Pulling down the statue of George III by the "Sons of Freedom," at the Bowling Green, City of New York, July 1776.
Painted by Johannes A. Oertel
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Statues or memorials, mostly of historical figures, which once dotted the brilliant landscapes of many U.S. cities, including the nation’s capital, have fallen victim to the sledgehammer for reminding citizens of a time in our unconscionable racist past that’s no longer in tune with 21st century American values.
Since the death of a black male, George Floyd, 46, on May 25th, when a Minneapolis police officer (Derek Chauvin) mercilessly kneeled on Mr. Floyd’s neck for eight minutes (and 46 seconds) while arresting him for allegedly using a counterfeit bill, the floodgates opened up.
Loud protests, shameless looting, and the destruction of property, became the order of the day by large groups, young and old, black and white, furious that African-Americans continue to be easy targets of perceived systemic racism within the police departments from coast-to-coast.
Protesters widened their net with another phase of protests when they began to tear down memorials and statues in a number of American cities, mostly Confederate soldier monuments.
By the latest count, at least 22 cities have reportedly removed Confederate monuments, including the statue of general Stonewall Jackson and another of a naval officer, Matthew Fontaine Maury, in Richmond, Virginia. On June 16, a swarm of protesters in Richmond, brought down the statue of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy,
As of June 9, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there were nearly 1,800 Confederate monuments, statues, and other symbols in the U.S. The Southern Poverty Law Center also reports that state and local governments have removed at least 110 publicly supported monuments and other tributes to the Confederacy since the 2015 white supremacist massacre in Charleston, South Carolina.
Historians and civil rights groups point out these Confederate statues were erected during the Jim Crow era (late 19th century and early 20th century) to underscore white supremacy over black people. Prior to 1860, you couldn’t find a single enduring image of an African American as a statue—either in marble or bronze form in the United States.
One way to make amends and honor the emancipation of African-Americans after the Civil War was the creation of a statue conceived by American sculptor and musician, Thomas Ball, which was erected in 1876. The monument depicts Abraham Lincoln holding a copy of his Emancipation Proclamation, standing next to Archer Alexander, a former slave.
The sculpture is referred to as Emancipation Memorial or Freedman’s Memorial.
The statue originally faced west towards the U.S. Capitol until it was moved east in 1974 in order to face the newly erected Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial. A replica of the statue was placed in Boston’s Park Square in 1879.
Many African-Americans, among others, considered the statue and its symbolism demeaning, especially the way it depicts a former slave kneeling in front of his white emancipator. Since the George Floyd protests, there have been revitalized rallies to have the statues removed. The Boston Art Commission recently voted unanimously to have the replica copy removed from Park Square. The date for its removal hasn’t been announced.
The Emancipation Memorial came about in the 19th century when abolitionists and radical Republicans pushed for a monument that would underscore Abraham Lincoln as the Great Emancipator. The Western Sanitary Commission, then, used funds donated by African-Americans to commission a congressionally endorsed memorial in Washington D.C.
Despite African-Americans initially donating funds for the memorial, many argue they didn’t have the final say about what type of sculpture was ultimately decided upon. After a number of possibilities offered to feature as a sculpture (including black and white military heroes) the Freedmen’s Commission selected Thomas Ball’s depiction of a semi-nude former slave kneeling next to Abraham Lincoln.
Famous, now infamous, Italian explorer and navigator, Christopher Columbus, has been yet another historical figure who has faced the wrath of a great many Americans for his appalling treatment of indigenous people between 1492 and 1504.
Over the last week, a statue of Christopher Columbus was taken down in Columbus, Ohio. Statues of Columbus have additionally been vandalized in Boston, Miami, and Virginia; and most recently, protesters tore down a statue of Christopher Columbus and threw it in the Inner Harbor Saturday in Baltimore.
During his four voyages to the Caribbean and South America, Columbus and his entourage, historians tell us, enslaved many native inhabitants of the West Indies while meting out punishing violence and brutality. Columbus was also implicated with sending thousands of peaceful Taino “Indians” from the island of Hispaniola to Spain to be sold for profit.
Obviously, the amended history of Christopher Columbus is a history many of us were not taught in the classroom as youngsters.
A statue of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, removed in Richmond, Virginia
Photo Credit: Associated Press
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So, the question becomes, is the recent destruction of historic memorials only the beginning of a long series of staged protests in which statutes (of historical figures with a disreputable past) will come tumbling down like the Wall of Jericho? And will it ever stop? Already, sculptures of our Founding Fathers, those who were slave owners, are in grave danger of having their memorials smashed to smithereens.
“I am not a big fan of pulling down--I would rather the statues be relocated to a museum or some other non-public setting, especially as they have become symbols of oppression and history inequities,” Manish Chalana, Professor of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington, said. “I like how Delhi dealt with the statues of the colonial heroes--they were all moved to a forlorn park [Coronation Park] where they have been sitting since India’s independence.”
