Author Topic: Statue decolonization  (Read 4943 times)

90sRetroFan

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Statue decolonization
« on: June 29, 2020, 11:52:15 pm »


OLD CONTENT:

The recently ongoing movement to remove colonialist statues started with the Rhodes Must Fall campaign:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes_Must_Fall

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Rhodes Must Fall (#RhodesMustFall) was a protest movement that began on 9 March 2015, originally directed against a statue at the University of Cape Town (UCT) that commemorates Cecil Rhodes. The campaign for the statue's removal received global attention[2][3] and led to a wider movement to "decolonise" education across South Africa.[3][4] On 9 April2015, following a UCT Council vote the previous night, the statue was removed.

Rhodes Must Fall captured national headlines throughout 2015 and sharply divided public opinion in South Africa. It also inspired the emergence of allied student movements at other universities, both within South Africa and elsewhere in the world.

then in the US acquired an understandable emphasis on removing Confederate monuments:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_of_Confederate_monuments_and_memorials

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In the wake of the Charleston church shooting in June 2015, several municipalities in the United States removed monuments and memorials on public property dedicated to the Confederate States of America. The momentum accelerated in August 2017 after the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.[1][2][3] The removals were driven by the belief that the monuments glorify white supremacy and memorialize a government whose founding principle was the perpetuation and expansion of slavery.[4][5][6][7][8] Many of those who object to the removals, like President Trump, claim that the artifacts are part of the cultural heritage of the United States.[9]

though also including some other statues:

hyperallergic.com/430694/san-francisco-racist-statute/

but elsewhere retains its primarily anti-colonialist focus:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/22/toppling-statues-nelsons-column-should-be-next-slavery

www.ft.com/content/7ae28cf4-8e09-11e7-a352-e46f43c5825d

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/06/canada-halifax-statue-edward-cornwallis

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/02/captain-cook-statue-removed-new-zealand-mountain-maori-protests/

The most common rightist criticism of this movement is to accuse it of being an attempt to somehow "erase history", which is of course nonsense. Far from wanting to erase history, we are positively generating public interest in history by revisiting who built the statues, what the statues mean to their builders, why they deserve to beremoved, and indeed why it took so long for calls for their removal to begin. We are certainly not trying to make people forget the existence of the historical figures portrayed by the statues. If we were, we wouldalso be trying to ban teaching of colonial history, which not even rightists accuse us of (in fact they tend to accuse us of the opposite: of excessively promoting the teaching of colonial history!). No, a statue of a historical figure represents celebration or veneration of that figure. That is what we are opposed to: a colonialist statue still standing in a supposedly post-colonial country implies that the country has not yet really been decolonized, at least not in spirit. The truth is that rightists to this day remain proud of the colonial era, which iswhy they are defending their statues. Some are honest enough to admit this, others are not, but these two groups stand together in defending their statues.

What makes the rightist position all the more absurd is that many of these rightists claim to be "nationalists". By defending colonialist statues, they prove they are anything but. Nationalism is anti-colonialism. We who call for the removal of colonialist statues are the true nationalists, and we should be proudly taking back this label (among others):

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes_Must_Fall#Supporting_student_who_made_Pro-Hitler_and_anti-Semitic_remarks

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On 25 April 2015, Mcebo Dlamini, then president of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of Wits University (a South African public research university), stated in a Facebook post that he “loves Adolf Hitler” … Dlamini later declared during a radio interview on PowerFM that “Jews are devils,” a remark which led the South African Jewish Board of Deputies to lay criminal charges of hate speech against him.

Nevertheless, I suggest that in order to sidestep the rightist invective as efficiently as possible, we could consider (as an alternative to removing entire statues) just decapitating each statue and displaying the disembodied head hanging adjacent to the rest of the statue. This would visually prove beyond any doubt that we are not trying to make people think that the colonialists (and, by inference, the colonial era)never existed, but merely declaring what we think of colonialists.

As for the issue of legality, the basic line of reasoning is adequately covered as follows:

www.dailytarheel.com/article/2018/10/maya-little-trial-1021

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Holmes tried to build a case that Little’s actions — dousing the statue and its pedestal in red paint and her blood — were justified under the necessity defense, which asserts that citizens can violate laws that contradict the big-picture wishes of the Constitution.

“In our history, people have had to commit crimes in order to raise the issues,” Holmes said. “Because the laws and the government’s complicity in racism has required them to break the law.”

Holmes linked Little’s case to that of the Friendship Nine, a group of black men who were arrested for staging a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in South Carolina in 1961.

“It sometimes becomes necessary to breaksome sort of technical minor law in order to vindicate the broader values of the Constitution,” Holmes said.

In 2015, the FriendshipNine's convictions were ceremoniously overturned. At court, the judge — the nephew of the judge who originally sentenced the group — said, "We cannot rewrite history, but we can right history.”

Holmes said henoted comparisons in the cases to argue that Little’s charges were the same sort of situation, civil disobedience that would be considered favorably in the eyes of history, like the illegal assistance northerners gave to slaves on the Underground Railroad, a violation of the Fugitive Slave Act.

The Equal Protection Clause has also beencited in lawsuits pertaining to courthouses’ display of the Confederateflag, but those cases were civil whereas Little’s was criminal. The combination of the necessity defense in conjunction with the Equal Protection violation is new, Holmes said.

Please use this topic not only to discuss the issue, but to post news updates on particular statue removal campaigns, and to point out currently untargeted statues that you would like to see removed. If we could eventually build up full lists of colonialist statues in every country, that would be awesome.

...

