Blog #131 – Which statues need to be torn down?
Following the murder of George Floyd on May 25, there was a spasm of protests that touched every single state in the country. Historians had not seen this many spontaneous protests since Dr. King’s assassination in April 1968, but this time, they were different than those in 1968. Many of the protestors started using the slogans of Black Lives Matter, a group started in 2013 by 3 women who were angry that a Florida jury did not convict a white man who had killed Black teen Trayvon Martin. Many of the protestors coopted the language of critical race theory that believes there are systemic racist structures that perpetuate white supremacy and white privilege. Some of the protests turned violent. Most did not. And many white Americans started to notice and challenge racist notions that they had previously ignored before.
Aunt Jemima got retired off the syrup label because she was based upon a racist stereotype.
The NFL team in Washington D.C. bowed to pressure to change their racist mascot despite the owner proclaiming he would NEVER change it.
The Mississippi legislature voted in late June to change their state flag because it has included the Confederate battle flag since 1894- see image below. There had been two efforts to change it in 2001 and 2015 but neither worked.
Other countries’ sports teams wore Black Lives Matter t-shirts in games and practices. And there were also huge protests across the world protesting America’s treatment of its citizens of color.
When Major League Baseball began play in late July, whole teams took a knee during the playing of the National Anthem. Previously, sparked by Colin Kaepernick and other sports stars, critics had charged these players who knelt during the anthem as hating America or that he just wanted attention.
NBA players were allowed to modify their names on their jerseys when the league started up. Many of the slogans included things like “I Can’t Breathe,” “Black Lives Matter,” and “Say Her Name.”
There was a strong push in both Congress and the media to rename the ten military bases named after Confederate military leaders.
And statues were torn down. The list found here is extensive, but the statues included other Americans (plus an Italian named Christopher Columbus and several statues of Spanish priests who were instrumental in the deaths of indigenous people) who had nothing to do with the Civil War including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses S. Grant (he was on the winning side!), John C. Calhoun (the founder of the idea that slavery was a “positive good”) among others. There was also an attempt to take down the massive statue of President Andrew Jackson in D.C. before the President ordered it protected. Other monuments were removed by the cities where they resided before they could be torn down. And some statues were targeted for removal because of troubling imagery including one with Abraham Lincoln.
These things happened so quickly and with such anger that it’s still shocking to think how quickly things changed just within the span of a month or two. Even a monument to the some of the most famous Black soldiers in American history, the 54th Massachusetts in Boston, was defaced during protests in June (I was a bit confused about this one).
If you ever wondered why there are so many monuments (and military bases) honoring the Confederacy – normally monuments don’t get erected to honor the losers in a war but we have thousands of these monuments around the country – we have the United Daughters of the Confederacy to blame for that. Take a look at this brief video on the UDC and their vast influence – not just through monuments but also through the writing of Southern history textbooks that shared something we will go much more in depth on called the Lost Cause – https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1562229127298017
I get that there was a lot of pent-up anger at systemic racism that exploded in late May and in June. I get why Washington, Jefferson, and Calhoun were all taken down (they were slaveowners, and so was Grant, albiet very briefly). There has been a reckoning that America has been going through since May 25, and there has been tremendous pressure to fix things and do right by America’s POC. What should be fixed and changed will likely not happen until next year (at the earliest), but I wanted to focus on the statues first.
Statues are usually put up to honor heroes of our history. Given the UDC’s blatant attempt at rewriting the history of the Civil War, a number of statues were erected during the turn of the 20th Century, it’s no surprise that the traitors of the Confederacy were honored with statues. But what has happened most dramatically seen since late May has been a shift in the way many white Americans have seen these statues. The undercurrents of racism had been ignored by many white Americans. Black Americans had previously been told to just accept these statues, they’re no big deal. But they didn’t accept them or stop without a fight. There was a push to remove some Confederate statues after the mass shooting of nine Black parishoners in Charleston, S.C. in 2015 by a white teen who had been radicalized by white hate groups. Some statues were removed. Others stayed up. And there are likely some statues that might still get taken down.
So here are a few questions I’d like you to answer:
- Do you think that this emphasis on taking down statues is overblown, is just about right, or maybe even a desecration of American history? Do we need to take down more statues? Why?