As a historical backdrop: Chalana notes that the statues erected in the Confederate South were done to advance an alternative view of history after the Civil War in which many believed “the war was about protecting the sovereignty of the southern states and not about preserving slavery.” These monuments, more or less, Chalana says, “came as a result of campaigns organized by the Daughters of the Confederacy or Colonial Dames or other such ‘patriotic’ groups to calm their anxieties around the changing laws and demographics.”
Another reason for the Confederate statues in the 19th century, Chalana observed, was a strong sense of xenophobia, which was sparked by the sweeping wave of immigration from eastern and Southern Europe from a diverse group of immigrants who brought with them different cultural practices, and ways of life and religion. “Commentating national heroes through house museums and statues,” Chalana notes, “can be seen as a way to establishing Protestants claim to this country. “
Vivien Green Fryd, Professor of American and Contemporary Art at Vanderbilt University, worries that removing statues is a misguided way of deleting history without engaging in a constructive dialogue about different periods (however scandalous) in America’s complex storyline.
Fryd readily concedes the statues of Confederate generals and of Christopher Columbus are problematic, “but it’s our history,” Fryd said. “Let’s talk about it, about these images showing indigenous people in problematic ways. How these Confederate monuments were commissioned in order to impose white superiority. But what can we do? Do we destroy them? Or can we do something not only in discussing the messages of what they mean. Have talks about what they mean. But maybe you take the Confederate monuments in each state and create a Confederate Monument Park with signage which gives the history of this monument, where they were located, when they were commissioned, and when they were removed. They do this in eastern Europe, it’s not a unique idea.”
Fryd, whose mother was a Holocaust survivor, informed me that if you walk through Germany, there are constant reminders of the Holocaust. She mentioned that in one particular neighborhood in Germany, there are signs in front of a building which displays the names of persons taken to a concentration camp. It also lists where they were born and which concentration camp they were taken to and which concentration camp they were transported--to be exterminated.
“So,” Fryd explained, “when you walk down the street (in Germany), you become aware of the Jews that once lived here and know the names of those former residents brought to the concentration camps. And you know exactly what happened.” “I think, then,” Fryd cautions, “by removing these things, is then to say, this history didn’t happen. But the history did happen and that’s why we’re having so many problems.”
Fryd additionally notes that even nationally recognized historical museums have evolved to the point that they now include histories of slaves at Thomas Jefferson’s estate at Monticello and George Washington’s home in Mount Vernon. “You’re learning the history of slaves, where they lived, what their cabinets looked like, the food that they ate. And that has been a new development, I would say the last 20 years. And that history is important” Fryd stressed.
Dell Upton, Professor of Architectural History in the Department of Art History at UCLA, contends that many are making too much out of the historical significance of these statues, particularly the Confederate statues. Upton likens the statues to quick soundbites, expressing a particular viewpoint. “Books and teachers teach history. Statues teach attitudes: they try to suggest whom we should venerate or not,” Upton maintains. “Furthermore, books and teachers’ interpretations of history change over time. Those conveyed by monuments never do.”
When asked whether the demonstrations and protests over statues has gone too far, Upton said he doesn’t think so, but “where it will go from here remains to be seen. Genuine grievances, largely but not only of African Americans, have been ignored or given lip service for decades, even centuries.”
Overall, Upton argues, the removal or destruction of statues has sparked a new dialogue about the kinds of memorials that will be venerated in the future. “I think,’’ Upton said, “that we will come out of this with a very different attitude toward monuments and a very different memorial landscape. What shape it will take, I can’t say.”
Cameras capture a protester in Cleveland, spitting in the face of a police officer.
Source: Fox13Now
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What statue stays and what statue goes, I believe, will iron itself out in the coming weeks when cooler heads prevail and once many realize no matter how many statues are removed—racism is still very much alive in the United States.
Most importantly, classifying police officers’ as racists, demonizing the institution, and calls to defund them will hardly remove racism from the city streets. Accountability will.
During the infancy of television in the 1950s and 1960s, the only time you saw African-Americans, for the most part, was on the nightly news, when stations reported about crimes, murders, and the raging summer riots--giving the false impression that the vast majority of blacks were criminals and thugs, a menace to society.
More than 50 years later, now it’s the police who are the thugs and criminals, and a menace to society.
Would it be asking too much for national television networks and news organizations to adhere to the twin journalistic tenets of ``balance’’ and ``fairness’’ when it comes to police officers, just as they do any other subject, organization, or institution?
I think it’s reckless for the media to advance the false impression that all police officers are racists--out to kill as many blacks as they can.
I would love nothing more than to be a member of the “in-crowd’’ and demonize and spit in the face of police officers, like so many are doing, both literally and figuratively.
But I know too many police officers and police detectives (especially over the last decade in Cleveland, Ohio), who put their lives on the line to make the streets safer for all of his, regardless of race.
And because of the reckless actions of a minority of racist police officers, we’re being encouraged to spit in their face.
Sorry, I just can’t do it.
-Bill Lucey
July 6, 2020
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