Here is a good one:

www.post-gazette.com/news/nation/2018/10/18/The-Stone-Mountain-carving-plays-a-complicated-role-in-the-race-for-Georgia-governor/stories/201810180211

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Stacey Abrams, a Democrat and former State House minority leader, is the firstblack woman in the country to win a major party’s nomination for governor, and it was Ms. Abrams, 44, who injected Stone Mountain into the contest.
...
In a flurry of posts on Twitter, Ms. Abrams declared the Stone Mountain carving “a blight on our state,” and called for it to be removed.
...
her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp, haschosen a different focus, winning his party’s primary with a series of provocative ads in which he brandished a shotgun and said he might use his own pickup truck to deport “criminal illegals.”

Mr. Kemp, who is white, has, like President Donald Trump, denounced the movement to take down Confederate monuments. In July, as the Atlanta NAACP planned aprotest calling for the removal of the Stone Mountain carving, Mr. Kempsaid on Facebook that he would protect it from “the radical left.”
...

The idea to carve the side of the mountain was hatched in 1914. The next year, the Klan, which had faded after first emerging during Reconstruction, was revived atop the mountain with a cross burning.

Proponents of the carving had strong Klan ties, with one early booster, Helen Plane, even suggesting that Klansmen be included in the carving. The group, she wrote, “saved us from Negro domination and carpetbag rule.”

The carving effort stalled during the Great Depression, but in 1954, MarvinGriffin, a candidate for governor, stumped on a promise to uphold segregation in the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling — and to finish the carving.

After Mr. Griffin’s election, the state bought the land in 1958, writing into law that it was meant to be operated as a “perpetual memorial” to the Confederacy.

This is what the carving looks like:



Cananyone seriously deny that the mountainside would have looked infinitely better if left untouched? What, then, does this say about theaesthetic sense of those responsible for this overt vandalism? The Stone Mountain carving is a symbolic microcosm of Western civilization, whose very existence is a form of continuous rudeness and disrespect towards everything around it. Removing the carving now, of course, will not restore the mountainside to what it used to be before the carving was made, and so be it. Let the indelible scar on the stone stand as a brutally honest reminder of the blight upon the world that Western civilization has been. Nevertheless, erasing the carving itself will at least show that we have had enough of tolerating its hubris in thinking that its existence actually improved the world when it could not be moreaesthetically clear that nothing could be further from the truth.

(Offtopic, here is an example of how to make mountainsides look better:

agrifarmingtips.com/terrace-step-farming-inca-advantages-and-disadvantages/ )

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www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6462695/Mayor-removes-highly-valuable-Gainsborough-painting-office-links-slave-trade.html

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Cleo Lake took down the 'dull and dated' portrait of Lord Nugent from the walls of City Hall in Bristol.

Paintedby the artist Thomas Gainsborough, the portrait shows Lord Nugent holding a copy of the 1750 Act for the Regulation of the Slave Trade, which he helped pass through parliament.
...
Earlier this year, the Mayor took down a portrait of the Bristol slave trader Edward Colston, whose ships transported nearly 100,000 Africans to the Americas.

And as always we get to learn a bit more about history in the process:

Quote
WHAT WERE LORD NUGENT'S LINKS TO THE SLAVE TRADE?

The politician Robert Craggs Nugent (1709-1788) represented Bristol in the House of Commons from 1754 until 1774.

By 1782, he had become the longest continually-serving member of the Commons, and so became the Father of the House.

He was involved in the 1750 Act of Parliament.

The1750 Act dissolved the Royal Africa Company and transferred its assets to the African Company of Merchants - the slave trading posts that existed in what is now Ghana.

This was an important step in turning the transatlantic slave trade from a lucrative one for Bristol merchants into a trade that took place on an industrial scale.

Quote
Edward Colston: Bristol's beloved son and wealthy slave trader

Edward Colston was born to a wealthy merchant family in Bristol, 1636.

After working as an apprentice at a livery company he began to explore the shipping industry and started up his own business.

He later joined the Royal African Company and rose up the ranks to Deputy Governor.

TheCompany had complete control of Britain's slave trade, as well as its gold and Ivory business, with Africa and the forts on the coast of west Africa.

During his tenure at the Company his ships transported around 80,000 slaves from Africa to the Caribbean and America.

Around 20,000 of them, including around 3,000 or more children, died during the journeys.
...
Aa statue commemorating Colston in Bristol, a plaque reads: 'Erected by citizens of Bristol as a memorial of one of the most virtuous and wise sons of their city.'

There are at least 20 roads, schools, pubs, businesses and buildings named after Edward Colston, and the slave trader is still commemorated and celebrated in the city.

WE WILL REPLACE YOU!

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www.independent.co.uk/voices/poll-shows-brits-are-proud-of-colonialism-clearly-they-havent-heard-of-these-colonial-crimes-a6823151.html

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When we are taught about Empire we are rarely given the gruesome details that counter the idea of Britain being a benevolent Imperial power. Thisis partly due to a whitewashing of history curriculums. This was only exacerbated by attempts from Michael Gove to turn the history syllabus into nationalist propaganda. To add to this views put forward by pop historians such as Andrew Roberts serve to glorify Empire.
...
David Cameron ruled out apologizing for the slave trade and the Amritsar massacre. This is in spite of the fact that Cameron and his wife have ancestral links to the slave trade.

The more statues pulled down, the more chances to raise awareness of history. It is happening, even if slowly:

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/14/racist-gandhi-statue-removed-from-university-of-ghana

Quote
Students at the university welcomed the decision to remove the statue. “It’s a massive win for all Ghanaians because it was constantly reminding us of how inferior we are,” Benjamin Mensah told Agence France-Presse.

The head of language, literature and drama at the Institute of African Studies, Obadele Kambon, said the removal was an issue of “self-respect”.

“If we show that we have no respect for ourselvesand look down on our own heroes and praise others who had no respect for us, then there is an issue,” he said.

“If we indeed don’t show any self-respect for our heroes, how can the world respect us? Thisis victory for black dignity and self-respect. The campaign has paid off.”

