost, his life after an encounter that started over an alleged counterfeit $20 bill. Rebecca Klar, Arthur Ashe Statue on Richmond's Monument Avenue Tagged with White Lives Matter Graffiti, thehill.com, June 17, 2020, 50. "Historic Statue Removal Top 3 Pros & Cons." Photograph: Schalk van Zuydam/AP A similar story can be told in the southern states of the US. They can be seen as a form of propaganda. Historic Statue Removal - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org Public Symbols of the Confederacy, splcenter.org, Feb. 1, 2019, 15. Scottie Andrew and Anna Sturla, A Statue of Frederick Douglass Was Toppled over the Fourth of July Weekend, the Anniversary of His Famous Speech, cnn.com, July 6, 2020, 10. The US National Trust for Historic Preservation offers a point of contrast, having stated: 'We should always remember the past, but do not necessarily need to revere it'. A statue of Lord Charles Colston was erected in Britain more than 60 years before slavery was abolished there. And dont forgetthe Confederacy lost. Amanda Holpuch, Ed Pilkington, and Oliver Laughland, Charleston Shooting: Confederate Flag at Heart of Growing Political Storm, theguardian.com, June 20, 2015, 4. Colleen Walsh, Must We Allow Symbols of Racism on Public Land?, harvard.edu, June 19, 2020, 44. Workers in Richmond, Va., removed a statue of. The history of the United States is multi-layered, complicated, and ever-evolving. Elliot Ackerman, The Confederate Monuments We Shouldnt Tear Down, nytimes.com, July 7, 2020, 49. Glenn Foster, founder of The Freedom Neighborhood, stated of the Emancipation Memorial, which depicts Lincoln over a kneeling freed slave, When I look at that statue, Im reminded my freedom and my liberation is only dictated by white peoples terms. Removing statues is a slippery slope that could lead to the brash removal of monuments to any slightly problematic person. Manisha Sinha, a Civil War historian at the University of Connecticut, says when it comes to, say, Robert E. Lee, take it down. Some jurisdictions have placed explanatory plaques beside Confederate monuments to teach a more complete history of the Confederacy. There is a plaque next to the Peace Monument in Atlanta, Georgia, that states, This monument should no longer serve as a memorial for white Brotherhood. Remove Confederate statues from public places based on the pros and cons. 13.8K Followers. 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. The XVI Tumba-estatuas de Guaicaipuro present the main lder of the resistencia indgena a la conquista del Valle de Caracas. We should be able to discuss these historical figures and discuss what we admire about them and what we don't admire so much. Chvez was once an island with no borders and no land. At the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth, a significant portion of anti-imperialist and Bolivarian thinking was based on those ideas. PRO: These monuments should be removed because they honor slavery and segregation CON: Confederate monuments should stay because they connect past racial crimes to current racial inequality Nearly every heavy-crane company in southern Louisiana has received threats from opponents. Accuracy and availability may vary. Beyond building monuments to honor black Americans, monuments could employ and elevate living black artists, such as Kehinde Wiley, whose 2019 Rumors of War statue depicts a black man on horseback in a pose reminiscent of statues of Robert E. Lee. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? Phil Davis, George Washington Monument in Druid Hill Park Spray-Painted with Destroy Racists, Anti-Police Sentiment, baltimoresun.com, June 21, 2020, 11. They were on the wrong side of history. Where do we draw a line? The monuments go up because, without Washington, there likely would not have been an American nation. As James Grossman, PhD, Executive Director of the American Historical Association, notes, Its not just that the statues represent white supremacy, but the purpose of building the statues was the perpetuation of white supremacy. I think in general in this country, statues have held up a very white, male virtue. From a religious/Christian. CBS News, Protesters in England Topple Statue of Slave Trader Edward Colston into Harbor, cbsnews.com, June 7, 2020, 8.