Last week, protesters swarmed the statue, trying to topple it with two small ropes (seemingly impossible to anyone who has seen the massive monument up close). As contemporaries, Cecil Rhodes and King Leopold II were both harshly criticized for their racist behaviors. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. He was also an abolitionist, though a hypocritical and pragmatic one who understood the country would not give up slavery so easily. Manisha Sinha, a Civil War historian at the University of Connecticut, says when it comes to, say, Robert E. Lee, take it down. How? ONLY FOR REPUBLICANS. GREENE: Has your view on all of this changed since George Floyd was killed and we've seen such anger on the streets and such a growing movement at this moment? There are statues being targeted of people like Ulysses S. Grant, of people like President George Washington, who were not involved in the Confederacy. According to the poll, in August 2017, 39% supported the removal of Confederate statues compared to 52% who wanted to get rid of them in June. In the end, the boycott was spearheaded by African Americans who boycotted the buses for the sake of civil rights. Their actions also took a violent turn, as when revolutionaries murdered bishops and priests who refused to sign a loyalty oath. 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. Confederate monuments are more likely to be removed in cities with large African-American and Democratic populations, as well as chapters of the NAACP, and where state legislatures have the authority to approve their removal. Petition Pushes for Parton Statues, arkansasonline.com, June 23, 2020, 30. Who Jefferson Davis was. 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. Those who argue in favor of keeping political statues in public spaces typically make the following points: 1. The people who hated having black classmates at their school didn't hate us because there were statues of Robert E. Lee or George Washington (our nation's first President and a slave owner) on. Donald Trump, Twitter.com, June 30, 2020, 35. 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. A 2018 report from the Southern Poverty Law Center found there are more than 1,700 monuments to the Confederacy still in public spaces. Protesters next to a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Va. And that was simply not correct. Michelangelos David is not only a statue of a man, but also a statue of God. 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. 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. Instructions for Pros / Cons Paper; Five (5) page essay (2) pages of "pro" and (2) pages of "cons . Basically any time a new government or regime or religion comes in, stuff gets torn down, temples get sacked. The bus will arrive in Che Guevaras honor. [9] And a statue of black tennis star and Civil Rights activist Arthur Ashe was tagged with white lives matter graffiti in Richmond, Virginia. The removal of Confederate statues is a painful reminder of the countrys racist past and present. New York Times, From 2017: Confederate Monuments Are Coming down dcross the United States. [41]. Of those who support the idea in the latest poll, 84% . There are now more than 30 statues and monumental pieces in his honor in the United States. According to media reports, at least 11 statues were severely damaged or destroyed during the true civil rebellion in 2017. Despite Nicole Douglas' team-leading 14th goal of the season, the Sun Devil soccer team was unable to claim its first Pac-12 victory of the season after falling to the Oregon State Beavers, 2-1 on Thursday night. The removal of monuments erases the memory of those who fought against them in defense of the values they represent. Greta Anderson, When Free Speech and Racist Speech Collide, insidehighered.com, June 23, 2020, 36. When a king dies, his or her statue is also taken down, as are those of their ancestors. 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. There has been much debate over which statues should be taken down, and whether this is an effective way to combat bigotry. Moving such monuments to museums or other places where they can be contextualized and interpreted is a goal of the National Trust. We should let them stand and use them to remind ourselves of what we are and are not, the cost our forebears paid for our freedom and to educate our children. [38], During the protests following the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, many Confederate statues were damaged or toppled, as were statues of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Ulysses S. Grant. There is an issue which has sparked some conflict which is based on the topic of whether or not Confederate Statues and Confederate symbols should be removed due to the background that they represent. Jackson was a slave owner. With most American figures, certainly most presidents, you will find many reasons to actually criticize them and criticize their record, even our heroes. 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. [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. Tomorrow, a white nationalist majority mightuproot monuments to Martin Luther King citinghis adulteries and other indiscretions. 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. Second, because almost everyone conforms in most respects to prevailing social practices, disqualification for such conduct is necessarily arbitrary and driven more by politics than by merit. When we get into Confederate monuments specifically, again, they were purposely put up at times when Blacks were beginning to gain more rights as citizens, and very often, they were erected in public, civic spaces, often on courthouse lawns, specifically to let Black people know that even though, legally, they had more rights, those rights wouldnt be upheld there. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Many of Americas founders George Washington, Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. Confederate symbols and flags have been removed from public display in the South since the end of the Civil War. I think the difference that Floyd's murder has made is that most American citizens are finally realizing what they represent. Phil Davis, George Washington Monument in Druid Hill Park Spray-Painted with Destroy Racists, Anti-Police Sentiment, baltimoresun.com, June 21, 2020, 11. [31], In Louisville, a statue of Confederate soldier John Breckinridge Castleman was removed. Defunding the humanities, cutting history classes and departments. 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. Personally, I think there are other ways to remember our racist history as a society. Heres a List., nytimes.com, Aug. 28, 2017, 6. The Avalon Project, A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union., avalon.law.yale.edu (accessed July 8, 2020), 17. They can be used as a teaching tool to help educate people about different periods in our past. We can do that. In some cases, moreover, politics induces decision makers to ignore the traditional standards. [44] Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and the white suffragists purposefully excluded black women. GAZETTE: What do you say to those who argue that the removal of such statues in prominent public settings dishonors the memory of those who died fighting for the Confederacy? The argument is that these statues glorify individuals who have harmed marginalized groups, and that they should be removed from public spaces. Nellie Peyton, As the Men of Stone Fall, Who Should Rise up and Take Their Place?, news.trust.org, July 2, 2020, 33. But I think whats so interesting about the City Beautiful movement is that it controlled public spaces in a very specific way, and it was ultimately a movement about assimilation, and a movement that came out of a real concern about immigration. GORDON-REED: This moment feels different because theres been a great awakening in the country about police-on-citizen violence. For proof, just look at the 1911 dedication of a Jefferson Davis statue in New Orleans. Politics, national security, and occasional nerdery. 