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One McKinley statue down:

www.times-standard.com/2019/02/28/mckinley-statue-removed-from-arcata-plaza/

Good job!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McKinley#Peace_and_territorial_gain

Quote
McKinleyalso pursued the annexation of the Republic of Hawaii. The new republic, dominated by business interests, had overthrown the Queen in 1893 when she rejected a limited role for herself.[159] ... McKinley biographer H. Wayne Morgan notes, "McKinley was the guiding spirit behind the annexation of Hawaii, showing ... a firmness in pursuing it";[162] the President told Cortel, "We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is manifest destiny."[163]

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As you may know, Portugal has a verylong history of colonialism, and a history of being very proud of it. In the 1940s, during the nationalist dictatorship of the Estado Novo, they erected a "Monument to the Discoveries" (Padrão dos Descobrimentos):

This disgusting 52-meter-high colossus celebrates the main figures associated with Portuguese colonialism. The square right in front of it has a similarly colossal compass rose and a world map, gifts of none other than Apartheid South Africa.

In a country such as this, public talks of decolonization are almost non-existent. But there are things in the works, and I mentioned that monument for this recent exhibition about Africa being held in it: www.padraodosdescobrimentos.pt/pt/evento/visita-conversada-com-2/

The significance of such a thing being held in that specific monument should not be lost on us.

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globalnews.ca/news/5081694/sir-john-a-macdonald-statue-vandalized-once-again-in-downtown-montreal/

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Activists calling themselves #MacdonaldMustFall group claimed responsibility, saying the vandalism comes on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination promulgated by the United Nations and was done in solidarity with other worldwide actions against racism.

Keep the pressure on!

theconversation.com/john-a-macdonald-should-not-be-forgotten-nor-celebrated-101503

Quote
even by historical standards, a story by Rachel Décoste in the Huffington Post shows that Macdonald was “way more racist than his contemporaries.”
...
while Macdonald was prime minister, the Métis were attacked twice, the Canadian army led an unprovoked attack against Chief Poundmaker’s people, many First Nations and Métis leaders were jailed (with a number of them dying in jail or shortly after they were released), Louis Riel was hanged for treason even though he was an American citizen, the largest mass execution in Canadian history occurred with the hanging of eight Cree and Assiniboine men in North Battleford, Sask. The Indian Actwas amended and became much more oppressive and punitive and a starvation policy was implemented.

Further reading:

rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/jesse/2015/01/10-crimes-john-macdonald

www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/01/13/should_we_really_be_celebrating_sir_john_a_macdonalds_birthday.html

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www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-hostile-indians-sign-20190430-story.html

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A historical marker at Fort Garrison in Stevenson has been removed after officials received a complaint regarding its use of the term “hostile Indians.”
...
It is indicative of weighted language and bias that some Americans have toward Native American history, Harley said, and no trepresentative of the fact that the original colonists forcibly displaced the native population, mostly through violence and force.
...
the bishop brushed aside the idea of preserving the marker’s historical significance, even in the sense that it represents a period of time in which these sentiments were more widely accepted.

In response, he quoted a West African proverb that says, “The lion’s story will never be known as long as the hunter is the one to tell it.”

(Next, Israel will talk about "hostile Palestinians".....)




 
« Last Edit: February 04, 2024, 06:19:23 pm by 90sRetroFan »

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90sRetroFan

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Re: Statue decolonization
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2020, 12:17:39 am »
OLD CONTENT contd.

Going hand in hand with removal of colonialist monuments is building of anti-colonialist monuments:

www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-48724128

Quote
A monument honouring the "tremendous contribution" of the Windrush generation is to be erected in London.
...
Events are taking place across the country on Saturday to mark the first National Windrush Day.
...
BaronessFloella Benjamin, chair of the Windrush Commemoration Committee, said: "Having a Windrush monument located at Waterloo Station where thousands of Windrush pioneers - including children like myself - first arrived inLondon, will be a symbolic link to our past as we celebrate our future."

Janice Irwin, from community group Ageless Teenagers, described the plans as "fantastic", but also "long overdue", and said itwas "a little strange" that it would be built at Waterloo Station, and not Brixton where many people from the Windrush generation settled.

Some of the Windrush generation were wrongly told after they had lived in the UK for decades they were in the country illegally.

Many lost their right to work or get NHS treatment, while others were detained or deported.

Thethen Home Secretary Amber Rudd apologised last year for the deportationthreats, calling the scandal "wrong" and "appalling".

An estimated 500,000 people now living in the UK have been called the Windrush generation.

TheHMT Empire Windrush first arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex, on 22 June 1948, bringing workers from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands, as a response to post-war labour shortages in the UK.


www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-08/sydney-statues-of-colonial-leaders-in-spotlight-again/11285380

Quote
There are 25 publicly funded statues of the colony's early leaders around the CBD.

Amongthem are Captain Cook, Governor Arthur Phillip, Lachlan Macquarie, Queen Victoria, explorer Matthew Flinders and even his cat Trim.
...
"It'sbreathtakingly hard trying to feel proud walking around seeing statues of people that my old people have told me have declared martial law on us."

So far so good. But then:

Quote
Mr Moran said a statue of a prominent Indigenous leader would be a small but significant step towards reconciliation.

It's the colonialist statues that have to be taken down,not merely other statues added. No non-colonialist statues should be built before the last colonialist statue has been removed, in the same way that we lower the colonial flag prior to raising our own flag. Otherwise subjects the non-colonialist symbol to the indignity of sharing space with the colonialist symbol.

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Medals count as statues:

rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/bill-seeks-to-remove-stain-of-wounded-knee-massacre-medals/article_ef12b305-8252-5f80-8541-7f3cfd015c2d.html

Quote
Newfederal legislation seeks to “Remove the Stain” from the Medal of Honorby rescinding 20 medals that were awarded to soldiers who participated in the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.
...
The massacre happened on Dec. 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota. A force of 490 U.S. soldiers — armed with rapid-fire, wheel-mounted artillery guns — was attempting todisarm a camp of about 370 Lakota Sioux people when a shot rang out andchaotic firing ensued.

