The bad statues should go into a museum so people can … There are at least two reasons for not permitting contemporaneous vices to disqualify historical figures from favorable commemoration. Spencer Wu - August 29, 2017. Thus, George Washington is memorialized in statues and place names, although he held slaves. In some cases, moreover, politics induces decision makers to ignore the traditional standards. ’Removing Confederate monuments because they honor people who acted in ways that were gravely morally wrong means we’d have to remove almost all monuments, and that’s absurd.’ ... Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh raises this type of consideration when discussing her decision to remove four Confederate statues. By signing up you are agreeing to our, Prosecutors Seeking Restrictions on Kyle Rittenhouse's Bond, Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know now on politics, health and more, © 2021 TIME USA, LLC. I want to remove that weight and that psychological pressure, and show that if you’re a Black person being represented in sculpture, you don’t have to be an athlete, or strike a pose, or fulfil an expectation. They aren't erasing history, because there are museums for that. Take the Robert E. Lee statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond, which black activists have been fighting to remove for years. This would provide a lesser-evil justification for keeping the statue. These figures are imaginary people that do not conform to the expectations of dressing for success—they could be slouching, or they could be wearing a hoodie, like one of my pieces does, in reference to police shootings. For one thing, it can be a close question whether a person’s extraordinary feats made the world a better place: Franklin D. Roosevelt is widely commemorated, even though scholars still argue over whether his leadership during the Great Depression actually improved American life. I always see people tell me how it's disrespectful or wrong for them to take down Confederate monuments in public areas. White artists are putting themselves forward to create replacement sculptures of slave owners with no sense of irony. Kentucky Historian: "Removing Statues Was Wrong" Earlier this week, after receiving the opinion of Kentucky Attorney General Mr Andy Beshear which stated that the city of Lexington has jurisdiction over the confederate statues and not the Kentucky Military Heritage Commission, crews wasted no time and removed them from Lexington city center to the joy of some … 'A lot of upset' Image courtesy the artist; Image courtesy of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. Portraiture is based on this idea of a person having the money to commission an artwork, or having done such great things that an artwork is commissioned in their honor. It does not disqualify him that he selected a husband for his daughter rather than allowing her to select one for herself. Tomorrow, a “white nationalist” majority might uproot monuments to Martin Luther King citing his adulteries and other indiscretions. The intent of these monuments isn’t to spread racism but rather to honor a key figure in the timeline of … Removing controversial statues risks the past being "torn away", the Historic England chair has said. For goodness sake, the Pyramids of Giza were literally built by slaves - should we destroy them because it celebrates the barbarism of that era? Nothing wrong … An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Removing the Statues (T.R. and Others) Readers discuss plans to remove the Teddy Roosevelt statue in front of the Museum of Natural History and controversies over other monuments. That's disgusting," Mr LePage told WGAN radio, adding that removing them is "just like" removing monuments to the 11 September 2001 … That’s a savior complex, and that exemplifies what is wrong, when even the solution doesn’t involve the Black experience. There is nothing wrong with vehemently debating whether a historical figure deserves to be honored. Removing the Statues (T.R. If we remove them, we’re simply rewriting history.” ... Rather, they are everything that’s wrong with America — and when we remove them, we’ll not be “rewriting” history but rather, “re-righting” it. The Southern States should never have been allowed to erect statues to losers, or to display the disgusting symbol of racism – the confederate flag. Removing Confederate Statues Isn’t Erasing History. Pulling down Colston’s statue is not removing history — it is creating a historical moment, and at the very least it’s acknowledging the existence of a new contemporary thinking. Healthcare. Jobs and the economy. Over the past few weeks, statues of Columbus been removed, pulled down, or otherwise defaced in cities across the country. But removing symbols and statues, fighting, killing or being killed to do so is completely wrong. 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 … It's just blatantly wrong." Do you think it's appropriate for Mussolini, Hitler or Tojo statues to be in public squares in their countries? It’s a very pointed comment and shows there’s clearly a lot of feelings and emotions attached to the idea of what these individuals represent. In this instance the statue has been controversial for years. The bad statues should go into a museum so people can learn from them and their country's history. The plinth of the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol, England, is now surrounded by messages of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, June 11, 2020. It’s not going to be popular at the beginning, and there will be people who are utterly against it because it threatens their understanding. ... in the best interest of the public for the argument to be resolved before Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s order to remove the statue is carried out. OPINION | This article contains commentary which reflects the author’s opinion. ... OK, I can understand there being statues to the white-supremacist traitor army in … Something went wrong. We Need to Radically Rethink How We Celebrate Power. Now we’re thinking about who gets to make these replacements, and it’s a process that shouldn’t be rushed. Either remove it or put it in Statuary Hall over any other statue you would like to get out of there. The fact that a particular vice prevailed in a person’s place and time becomes an excuse for stripping recognition from people whose lives contradict the propaganda of those in power. 0. Thanks for the … Or do we look for the commonalities we all share and embrace representations of those who have previously been stigmatized or invisible? Other examples are the decisions to name towns in New York State, Illinois, and Indiana after the Roman consul, Marcus Tullius Cicero. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said in June that the way the Colston statue had been pulled down was "completely wrong" but it should have been removed "a long, long time ago". It's just blatantly wrong." But so did tens of thousands of others similarly situated. Thomas J Price is a London-based multi-disciplinary artist working across the mediums of sculpture, film, photography and performance to explore representation in its many forms. Rob as an archaeologist and someone who values history (for better or … So why would you want Confederate statues in America where the confederacy … and Others) ... Mobs cannot be expected to be discriminating, but the Portland mob was clearly picking on the wrong … A few days after protesters pulled down a statue of British slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, a statue of the Jamaican-born actor Alfred Fagon in the same city was vandalized with bleach. Look, maybe all statues are bad. Pulling down statues is nothing new, however, nor is the changing of street names and even those of cities and countries. Lee was distinguished from his contemporaries by an exemplary career, both in the U.S. and Confederate armies, of competence and honor. Pulling down Colston’s statue is not removing history — it is creating a historical moment, and at the very least it’s acknowledging the existence of a new contemporary thinking. “As a historian, as someone who thinks the past is important, you are encouraged to look very closely at a … This may hit some buttons, but I am a European immigrant born in 1950, in the aftermath of with WW-II and WW-I, and thus think a little bit differently. It has happened time and again through history. We would have statues only of John Adams and Alexander Hamilton. Public sculptures and statues have been used to signpost, to exemplify what power looks like and to maintain the systems of power. Thus, we honor Columbus by monuments, place names, and a federal holiday. Even more importantly, however, erasing monuments of once-revered figures upsets an unspoken but long-prevailing consensus governing our decisions of whom to commemorate. Confederate statues need removing. Image courtesy of Stephen White / Frieze. But the vast majority of statues of wrongdoers are not like this: they merely depict the person (often in a manner meant … Removing controversial memorials isn't enough. 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. Removing statues because their subjects do not stand up to our "current_year" moral standard is a mistake. What do you want the president to prioritize in the next four years? In the U.S., they were intended to celebrate Confederate generals. Left: "Lay It Down (On The Edge Of Beauty)", 2018, Thomas J Price; Right: "Cover Up (The Reveal)", 2019, Thomas J Price. Climate change and the environment. Apparently they had become an unwelcome symbol of the ugly past of slavery. As a sculptor, I have always been interested in observing other people and trying to create empathy. Parental selection of spouses is anathema today, but in Cicero’s society, “everybody did it.”. Bernstein compares memorialized Confederate figures, such as Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, to slave-owning presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, as well as British colonialists Cecil Rhodes and Winston Churchill. In this article we will explore the common arguments for and against the removal of the statues and how to write an argumentative essay on this topic.. Removing Statues: The Wrong Way to Deal with History. The good statues should still stand as they did nothing wrong and did good things. 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 system that installed statues of Confederate generals and violent police chiefs, and lovingly maintained and protected them, is the same system that built highways through black neighborhoods, invests more money in law enforcement than in schools, and created a surveillance state. New Orleans recently, under the cover of darkness, removed several confederate statues. Nancy Pelosi is just giving us a half-truth to demand to take these things away What I fear is the hatred we see in real time in 2017 on social media and in our political rhetoric. If we cannot see the irony in taking down a statue of a slave owner, and replacing it with work by an artist whose ancestors have benefitted from slavery, that’s an indication of even wider issues. That is a belligerent, aggressive, conscious act, because it normalizes a racist mentality and psyche. When we look at the U.K., it’s so hard to see a statue of someone who made all of their money from slavery. British slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, Jamaican-born actor Alfred Fagon in the same city, Taking Down Statues Isn't Enough. Confederate statues need removing. Common faults are, by definition, common. For me, it’s not a zero-sum game. We need to look forward not back. Nine out of the 11 people whose statues House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to remove from the U.S. Capitol shared her political party. ... Is it inherently wrong to honor Civil War heroes or historical figures if they stood for violence, hatred or racism? That’s not a coincidence. But people are only going to have feelings and opinions about things they already know, and that’s why I think that things can’t end at sculpture. Removing Statues Removes History. And so to continue to kind of shift or offer a revisionist look at the Civil War is wrong. We do not erect monuments to people who performed extraordinary feats that were unquestionably evil, even if their characters included some virtuous traits. The American people need to keep memorial statues standing and keep controversial names of places. Admittedly, the traditional consensus is not an infallible guide to deciding whom to commemorate. It is hard to explain on other than political grounds why so many more monuments and places are dedicated to John F. Kennedy than to much better presidents. See Nevins (2017). There could well be a sculpture like that and we could find alternative figures from history, but I think that’s still playing the game of aggrandizing particular individuals and setting people apart. Black artists should be looked at first to replace many of these sculptures that may be removed. Thus, logic would dictate we remove statues of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and all other slave-owning political leaders. If we don’t understand that, we can’t move forward. In an interview with Trevor … Please attempt to sign up again. The fact is: what you wear as a Black man can get you killed. 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