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. {mosads}George Washington is one example of the traditional standard in action. Or they go up because of T.J.s views on separation of church and state and other values that we hold dear. 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. I dont think theres any value there. When I found out they were taking the statue down, it was close to my birthday and felt like a lucky birthday present, Diaz said. Opponents said, well, if you're going to take down Jefferson Davis, the next day you're going to take down George Washington. Bethunes is the first state-commissioned statue of a Black person to be included in Statuary Hall. Should Statues Be Removed Pros And Cons - Stay informed with breaking news, in-depth analysis and community coverage. How do we know if statues are supposed to tell the story of our ancestors? Advocates of removing statutes of controversial figures suggest that these monuments represent individuals whose actions and legacies should not be celebrated or memorialised. [32]. During the French Revolution, for example, mobs tore down statues in Catholic Churches. 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. Is there a higher moral cause that supersedes the law? A statue must be erected on land that is yours and have the authority to do so. 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. Theres no doubt that with regime change, monuments are removed, place names are changed, portraits are added to postal stamps, and textbook content changes. Go toProCon.orgto learn more. The issue rose to prominence again in 2017 after an Aug. 12 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned violent and deadly. Following the white nationalist rally in Virginia on August 12, 2017, it was back in the news. 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. Were trying to let the government know were not going to wait any longer for our freedom to happen. [19] Celebrations of Columbus have long been criticized due to his colonization and genocide of Indigenous people, as well as the false narrative that he discovered America when he never set foot on North America. The monument divided the African American community, exposing various political philosophies on how to deal with white supremacy. 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. His explorations united a world previously divided by hemispheres. PRO AND CON: Should Confederate monuments be removed? As Rod Dreherargues in The American Conservative,Americans should not make the same mistakes as France. The annual Aneurin Bevan lecture is held at the Hay Festival every year. Ellis Cose, Keep Confederate Monuments, but Put Their Horrific History on Center Stage, usatoday, Aug. 21, 2017, 52. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. emma.greguska@asu.edu. As some commentators point out, the destruction weakens our consciousness of history, including historys darker side. The stone sentinels that dot our landscape serve as artifacts of the past, providing us with a visual sign of where we may still go. ProCon.org. As a result, when you reach the tierra, you will reach the arena. The Shepherd monument would not have been returned to the National Park Service if it did not provide interpretive signs and returned it to its rightful owner. They honored racial prejudice. FHA loans have more relaxed credit score requirements than traditional mortgages. The Confederates lost the war, the rebellion. Those who argue against keeping political statues in public spaces typically make the following points: 1. First and foremost, they are part of our history and should be preserved as such. It is hard to explain on other than political grounds why so many more monuments and places arededicated to John F. Kennedythan to much better presidents. Erecting statues to the lost heroes of the Lost Cause was part of the campaign to revise history. 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. [4], Monuments are ultimately about which values we want to honor and put on public display. A: Thats such a complex issue. 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. 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. 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. Other statues of historic figures, such as slave-owning presidents or imperialists like Christopher Columbus, promote similar oppressive and revisionist messages. Poli Sci prof (IR) at U. Illinois. Consider appealing to the American Alliance of Museums for the use of the statues removed from public display. 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 Paseo del Cambio, which is located on the opposite side of the street, has been the site of a number of busts. I dont. That if monuments embody community values, then it should be a community decision. Then youre asking museums to do a lot of work they dont want to do and maybe shouldnt be doing. Also removed from the monument's base was a 133-year-old copper time capsule containing artifacts and ephemera related to the Confederacy. Consider the idea of placing the removed statues in museums with the American Alliance of Museums. So for instance, I just read today that the Museum of Natural History wants to take down a statue of Theodore Roosevelt that has an African American man and a Native American man standing alongside him while he's astride on a horse. There are pros and cons to removing statues. 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. Brian Palmer and Seth Freed Wessler, The Costs of the Confederacy, smithsonianmag.com, Dec 2018, 5. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. 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. This time also coincided with the creation of many Confederate monuments, though they were coming from a different set of concerns. The 12th of October 2004 marks the beginning of a new era in Venezuela. Why build a street for losers? Psychologically, its perpetuating a system. NPR Morning Edition, For Stanton, All Women Were Not Created Equal, npr.org, July 13, 2011, 46. A monument to Cecil Rhodes is located in South Africa, and another stands in Britain. Its also important to distinguish statues from records of history, because thats not what theyre about. 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. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. [48] Or should those also be destroyed? Becky Little, How the Cult of Robert E. Lee Was Born, history.com, Aug. 14, 2017, 18. These men who are depicted as heroes fought for the institution of slavery. 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.
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