A total of 31 soldiers died during the encounter or afterward from their wounds, compared to hundreds of NativeAmericans. Although precise estimates of Native American deaths vary, the Remove the Stain Act says there were 350 to 375 Native American fatalities, nearly two-thirds of whom were unarmed women and children.
...
Afterthe massacre, some of the Native American dead were left on the frozen ground for several days before a military-led burial party dumped the bodies in a mass grave. Today, that grave is marked by a small, weathered monument that was erected in 1903.

The Army awarded 20 Medals of Honor — the nation’s highest military award — to soldiers who participated in the massacre.
...
Thelegislation, if passed by Congress and signed by the president, would require the names of the 20 medal winners to be removed from the government’s official Medal of Honor Roll.
...
The findings in thenew legislation also mention the historical writings and statements of Maj. Gen. Nelson Miles, who was not present at the massacre but commanded all of the Army’s departments west of the Mississippi River atthe time.

Drawing from a letter Miles wrote in 1891, the legislation quotes him stating, “I have never heard of a more brutal, cold-blooded massacre than that at Wounded Knee.”

Western civilization itself is a stain on the New World that needs removing.

(Notonly should the medals be rescinded, but all known descendants of the soldiers who participated in the massacre should be prohibited by the state from reproducing.)

---



Visitor comment: I agree with most of what he's saying, only the notion that people who never owned slaves should pay "reparations" to people who never were slaves, in apology for slavery existing - something that no one today was even alive to see - is retarded. I thinka much better course of action, one that won't actually deepen ethnic division, is to remove these monuments and to shift the cultural forces of the US towards Univeralism rather than tribalism.

90sRF response: He wasn't necessarily demanding reparations, but rather pointing out that the same people unwilling to pay reparations gladly pay for stuff to celebrate historical slave owners. If people who had nothing to do with slavery themselves solely cared about keeping their own money, they shouldn't be willing to pay for either. Unwillingness to pay only for the former can therefore be deduced to be caused by something other than merely people who had nothing to do with slavery wanting to keep their own money.

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https://summit.news/2019/07/25/video-algerians-tear-down-statue-of-general-de-gaulle-in-france/

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People are catching on to our way of thinking:

www.campusreform.org/?ID=13537

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Aimedat UVA President James Ryan, the petition entitled "Remove Monument to Genocide that Welcomes People to UVA," as reported by Newsweek, calls for UVA to scrap a statue of George Rogers Clark, a leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and brother of William Clark. The petition has received 450 total signatures, just 50 signatures shy of its final goal,at publication time.

Inscribed text underneath the statue reads “George Rogers Clark: Conqueror of the Northwest.”

“Remove the statue of George Rogers Clark engaged in genocide to a museum where it can be presented as a shameful memory,” the petition demands. “The statue of George Rogers Clark at UVA depictsa white man on a horse dressed for war….He has other men behind him with a gun and a barrel of gun powder, and he appears to be reaching back for a gun with his right hand. There are four Native Americans in front of him, including one infant.”
...
Richard Handler, an anthropology professor at UVA, told the Cavalier Daily that the statue could be moved to an exhibit to teach people about genocidal behavior against Native Americans.

“People need to realize that statues were not handed down from God but are human creations of specific times,places and peoples,” Handler said. “As our thinking changes, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with removing, destroying, or even rededicatinga statue.”

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Another history lesson:

www.startribune.com/the-real-history-of-mount-rushmore/388715411/

Quote
Thecarved visages are iconic Americana, appearing in a gazillion media photos and books and travel features, in advertisements and promotions, on U.S. postage stamps in two eras, and on South Dakota’s license plate (“Great Faces. Great Places.”).

But the back story of Mount Rushmore is hardly a rich history of a shared democratic ideal. Some seethe monument in the Black Hills as one of the spoils of violent conquest over indigenous tribes by a U.S. Army clearing the way for white settlers driven westward by a lust for land and gold.

Actually, violent conquest of minorities by the majority is the democratic ideal.

Quote
As it was in colonial America, the young country’s expansion was fueled by “Manifest Destiny” — a self-supreme notion that any land coveted by Euro-Americans was, by providence, rightfully theirs for the taking.
...
Thesculptures were chiseled by an imported Ku Klux Klansman on a granite mountain owned by indigenous tribes on what they considered sacred land — land that the U.S. Supreme Court said in 1980 was illegally taken from them.
...
Theso-called “Indian wars” featured the U.S. Army aggressively enforcing America’s expansionist resolve by exterminating indigenous tribes who sought to stay where they’d always been. Indians would lose nearly everybloody battle that would follow.
...
the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 granting Lakota autonomy over a broad, 60-million-acre region encompassing all of South Dakota west of the Missouri River — including the Black Hills — and parts of North Dakota and Nebraska.
...
But like every tribal treaty before and since, the U.S. reneged on its Fort Laramie promises almost immediately by failing to prevent small-scale incursions into “The Great Sioux Reservation.”

Justsix years after Laramie, Gen. George Custer led a U.S. Army expedition out of Fort Lincoln (present-day Bismarck, N.D.) into the Black Hills toexplore suitable sites for forts and routes to them. The action was a purposely provocative treaty violation.

Anothermission, to assess the presence of gold, would hasten the treaty’s demise. Custer rosily trumpeted that gold was found, unleashing a torrent of prospectors that the U.S. chose not to contain.