- Statues capture a moment in time and place – the people at that time felt the need to honor someone who they felt needed to be remembered. But times change and so do people. Things that were acceptable 50 – 100 years ago may no longer be acceptable. Should those statues and monuments be removed because times have changed? Why or why not? Or can we leave the statues up and change the way that those figures are taught and should be remembered?
- Should we even have any statues at all of our heroes? Why or why not?
Your answers for all three questions should be a minimum of 400 words total (not 400 words for each question).
Due by the first day of class before class meets.
As you can see from the painting below, we have a history of tearing down statues in this country.
1. I think that taking down statues was the right thing to do. Statues are meant to teach the world to stand for something that reinforce good intentions and signify good morals, all through the form of art. I think the statues should have been taken down because not all of them stood for what is right, they did not represent positive significance. The majority of the statues promoted slavery, which is not healthily reinforcing good intentions in any way. I do believe that a lot more statues should be taken down, the ones that stand for the wrong reasons and the statues that portray good along with bad.
2. Statues do in fact capture a moment in time and place, statues represent history. As humans we are taught history to prevent the same mistakes that were made happen again. Although it is important to learn about what is wrong in history it is not acceptable to approve of statues that support racism and support the same statues by leaving them up. Statues have been around for 30,000 years, maybe even longer than that and in those 30,000 years people have started to learn what is right from wrong. Meaning we can easily disagree with the morals of old statues. But I personally believe that it would be the right thing to remove the statues and monuments that are unprincipled. If we did not remove the statues with corrupt morals and we only changed the way that the figures are taught and are remembered it would not fix or replace the fact that they once stood for unacceptable principles but maybe it could help people notice the bad morals and understand how to destroy them.
3. I conclude that we should not have any statues at all of our heroes. Every single person in the world is different, they all have different beliefs and intentions, therefore not everyone could come to an agreement on honoring a specific person or thing. Another reason I believe there should not be statues of our heroes is because it is impossible for a person to only be a hero towards everyone, there are good and bad parts to every person. I think it would be nice to have monuments and statues that stand for good things but I do not righteously agree with the fact that a statue would be used to portray unethical beliefs.
1. I believe that there should be more emphasis on removing the confederate statues. Although it is important to be reminded of our country’s history, I believe that keeping these confederate statues up is not the way to do so. As stated in the article, “Statues are usually put up to honor heroes of our history;” However, Washington, Jefferson, and John C. Calhoun’s, all slave owners, are not the type of historical figures that I honor or look to as “heroes.” Ultimately, I believe that the statues are extremely disrespectful to POC and represent a falsified sense of history from the UDC’s perspective. I understand that it is impractical to remove every statue but in my opinion, they should most definitely be removed. POC are already faced with many disadvantages daily, they do not need the statues as a reminder of the white supremacy that still exists today.
2.The statues should be removed because times have changed. The statues were originally built to glorify and commemorate slave owners. Although the figures and statues may not be as praised as they were before, they still carry the same harmful message. Many POC have dedicated their lives to fight for their rights and gain freedom. They have achieved so much and I believe that it is discourteous to keep these statues up. In my opinion, we do not need to leave the confederate statues up for these figures to be remembered or taught about. They are written about in countless textbooks, biographies, and newspapers. There are plenty of opportunities to learn about these people regardless if they have a statue or not. Overall, I think that the statues should be removed and that they are not necessary to teach people about their history.
3.I believe that we should have statues of our heroes. It is unnecessary to remove all statues just because some have a bad history. A lot of historical figures are remarkable people. Many such as athletes, musicians, and artists, deserve credit for their achievements. As well as those who have served and died for our country. Removing all statues is very unfair to a lot of those who have worked hard and have been successful. It is crucial to praise and reward those who deserve it. It drives others to do their best. Life is all about competition, without incentives, such as statues, you might not feel as motivated to work hard for the recognition you deserve.
