should statues be removed pros and cons

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. Were holding them up as a model of civic identity, of what the rest of us should be doing. They were on the wrong side of history. The Paseo del Cambio, which is located on the opposite side of the street, has been the site of a number of busts. Why Confederate monuments are coming down now | Stanford News First and foremost, they are part of our history and should be preserved as such. Should Statues Be Removed Pros And Cons - Gary Cluster Republican Confederate monuments can find an appropriate home in museums and cemeteries. 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. Here are some top contenders, Stupendous vision, energy, competence, and courage. Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to keep political statues in public spaces is a complex one. What do you think? And that was simply not correct. 5. The principal legacy of Confederate statues is white supremacy and slavery. The statues can be kept without glorifying what they once stood for. Confederate monuments were put up in response to Blacks getting more rights, as a kind of a backlash. The statue was defaced, there was a lot of graffiti that dealt with defunding the police, and there are some incredibly powerful images that were taken during that time, some of which are going into the new time capsule. In particular, a lot of our civic buildings our courthouses, our state capitals, even our public squares and parks are in the neoclassical style. There are statues being targeted of people like Ulysses S. Grant, of people like President George Washington, who were not involved in the Confederacy. I understand the importance of remembering those who died fighting for both sides of the war. Statues and monuments of historical figures are commonplace in almost every city in the world. Thats not fair, asking me as a law professor. Other examples are the decisions to name towns in New York State, Illinois, and Indiana after the Roman consul,Marcus Tullius Cicero. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. 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. Consider the idea of placing the removed statues in museums with the American Alliance of Museums. And I think most Civil War historians have been against Confederate statues - if not removal, at least with contextualization. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives. 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. These monuments are controversial because they are seen by some as honoring the Confederacy and its pro-slavery and white supremacist policies and by others as historical markers of the nations history. CBS News, Protesters in England Topple Statue of Slave Trader Edward Colston into Harbor, cbsnews.com, June 7, 2020, 8. In the 1930s and 1940s, revolutionary and reformist forces distrusted Columbus statues because they had been erected with a clearly racist and Eurocentric spirit. 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. David Greene talks to Manisha Sinha, professor of American history at the University of Connecticut, about the recent toppling of non-Confederate statues like those of George Washington. SINHA: Exactly. 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 His disreputable actions reflected attitudes and practices common to his society. 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. The U.S. Recycling System | US EPA Theres nothing to memorialize there, except a history of white supremacy and treason. Top photo: The base of the Robert E. Lee monument in Richmond, Virginia, after his statue was removed from atop it. 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. Pros. Senior Editor at Arc Digital. 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. Those who argue in favor of keeping political statues in public spaces typically make the following points: 1. A black resident of Richmond, Virginia, Tommye Finley, remarked of the citys Monument Avenue, which is home to five Confederate statues, When I first moved here from Mississippi, I thought these statues were ridiculous. New Orleans a city of many nations America's largest slave market Adam Serwer, The Myth of the Kindly General Lee, theatlantic.com, June 4, 2017, 19. Pros And Cons Of Removing Historical Statues - The Onion These men who are depicted as heroes fought for the institution of slavery. People on both sides vigorously defend their position, pointing out disturbingfacts about the Founding Fathers and the founding of America as reasons why the Confederate monuments arent so different from Revolutionary monuments. It is unfortunate that they are considered public art works rather than memorializing them. [14] [17]. Venezuela has been transformed into a nation of tumba-estatuas (or busts), which are statues that serve as a political pedagogy for understanding the history of the past that can be adapted by modernism. The Pros And Cons Of Keeping Political Statues In Public Spaces How? Both Washington and Jefferson were critical to the formation of the country and to the shaping of it in its early years. [42], Jefferson is the author of two of our most dear principles as a country: equality and religious freedom. [47] Do we exclude the achievements of these figures from public display because they displayed controversial behavior? [31], In Louisville, a statue of Confederate soldier John Breckinridge Castleman was removed. By removing them, we can censor, whitewash, and potentially forget about the history. Chicago, Illinois 60654 USA, Natalie Leppard Hecho comn is a part of the Venezuelan Revolution that ended with Hugo Chvezs election as President of the Republic of Venezuela (Y). 