After a failed bid to buy the Black Hills, the U.S. determined to drive out the Lakota and simply take the area’s riches.Fierce resistance by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull was worn down by the Army’s big guns and well-supplied legions, mostly dispatched from Minnesota’s Fort Snelling.
...
Atwar’s end, the “victorious” U.S. carved up the Great Sioux Reservation by first taking back the Black Hills and broad swaths of buffers. The Lakota were forced onto mostly useless land, including the Pine Ridge Reservation on South Dakota’s southern border.
...
On a bitter December day in 1890, a U.S. cavalry contingent intercepted a band of ghost-dancing Lakota and attempted to confiscate what few guns they had. A shot rang out, and panicked soldiers opened fire from all sides, killing150 men, women and children before hunting down scores of unarmed Lakota and shooting them point-blank as they struggled in the snow.

The infamous Wounded Knee Massacre (incredibly, the U.S. called it a “battle” and awarded medals to its “heroes”) was the last of America’s long, violent campaigns to subdue indigenous tribes all across the continent.
...
Threedecades after Wounded Knee, in 1923, a South Dakota tourism agent advanced an idea for several large sculptures in the Black Hills. He enlisted the support of the renowned Gutzon Borglum, whose most recent work had been carving Stone Mountain, Ga., a grand gathering site for a white supremacist group Borglum belonged to, the Ku Klux Klan.
...
AtMount Rushmore, you may learn that the sculptures are arranged for maximum sun exposure, itself a cruel irony: The faces of the four presidents (white conquerors) peer southeast toward a reservation housing vanquished Lakota, who mostly live out forgotten, impoverished lives in the shadow of their sacred Paha Sapa that, legally, still belong to them.

This is called democracy.

The Mount Rushmore sculptures must be destroyed. (They are extremely ugly anyway, and utterly ruin the entire mountainscape in the most tasteless way possible. In this sense this perfectly captures how Western civilization interacts with everything it encounters. We should certainly keep photos to show students in a post-Western future.)

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« Last Edit: June 30, 2020, 12:31:33 am by 90sRetroFan »

90sRetroFan

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Re: Statue decolonization
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2020, 01:42:25 am »
OLD CONTENT contd.

About time:

news.yahoo.com/long-mexico-icon-spanish-conquistador-040345048.html

Quote
ALBUQUERQUE,N.M. (AP) — The Spanish conquistador is an image found throughout New Mexico, the most Hispanic state in the United States.

Depictions of men such as 17th century explorers Don Juan de Oñate and Don Diego deVargas have long adorned murals and been honored at commemorations as symbols of the region's Hispanic heritage.

In recent years, however, the conquistador and all the effigies connected to it have come under intense criticism. Anew generation of Native American and Latino activists is demanding that conquistador imagery and names be removed from seals, schools and streets. They say the figure's connection to colonialism and indigenous genocide makes the conquistador outdated, highlighting the region's changing attitudes about its colonial past.

Activists convinced organizers of the yearly Santa Fe Fiesta to abandon "the Entrada" — a recreation of de Vargas recapturing Santa Fe for the Spanish from Pueblo tribes. Under pressure, Santa Fe's public school district also announced it would limit when conquistador reenactors visit. This month, the University of New Mexico said it's looking for a new design for its official seal following protests from Native Americans over concerns about the current seal with a conquistador.

ElenaOrtiz, president of the Santa Fe chapter of The Red Nation, a Native American advocacy group, said the developments come after years of activism and public campaigns seeking to change perceptions about the conquistador.

More needs to be done, she said.

"We still have Don Diego parading around," Ortiz said. "This symbol of genocide should not be allowed in public schools."
...
NickEstes, an American Studies professor at the University of New Mexico and co-founder of The Red Nation, said activists want state leaders to stop lionizing the region's violent colonial past and recognize the history of Native Americans.

This fight is worse than the battle over U.S. Civil War-era Confederate monuments in the American South, he said.

"Atleast there's an acknowledgment of this country's legacy with slavery,"Estes said. "This country has not acknowledged its legacy with indigenous genocide."

therednation.org/

(They also support BDS:

therednation.org/2019/09/07/the-liberation-of-palestine-represents-an-alternative-path-for-native-nations/ )

---

Holidays also count as statues:

www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-columbus-day-indigenous-people-20191011-3qaxw2omv5csfdgumzh727iavm-story.html

Quote
Commentary: Will Columbus Day give way to Indigenous Peoples Day? More communities are making the shift.
...
ColumbusDay is a relatively new federal holiday. In 1892, a joint congressionalresolution prompted President Benjamin Harrison to mark the “discovery of America by Columbus,” in part because of “the devout faith of the discoverer and for the divine care and guidance which has directed our history and so abundantly blessed our people.”

Europeans invoked God’s will to impose their will on indigenous people. So it seemed logical to call on God when establishing a holiday celebrating that conquest too.

Of course, not all Americans considered themselves blessed in 1892. That same year, a lynching forced black journalist Ida B. Wells to flee her hometown of Memphis. And while Ellis Island had opened in January of that year, welcoming European immigrants, Congress had already banned Chinese immigration a decade prior, subjecting Chinese people living in the U.S. to widespread persecution.
...
Today,cities with significant native populations, such as Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles, celebrate either Native American Day or Indigenous Peoples Day. And states such as Hawaii, Nevada, Minnesota, Alaska and Maine have also formally recognized their Native populations with similar holidays. Many Native governments, including the Cherokee and Osage in Oklahoma, either don’t observe Columbus Day or have replaced itwith their own holiday.
...
While Columbus Day affirms the story of a nation created by Europeans for Europeans, Indigenous Peoples Day emphasizes Native histories and Native people — an important addition tothe country’s ever-evolving understanding of what it means to be American.



---

https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/columbus-statue-defaced-with-red-paint-near-coit-tower/

---

More success:

pix11.com/2019/10/14/columbus-park-in-milwaukee-renamed-indigenous-peoples-park/

---

At least they got our message about Ghandi:

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/students-call-to-block-manchester-gandhi-statue-because-hes-racist-a4262711.html

Quote
The city council approved a 9ft bronze statue of the Indian independence figure to be erected outside Manchester Cathedral to promote peace following the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack that killed 22 people.