I do not believe that the emphasis on taking down statues is overblown, the fact that there are tributes to people who are avid defenders of slavery on public property is wrong. The statues are a sign of the oppression that black people faced in this country. Taking down statues is not a desecration of american history it’s not like if we removed statues of george washington we would then forget what he did or who he was. Germany has taken a good policy on this in my opinion they banned all nazi sybolism such as swastikas, statues and flags. Now no would would then make the point that Germany would suddenly forget who Hitler was and then repeat what he did so trying to do the same thing in America is wrong and dishonest. I believe that we should take down all the statues of confederate leaders; they were traitors not the people we like to commemorate. I mean I don’t see any Edward Snowden statues and he actually did good things.
This is where the dialogue becomes difficult because these people are such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Christopher Culumbus these in my opinion were bad people who did amazing things and there comes a point in time where i could see the augment for both sides because george washington used to move his slaves from state to state so that they wouldn’t be taken when the northern states outlawed slavery, but he also helped create the ideals that allow me to be sitting here at my computer criticizing him. I would lean on the side that they did terrible things and it would be inexcusable for anyone else but the sheer fact that they created the ideals we still have today outweighs that fact. Lastly, I believe that the statues shouldn’t be broken or smashed, they should be removed from public land and then sold or moved to museums around the country.
I believe that statues or other ways to commemorate heroes is a perfectly normal thing to do and I would support putting up more statues of civil rights leaders and other good people. The problem here in America is that people have a very difficult time realizing who their heroes actually are. I can’t think of any reason to not put up statues of heroes unless they had done something bad and probably would be looked down upon in the future. Ln conclusion statues commemorating traitors should be moved to museums and some statues are just barely passable in these times.
1.I think the emphasis on taking down statues in America is right because the statues represent the violent history of America. These statues are a reminder to certain minorities of how bad their ancestors were treated in the past and how that has continued in today’s world. As for the statues of some of the presidents, I think most of them should be taken down as well. Many presidents owned slaves and were very violent to the indigenous people and I don’t think that should be praised. Also, I don’t think there should be Confederate statues put up because their side lost and they also had completely different values than the country we live in today. The Confederate side almost became a different country, so I don’t think we should honor any of the people that tried to break away from America.
2.I think these status should definitely be removed now because times have changed and it is now longer acceptable in society to praise a confederate soldier or a known slave owner. I also think that in schools we should be taught the true history behind these people that are praised instead of us just learning about all of the good things that they did. Many people that have statues have treated minorities horribly. With police brutality and systemic racism very prevalent today I don’t think it is appropriate to have statues that show someone who was racist or represent racism, when the people of color in America are still fighting for equality after 400 years. Racism is still a huge problem today so these statues go completely against the fight for equality. To honor someone who was a known slave owner is insensitive to the African American community.
3. I think we should have statues of our heroes if they were able to help everyone and not just one group of people. If what they did only benefited some people, but harmed others they should definitely not have a statue because it is a reminder to certain groups of their horrific past. If there was a president who owned slaves, even if they did something heroic, I don’t think it would be right to build a statue of them because even though they help some people in this country, they didn’t help everyone because African Americans were not free yet. I think if the cause that is being honored is right then there should be a statue for that cause.
1. I believe that various statues and monuments have been wrongfully destroyed and vandalized is recent months. One example of this is the vandalization of a memorial to the firefighters who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. On the opposite side of this, there are also some statues that were justifiably torn down, such as a Christopher Columbus statue. I believe that this is justified because of the many wrong things he did, such as rape countless women and enslave thousands of Indians. So I believe that in some instances, the destroying of the statues is completely justified and should have been done a long time ago, and in other instances, the statues being destroyed carry the legacy of many lost lives, and the disrespect shown towards them is completely immoral.
2. Using the Christopher Columbus statue as an example, I believe that as times have changed we have slowly realized the horrible things that Christopher Columbus has done. We need to stop teaching about him in schools, especially at a young age. Although if it were to be taught, it should be used as a moral teaching tool to attempt to avoid any of his wrongdoings from repeating themselves. If children are taught the bad things he did rather than the ‘good’, then they will better understand the wrongfulness of his actions.