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. She was supposed to be the civil rights movements most visible figure until she became pregnant. Eventually, police descended on the. These battles have a strong historical context, as they were influenced by a very Venezuelan tradition: Bolivarian political historicism. Thats a lot of money for one city to pay for, and that money could be used for more important things. Mount Vernon, Slavery, mountvernon.org (accessed July 7, 2020), 40. [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. Catherine Thorbecke, Walmart donates $100K to replace Arkansas' Confederate-linked statues at the US Capitol, abcnew.go.com, July 7, 2020, 32. First, removing all these statues and monuments cost a lot of money and take a long time. Alex Parsons, Replace All Confederate Statues in Tennessee with Dolly Parton, change.org (accessed July 8, 2020), 31. Becky Little, How the Cult of Robert E. Lee Was Born, history.com, Aug. 14, 2017, 18. 4. Theres no doubt that with regime change, monuments are removed, place names are changed, portraits are added to postal stamps, and textbook content changes. Following the white nationalist rally in Virginia on August 12, 2017, it was back in the news. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin. [15] [16], However, after the Confederate States lost the Civil War, the South revised history. They can be seen as a form of art. Even more importantly, however, erasing monuments of once-revered figures upsets an unspoken but long-prevailing consensus governing our decisions of whom to commemorate. There are statues of people all over the place, and they should be removed. Symbolic annihilation can result in society valuing groups of people less and in internalized negativity among those groups. Since antiquity, statues in public places have been primarily used to represent power and authority. The ceremony was whites only, and featured children forming a Confederate flag and singing Dixie.. The monument divided the African American community, exposing various political philosophies on how to deal with white supremacy. GREENE: You said something interesting. GAZETTE: In the past, people have suggested the monuments should stay, but that additional plaques or other information should be incorporated to add context. It was an event that forced segregationists to come down rather than a single persons actions. Da de la Raza was founded in 1578 to end the Spanish race and promote the civilizing movement that followed it. They teach us, and it depends on us whether we practice what we learn. We disregard or discount those faults common to the individuals time and place. Parental selection of spouses is anathema today, but in Ciceros society, everybody did it.. There are at least two reasons for not permitting contemporaneous vices to disqualify historical figures from favorable commemoration. They are both excellent candidates for the kind of contextualization you alluded to. What do you think of that idea? 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. GORDON-REED: Ha! 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. Opinion: Don't Take Down Confederate Monuments. Here's Why. ], ProCon.org, "Historic Statue Removal Top 3 Pros & Cons,", ProCon.org, "Historic Statue Removal Top 3 Pros & Cons. Linda Lopata, If Susan B. Anthony Was Racist, susanb.org (accessed July 7, 2020), 47. Regardless of whether historic statues are removed or remain, what sort of statues, memorials, or other art would you like to see in public spaces? 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. 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. 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. Confederates died defending slavery as an institution. 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. One claim for not removing certain statues of people who have committed egregious acts is that we should not treat people of another time as if they were second-rate citizens. Starting with the Reconstruction, we see them being used as a way to control public spaces and maintain white supremacy alongside other things like lynching, controlling school curriculums, etc. Both Washington and Jefferson were critical to the formation of the country and to the shaping of it in its early years No one puts a monument up to Washington or Jefferson to promote slavery I think on these two, Washington and Jefferson, in particular, you take the bitter with sweet. [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. They are a part of our cultural heritage. George Gerbner, PhD, and Larry Gross coined the term symbolic annihilation in 1976 to describe the lack of representation of a group of people. Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews. 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. Disputation in the political sphere is difficult to come by. 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. More than half of Americans support removal of Confederate statues, but 44% still think they should remain. There are far more dangerous threats to history. They did, though, own slaves. In several cities, these tributes have been vandalized or torn down by protestors or removed by public officials. I think the difference that Floyd's murder has made is that most American citizens are finally realizing what they represent. 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. 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. This was before he became president or even commanded the Union Army. Confederate statues depict anti-abolitionists as heroes and very honorable men, therefore they should be removed.

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