But a group of students are calling for the council to reverse its decision due to Gandhi’s “well-documented anti-black racism and complicity in the British Empire's action in Africa".

In an openletter, the students demanded a statement acknowledging his “racism”, an apology and to reverse the decision while redirecting funds to commemorate a black anti-racist activist.

The group says that Gandhi "saw himself as a ‘fellow-colonist'
...
It adds: "In 1905, Gandhi appealed to laws asking Indians to fight againstthe amaZulu, and collected funds to finance the execution of Black people fighting for self-determination and the right to their homeland.

"These actions and thoughts are of course not documented in his autobiography,but they are well documented throughout his earlier correspondence and writings."

The letter was posted under the hashtag #GandhiMustFall, which was previously used during efforts to remove a similar statue at the University of Ghana.

---

www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-council-set-to-ditch-australia-day-celebrations-20191105-p537o5.html

Quote
AustraliaDay celebrations in Sydney's inner west are set to be scrapped in favour of the Aboriginal festival Yabun under a council proposal aimed at a "more respectful" approach to the national holiday.
...
LaborMayor Darcy Byrne said moving the Australia Day celebrations at Enmore Park to a different date would stop it from competing with Yabun and recognise that for Aboriginal people it is a day of sadness rather than celebration.

"We're seeking to take a more respectful approach toJanuary 26 and acknowledge that for Aboriginal people it marks the onset of colonisation, dispossession, the removal of children and the deliberate destruction of language and culture," Mr Byrne said.

"There'sa growing number of local communities and people across Australia that think the 26th of January should be a commemoration not a celebration and the ongoing hurt that Aboriginal people feel shouldn't be exacerbated through fireworks and festivals."
...
The proposal will come before council next Tuesday night and is likely to pass with the support of Labor councillors and the Greens.

---

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/05/chile-statues-indigenous-mapuche-conquistadors

Quote
In the urban centre of Temuco, hooded demonstrators lassoed a statue of a 16th-century Spanish conquistador last week and yanked it to the ground.

Cheering bystanders – many wearing the traditional ponchos and headbands of the indigenous Mapuche people – stamped on the bronze effigy of Pedro de Valdivia and hammered it with wooden staffs.

In the city of Concepción – which Valdivia found in 1550 – a crowd toppled another bust of the Spanish coloniser, impaled it on a spike, and barbecued it at the feet of a statue of his historical nemesis, the Mapuche chieftain Lautaro.

Inthe nearby town of Collipulli, a bronze of General Cornelio Saavedra – notorious for leading the bloody 19th-century “pacification” of the Mapuche heartland – suffered a similar fate.

Most dramatically of all, a statue in Temuco of the Chilean military aviator Dagoberto Godoy (1893-1960) was decapitated,and his head hung from the arm of a statue of the Mapuche warrior Caupolicán – now also holding the Mapuche flag, or Wenufoye.
...
Theattacks on symbols of Spanish colonial rule have provoked a war of words recalling debates in the US over monuments to Confederate generals, or in the UK regarding prominent statues of slavers and imperialists.

Conservative Chilean commentators have branded themacts of vandalism and the work of “professional agitators”. Others describe an organic – if overexuberant – desire to challenge established historical narratives.

“These are actions of a very potent symbolism, in rejecting an official version that has falsified and grossly airbrushed our history,” said Pedro Cayuqueo, a Mapuche writer and historian. “There’s something far deeper going on.”
...
Such demands are shared by smaller aboriginal groups like the Diaguita, an Andean desert people with some 90,000 self-identified descendants. Protesters in the northern city of La Serena likewise felled and burneda statue of the conquistador Francisco de Aguirre in late October, replacing it with an image of “Milanka”, a Diaguita woman.

---

Demographic Blueshift harvest:

news.yahoo.com/democrats-wins-could-help-bring-144259907.html

Quote
RICHMOND,Va. (AP) — An army of Confederate monuments dots Virginia's landscape but some of those statues could soon start coming down after Election Day gave Democrats control of the General Assembly for the first time indecades.

Members of the new legislative majority say they plan to revive proposals to make it easier to remove the public displays honoring Civil War soldiers and generals in a state that was home to twoConfederate capitals. Previous attempts to do so were quickly dispatched in the Republican-controlled General Assembly, in votes largely along party lines.
...
Across the state, officials have catalogued 168 war memorials, 136 of which are dedicated to Confederate participants in the Civil War.
...
Another occasional target of criticism is a statue of prominent segregationist Harry F. Byrd Sr., a former Virginia governor and U.S. senator who's considered the architectof the state's "massive resistance" policy to public school integration. His figure in bronze stands on the Capitol square.

---

Vegan edition!

au.news.yahoo.com/cambridge-university-removes-painting-after-vegans-complain-115638812.html

Quote
A college at Cambridge University in England has removed a 17th century painting from the wall of its dining hall after students complained it was putting them off their food.

Hughes Hall reportedly received complaints from vegan students about The Fowl Market, which shows a collection of dead animals hanging from hooks.

The painting, by Flemish artist Frans Snyders, was on long-term loan from the university’s Fitzwilliam Museum but has now been taken down.

---

Warren is in:

news.yahoo.com/elizabeth-warren-revoking-medals-wounded-knee-massacre-140752378.html

Quote
WASHINGTON― Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation on Wednesday that would rescind 20 Medals of Honor awarded to U.S. soldiers who slaughtered hundreds of Lakota Indians — mostly women and children ― in the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890.

Her bill, the Remove the StainAct, is the Senate version of a bill introduced in the House in June byDemocratic Reps. Denny Heck (Wash.), Paul Cook (Calif.) and Deb Haaland(N.M.), one of two Native American women in Congress.
...
“The horrifying acts of violence against hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee should be condemned, not celebrated with Medalsof Honor,” Warren said in a statement. “The Remove the Stain Act acknowledges a profoundly shameful event in U.S. history, and that’s whyI’m joining my House colleagues in this effort to advance justice and take a step toward righting wrongs against Native peoples.”

