Protests are again the order of the day in the USA as we Americans wrestle anew with racism among us. Why, well consider all of the following: insensitive comments by our new President; the ugly events that took place in recent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia; rising concern over Confederate statues on public property; and a growing problem in society related to racial profiling which has produced ugly results for Black Americans. What is going on here in the land of the free and home of the brave? Imagine if you can: Americans making the Nazi salute; football players kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem; and Confederate Statues remindful of the terrible American Civil War being damaged moved or taken down altogether. How does one get their arms around these events that seem to spread out around the nation on a weekly basis?
My French etudiants in my course and those who have taken my courses, know very well about American Character and Historical Continuity. Go ahead and ask them about AC + HC, I am sure they would be pleased to be asked. For the emphasis in our course is on: who we are as Americans and why we are who we are. So it is natural that they requested an article to help them understand these interrelated protests. I can’t cover every protest, so let us focus on the uproar around the Confederate Statues.
The protests surrounding “statues” have to do with inappropriateness of honoring figures from US History who have supported rebellion, slavery, and who may also have violated oaths they had taken to uphold the Union and the American Constitution. Many of these statues, which are located around the USA, were erected during “Jim Crow” segregation days in the last two decades of the 19th century and during the 1920’s. They did not generate protests at the time because the nation was focusing more on westward expansion and growth and many saw these statues as a way of bringing the nation back together---and most Americans did not recognize or understand the power of racism then existing during those periods.
In today’s world they matter, as some of these statues are “in your face” and clearly inappropriate in today’s world. Let me talk first about some examples, good and bad. It took a long time, but most if not all southern states no longer have the Confederate Rebel Flag as part of their state banner. State governments today represent all the people, so flying the Confederate Flag as a state symbol is honoring the rebellion and is clearly an example of “in your face.” What to do about a statue of Robert E Lee on a campus of a southern institution? Well on some campus’s such a statue was taken down during the night and removed to a less conspicuous spot on campus. We have another example here in Texas of an “in your face historical monument.” There is a historical marker that sits in front of the Capitol building in Austin, Texas that makes it clear than “slavery” was not the cause of the American Civil War. It is today the subject of pressure being put on the Governor of Texas to remove this inaccurate “in your face marker.” In discussions with colleagues we favored not destroying it, but erecting another historical marker that recognizes slavery as a major cause of the Civil War, and place it right next to the older incorrect marker---until the Governor acts to remove the offensive marker.
Let me make it clear from the start, I do not favor destroying statues! One cannot wipe out truth by erasing it from history books, one has to face the past and remember both the good and the bad. But where a community finds a statue inappropriate it should be moved to a less in your face location, perhaps at a local museum with appropriate commentary as to its place in history. Perhaps the best example of honoring people who fought in this terrible war is the way the nation chose to honor those who fought at the Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Each state involved in this battle was invited to construct a monument of their choice to honor those who fought and died at Vicksburg. So one can drive around the battlefield and see monuments from all the states, North and South, whose soldiers are honored in the way that each particular state so desired. My wife and I have visited this battle field twice and my family has been introduced to the monument selected by our home state of Illinois. During our first visit my wife told me that she had a cousin who fought at Vicksburg by name of Voss. We began looking for his name among the thousands whose names were inscribed on the wall of honor. The monument was in the shape of a Capitol Dome you walked into, and the names of those who fought and died were engraved all around the dome. She took one side and I the other until we found the name of Voss. We touched his name and said prayers and were quite moved. A couple of years later we returned with some of our children to show them our discovery only to forget where we found it. So this time we had four searching and we found three with the name of Voss--- so we touched them all and said prayers over all three---and claimed them all.
Here is another “statue” story that took place in Ireland and Australia. In Dublin there was a statue of Queen Victoria right across the street from the seat of the Irish Parliament called the Leinster House. This statue was a large bronze statue dominated by a sitting Queen Victoria in full queenly array, surrounded on a large pedestal accompanied by Erin (the Irish/English word for Ireland) depicted presenting a laurel wreath to a wounded Irish soldier. On the other side of the monument were two bronze figures representing peace, and at the rear facing the Leinster House, stood a small bonze figure representing fame. This statue was erected, financed by public subscription, and celebrated on Saturday February 15 1908. With the coming of Irish independence in 1922, such statues honoring royalty around Ireland began to create protests and the first such statue to go was an Obelisk in county Meath, blown up in 1923, with many more to follow including: King William III in 1928; and George II in 1937. Queen Victoria survived but criticism of that statue took on new passion during WW II and in 1948 the Queen was removed and placed on the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham, where it sat for a time. Ireland began to receive overtures for purchase of this statue from Canada and Australia, much talk and no action. Then in 1983, Australia began searching for an appropriate statue for placement by the Queen Victoria building they were restoring in downtown Sydney. A representative came to Ireland to inquire about the abandoned Queen Victoria statue. After an embarrassing search her statue was found stored at an abandoned reformatory school in Daingean, County Offaly, lying on its back completely exposed to the elements, discolored, with its bronze coating hidden under a coat of black and green mold. In 1986 the Irish government decided to give the statue to Sydney on the occasion of their bicentenary celebrations. The statue, which was sculpted in France by John Hughes, now stands in the Bicentennial Place facing Sydney’s Town hall.
One more-odd story about a statue, is the irony of a statue to Lenin that has become an attraction or distraction, to some in the great city of Seattle, Washington. A few years ago we visited my son who lived in Settle for a time and we asked him to take us to the statue of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as “Lenin.,” It was located in the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle known for its, shall we say, “compelling” statues. Lenin, the statue, is 16 feet tall and made of bronze weighing over 7 tons, was found in a scrap yard after the fall of the Soviet Union in today’s Slovakia. An American builder of homes for Slovakian families in the Seattle area found it and had it shipped it to the USA. The statue was created by a Bulgarian sculpture, Emil Venkov, who died just this past June. It was first unveiled in Seattle in 1995 and moved to its current Fremont location in October 1996 on the corner of Fremont Place North and North 36th Street, where it continues to evoke response---both pro and con.
So what are statues, well they are reminders of the past and are representative of a time in the story of a place and/or person that has some particular historic meaning to a people. The statue and whatever message it delivers also evolves over time, sometimes with crowning glory, other times not so much. Since “statues” represent more than what they are, it is necessary that society come to terms from time to time with their appropriateness in a particular spot. The USA is rethinking its statues, as other nations have done in the past. The good news is we are reflecting on their appropriateness and not blowing them apart.
Dr Joseph McFadden
Professeur à l'Université de Houston, Texas