3. I think that it is crucial to have statues as they are a preservation of history. They are nescesary to emphasize things like how many soldiers were lost in a war. These memorials and statues for fallen soldiers are a representation of how we got our freedom, and it acts as a reminder that freedom isn’t free. I believe that when people kneel for the national anthem it is a disrespect to all that those soldiers have fought for. Although kneeling during the anthem during this NBA season was for a good cause, Black Lives Matter, I feel that any other time is completely unacceptable. Colin Capernick completely disrespected our country and our flag when he kneeled for the anthem, and although I believe that it was a publicity stunt, he still influenced almost all of the NFL to follow what he was doing. He normalized kneeling during the national anthem, and I believe that that is the worst, most disrespectful thing a player could have done, and he is one of the most disliked ex-members of the league because of this.
1.I believe that the American people have the right to take down statues that correlate or directly show racism or hatred against other races. There are still confederate statues in the southern states that show the love and support towards southern Civil War leaders. These statues are still standing and need to be taken down immediately. Black Lives Matter protests are taking down their own sacred monuments and statues. They are actively trying to take down an Abraham Lincoln statue that is showing america that Lincoln freed slaves and was a key factor in that situation. Its basically trying to take down their history. This is why I do not believe in the Black Lives Matter protests. I feel like some people in the protests are protesting for no reason. They have no clue what they are protesting for. Im glad they understand and for fighting for whats right but at least educate yourself. I do believe that black lives matter but I do not like what the protests are doing for our country.
2. I believe that statues built 50-100 years ago that show a negative or dark time in our past should be looked at and be taken down. But, statues that show American pride and freedom should stay standing. This is a wonderful way to teach the American people about their past history. If we keep taking down statues or key pieces of American history, the younger ages will likely repeat history and create a steady downfall of The United States. If we keep these statues and monuments, this can lead to a greater United States of America.
3. I believe that we should definitely have statues for our current and fallen heroes. These statues are a key source of knowledge that can educate our generations and future generations to come. If we do not have any past knowledge of heroes or great things america has done, then we are bound to repeat history. We need to have so much information on heroes like Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Ben Franklin, Martin Luther King Jr, George Washington, Henry ford, the list goes on. These very important people are the reason why America is a great country, now we may have many issues that can be solved if we work together. If America was to have no leaders that pushed the Unites States through tough times, then we could have no America.
1. I think the emphasis on taking down statues is right. It shows that we need to change our ways. When we honor slave owners, it shows that we don’t care about the oppressed citizens history. We should take down statues of slave owners, Confederate generals, and statues that represent our racist history. A group of patriots took down a statue of King George III, so we should be able to take these statues down because they reinforce what divides us as a nation. By not taking down the statues, it is like we are honoring and accepting the cruel, racist, and unacceptable history of America. Therefore, we should take down the statues and we could replace them with figures that are not widely known, but helped this country get better.
2. I think we should tear down those statues because times have changed, and we shouldn’t give recognition from times we have evolved from. There is a reason why we stopped certain actions and traditions, and statues are representative of honor and pride, and we can’t honor their past when it contains things that we fell we shouldn’t represent anymore. Even if the statues aren’t a picture of the character, we should still take it down because it is still honoring unacceptable things. Even if we change the way that historical figures are taught today, that could cause a lot of issues and lead to inaccuracies of our historical pasts. You can recognize that the historical figure had positive and negative qualities, but you have to recognize both sides without bias.
3. I think we should have statues because it is important to honor historical figures who did the right things for our country. Our history defines our future. We learn from our past and try to make better decisions. We need to know the person’s story and what they did. I think that when we decide if we should honor this figure, we should look at their past, and what they stood for. Statues are necessary because you can learn so much from a statue, but you also need to learn about the figure in school. When you are in school, you learn part of the story, statues offer curiosity and more education on the figure. Statues tell a story and I think it is important to keep the ones that tell our nation’s story. We should honor people who had good morals so that we can learn from them.
I think that the emphasis on taking down statues is overblown. I suppose I don’t really feel like statues need to be ripped down and the hard and sad parts of history are still history and shouldn’t be forgotten. They should be remembered so people can change for the better in the future and realize past mistakes. I think some statues should be taken down and possibly replaced by new ones but they don’t need to be forcefully torn down in protest if someone has a real problem with a statue that’s valid you could just take the necessary steps and actions to get it taken down peacefully.