---

www.foxnews.com/politics/virginias-ralph-northam-pushes-to-remove-robert-e-lee-statue-from-us-capitol

Quote
VirginiaGov. Ralph Northam will push for a bill in the state legislature to replace the state's statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that is displayed in the United States Capitol building.

The office of the Democratic governor will file a request for a bill that would outline the process for removing the statue and selecting a replacement.The figure of Lee is one of two statues from Virginia in the National Statuary Hall Collection.

The filing come after two Democratic lawmakers requested Northam replace the statue as part of his legislative agenda for the new session that begins in February.

---

On a lighter note:

www.yahoo.com/news/comedians-mock-confederate-sympathizer-steve-174718631.html

---

www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/mar/9/steny-hoyer-wants-roger-taney-bust-replaced-thurgo/

Quote
House Democrats said Monday they will try to toss the bust of former Chief Justice Roger Taney from the collection in the U.S. Capitol, saying the Maryland jurist’s role in writing the decision in the 1857 Dred Scott ruling makes him unfit for that honor.
...
“We’re entering a new era where we are reexamining our history and beginning to look at our history for its good. And also its bad,” Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Karen Bass said. “The removal of Chief Justice Taney’s bust is long overdue in our nation’s Capitol.”

The Dred Scott decisionconfirmed that the Constitution did not recognize slaves as U.S. citizens and therefore they could not sue in federal court. It also declared the Missouri Compromise, a deal meant to appease escalating tensions over slavery, unconstitutional, barring Congress from prohibiting slavery in the western territories.
...
The push to remove Taney’s bust is part of a larger, national debate over removing statues and monuments dedicated to historical figures who are seen as controversial by modern standards.

In Virginia, the Democratic-led state General Assembly passed measures over the weekend that rolled back protections for Confederate monuments and allows local governments to decide whether or not to remove them.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2020, 01:45:57 am by 90sRetroFan »

90sRetroFan

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Re: Statue decolonization
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2020, 01:59:23 am »
OLD CONTENT contd.

Good job!

www.marketwatch.com/story/confederate-statues-and-monuments-become-targets-in-weekend-protests-of-death-of-black-minneapolis-man-in-police-custody-2020-05-31

Quote
RICHMOND,Va. (AP) — Protesters demonstrating against the death of George Floyd, ablack man who pleaded for air as a white police officer pressed his knee on his neck, targeted Confederate monuments in multiple cities.

Astense protests swelled across the country Saturday into Sunday morning,monuments in Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Mississippi were defaced. The presence of Confederate monuments across the South — and elsewhere in the United States — has been challenged for years, and someof the monuments targeted were already under consideration for removal.

Thewords “spiritual genocide” in black spray paint, along with red handprints, stained the sides of a Confederate monument on the University of Mississippi campus Saturday, the Oxford Eagle reported. One person was arrested at the scene.

Ole Miss administrators, student leaders and faculty leaders have recommended moving the statue — installed in 1906 and a rallying point in 1962 for people who rioted tooppose the university’s court-ordered integration — from a central spotto a Civil War cemetery that’s in a more secluded location on campus, but the state College Board has delayed action.

Critics have saidits display near the university’s main administrative building sends a signal that Ole Miss glorifies the Confederacy and glosses over the South’s history of slavery.

In Charleston, South Carolina, protesters defaced a Confederate statue near the Battery, a historic area on the coastal city’s southern tip. The base of the Confederate Defenders statue, erected in 1932, was spray-painted, including with thewords “BLM” and “traitors,” news outlets reported. It was later coveredwith tarp, photos show.

In North Carolina, the base of a Confederate monument at the State Capitol was marked with a black X and ashorthand for a phrase expressing contempt for police, according to a photo posted by a News & Observer journalist to social media. The word “racist” was also marked on the monument, the newspaper reported.
...
Inthe coastal city of Norfolk, protesters climbed a Confederate monument and spray-painted graffiti on its base, according to photos posted by a Virginian-Pilot journalist. Norfolk is among the Virginia cities that have signaled intent to remove their Confederate monuments. In February,state lawmakers approved legislation that would give cities autonomy todo so.

A commission in Richmond, the state capital and what was the capital of the Confederacy, recommended removing one of five Confederate statues along the city’s famed Monument Avenue. Photos posted to social media late Saturday and early Sunday showed the bases of at least two statues — those of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart — almost entirely covered in graffiti. A statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis had “cops ran us over,” spray-painted on the base. A noose had been flung over Davis’ shoulder.

Afire burned for a time at the headquarters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a group responsible for erecting many Confederate statues and fighting their removal. The building, too, was covered in graffiti, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

In Chattanooga, Tenn., protesters spray-painted a statue Saturday of Confederate Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart on Saturday, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.

In Nashville, Tenn., and in Philadelphia, statues of people criticized for racist views, but without Confederate ties, were also targeted.

Protesters in Nashville toppled Saturday a statue of Edward Carmack, a state lawmaker in the early 1900s and newspaper publisher who had racist views and wrote editorials lambasting the writings of prominent Tennessee civil-rights journalist Ida B. Wells, the Tennessean reported.

Protesters sprayed graffiti on a statue of former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo, tried to topple it and set a fire at its base. Rizzo, mayor from 1972 to 1980, was praised by supporters as tough on crime but accused by critics of discriminating against people of color. His 10-foot-tall (3-meter-tall) bronze statue across from City Hall has been defaced before and is to be moved next year.

---

Another one down!

www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/06/03/Philadelphia-takes-down-statue-of-former-Mayor-Frank-Rizzo/4321591190033/

Quote
"Thestatue is a deplorable monument to racism, bigotry, and police brutality for members of the Black community," Kenney said. "The treatment of these communities under Mr. Rizzo's leadership was among the worst periods in Philadelphia's history."