I feel like it depends on the statue if it should be left up or taken down like if it was a statue of the leader of the klu klux klan than yea it should be taken down but if it’s of like just some guy who was famous for something else but happened to own slaves at the time it is what it is because like he could be a good person but everyone had slaves in the past so like i feel like it really depends on the situation. So basically what i’m saying is unless you were like a actual evil person than ya you don’t deserve a statue but i don’t think you can really change the way you teach about a person who did bad things or remember them differently because at the end of the day they still did horrible things and there not here know to apologize or tell there side of the story.
To be honest statues are kind of stupid like in 50-100 year’s the person the statue is of is long gone and not that many people remember them unless they did something like super amazing so what i think should happen is there should be a board of statues and if you want an statue or think your deserving of one you can apply for one and the board will background and fact check the person and decide of they should be eligible for an statue and they only pick one person every four year’s so it’s like an big honor because lets be real there are to many statues of super random people who where either not that great or nobody remembers so that’s what i think should be done so to answer the question there should be statues but much less than there are know and they should be truly meaningful and the person should be truly deserving of it.
I think anything that has a racist background to it should be altered or removed if the community it attacks is offended by it. A lot of people are offended by the statue so it should be taken down. Even if people celebrated it way back then times change and we have to adapt to them. Any statue that needs to be taken down should be determined by the community that it’s directed to. In my opinion, if a minority isn’t offended by something that can be considered offensive then it should be left alone. If someone falls down the stairs and feels fine it wouldn’t make sense to tell them that they’re hurt because it didn’t happen to them. For example, I disagree with the name change of the Washington Redskins. I heard that most Native Americans weren’t offended by the name and if anything they were honored. The redskins were depicted as triumphant warriors so it wasn’t a negative name. This goes along with the theme that people who aren’t apart of something are offended by something that doesn’t affect them and the community that it’s directed towards doesn’t take offense to it.
Just because people felt differently about something 50 to 100 years ago, does not mean that people should automatically accept it today. 50 to 100 years ago many people still supported segregation but we’ve progressed as a country to promote equality. Ao personally, I think taking down the statue would make sense because that shows that our country is progressing. We should teach people about the truth of our American history instead of trying to alter it to make the next generations more educated instead of lying to them. Even if it’s taken down, it doesn’t have to be forgotten.
We should have statues of our heroes because it’s honorable to do that and any positive part of our American history should be displayed. As well as teaching about American heroes in books, school, movies, and museums, statues help honor our heroes. Besides, a statue shouldn’t be built if the person was a bad person and we can’t predict how people will see the person 50 years from now. If we see the person as a role model now than I see no problems of building statues of them. On top of that statues and monuments bring in more tourists which means more money but that’s beside the point.
1. I think that taking down statues was the right thing to do. Statues are meant to teach the world to stand for something that reinforces good intentions and signifies good morals, all through the form of art. I think the statues should have been taken down because not all of them stood for what is right, they did not represent positive significance. The majority of the statues promoted slavery, which is not healthily reinforcing good intentions in any way. I do believe that a lot more statues should be taken down, the ones that stand for the wrong reasons and the statues that portray good along with bad.
2. Statues do in fact capture a moment in time and place, statues represent history. As humans, we are taught history to prevent the same mistakes that were made happen again. Although it is important to learn about what is wrong in history it is not acceptable to approve of statues that support racism and support the same statues by leaving them up. Statues have been around for 30,000 years, maybe even longer than that and in those 30,000 years, people have started to learn what is right from wrong. Meaning we can easily disagree with the morals of old statues. But I personally believe that it would be the right thing to remove the statues and monuments that are unprincipled. If we did not remove the statues with corrupt morals and we only changed the way that the figures are taught and are remembered it would not fix or replace the fact that they once stood for unacceptable principles but maybe it could help people notice the bad morals and understand how to destroy them.
3. I conclude that we should not have any statues at all of our heroes. Every single person in the world is different, they all have different beliefs and intentions, therefore not everyone could come to an agreement on honoring a specific person or thing. Another reason I believe there should not be statues of our heroes is that it is impossible for a person to only be a hero towards everyone, there are good and bad parts to every person. I think it would be nice to have monuments and statues that stand for good things but I do not righteously agree with the fact that a statue would be used to portray unethical beliefs.