---

The list so far:

www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2020/06/all-the-monuments-to-racism-that-have-been-torched-occupied-or-removed/

And one more:

www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-ranger-statue-at-love-field-removed-over-concerns-about-racist-history/2382528/

Don't stop now!

---

www.brusselstimes.com/all-news/belgium-all-news/115251/leopold-ii-statue-defaced-at-africa-museum/

Quote
A statue of Leopold II in the garden of the Africa Museum in Tervuren was defaced, VRT reported Thursday evening.

Other statues of the former Belgian king had already been vandalized in Halle, Ostend, Ghent and Ekeren.

Thestatue in Ekeren was set on fire on Wednesday night after having been smeared in red paint last weekend. The bust in Ghent was also covered inred paint and marked ‘I can’t breathe,’ the final words of George Floyd, an unarmed black man whose death at the hands of US police has sparked nationwide uprisings over police brutality and systemic racism.
www.brusselstimes.com/all-news/belgium-all-news/115178/leopold-ii-statue-set-on-fire-in-antwerp/

www.brusselstimes.com/brussels/114713/petition-launched-to-remove-statue-of-leopold-ii-in-brussels/

Quote
As anti-racism protests and demonstrations in honour of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer put his knee on his neckfor minutes in the United States last week, are taking place worldwide,a petition to the City of Brussels has been launched in Belgium to remove all statues of Leopold II.

Under his colonial regime, millions of Congolese people died. Lack of reliable sources have made itdifficult to form an accurate estimation, but modern estimates range from 1 million to 15 million. In recent years, a consensus of around 10 million deaths has been reached among historians.

“Despite all this, Leopold II is commemorated throughout Belgium through statues, ceremonies in his honour, street names, and so on. We do not want to erase the past, but we do want to erase any homage to this man,” the initiators of the petition added.

The petition:

www.change.org/p/ville-de-bruxelles-enlever-toutes-les-statues-en-hommage-%C3%A0-l%C3%A9opold-ii

---

And another goes down!

us.yahoo.com/news/protesters-topple-confederate-statue-virginia-054712041.html

---



---

Another:

www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/08/john-b-castleman-statue-louisville-taken-down-cherokee-triangle/5318612002/

Also, Mayor Sadiq Khan defends the statue topplers:

---

Moving beyond Confederates to colonialists proper:

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/09/protesters-rally-in-oxford-for-removal-of-cecil-rhodes-statue

---



---

Previously I suggested:

Quote
wecould consider (as an alternative to removing entire statues) just decapitating each statue and displaying the disembodied head hanging adjacent to the rest of the statue. This would visually prove beyond anydoubt that we are not trying to make people think that the colonialists(and, by inference, the colonial era) never existed, but merely declaring what we think of colonialists.

Now:

www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/06/10/christopher-columbus-statue-beheaded-boston-richmond/

Thank you BLM!

Also ongoing:

www.yahoo.com/news/tracker-monument-statue-removal-floyd-protests-confederate-racist-204705465.html

But best of all:

www.thesun.co.uk/news/11832425/second-winston-churchill-statue-vandalised-graffiti-blm-protests/

Quote
The statue of Queen Victoria was left covered in graffiti after Black Lives Matter protests in Leeds.

Demonstrators sprayed the sculpture with the words “racist”, “murderer” and “slave owner”.
...
Nelson's Column is another target of anti-racism campaigners who want it torn down over links to the slave trade.

Campaigners want the column removed as Nelson was fiercely opposed to the abolition of the slave trade.

Hesupported prominent slavers and tried to prevent the abolitionist William Wilberforce - who he dubbed 'damnable' - from ending Britain's involvement in the slave trade.

Hundreds of statues could be pulled down after protesters drew up a “hitlist”.

Full list of statues

Francis Drake - sea captain and slave trader

Drake was the first sailor to complete an entire journey of the world in one trip frm 1577 to 1580.

He helped his cousin, John Hawkins, capture slaves from the Americas and sell them to Spanish plantations.

William Gladstone

Gladstone is a former British PM whose family owned slaves in the Caribbean.

He was actively opposed to the anti-slavery movement in Britain.

When slavery was banned, he helped his father obtain today's equivalent of £10.3 million in return for freeing his slaves.

Horatio Nelson

Aflag officer in the Royal Navy known for inspirational leadership and unconventional tactics during the Napoleonic wars. He was a supporter ofthe slave trade and actively tried to thrwart the abolitionist movementin Britain.

James George Smith Neill - monument - Ayr, Wellington Square

Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde – Statue - Glasgow, George Square

Sir Robert Peel - Statue - Glasgow, George Square

Henry Dundas – Statue - Edinburgh, St Andrew's Square

Grey's Monument - Newcastle Upon Tyne, Grainger Street

William Armstrong - Memorial - Newcastle Upon Tyne, Eldon Place

Statue of Sir Robert Peel in George Square, Glasgow

Robert Peel – Statue - Leeds, Woodhouse Moor

Robert Peel – Statue - Preston, Winkley Square

Robert Peel – Statue - Bury

Robert Peel – Statue - Manchester, Piccadilly Gardens

Oliver Cromwell – Statue - Manchester, Wythenshawe Road

Oliver Cromwell – Statue - Warrington, Bridge Street

Bryan Blundell - Blundell House - Liverpool, Liverpool Blue Coat School

Christopher Columbus – Statue - Liverpool, Sefton Park Palm House

William Leverhulme – Statue - Wirral, outside Lady Lever Art Gallery

Henry Morton Stanley – Statue - Denbigh, Hall Square

William Gladstone – Statue - Hawarden, Gladstone's Library, Church Lane

Elihu Yale – Wetherspoons Pub - Wrexham, Regent Street

Black man's head caricature - Ashbourne, Green Man

Robert Clive – Statue - Shrewsbury, The Square

Robert Peel – Statue - Tamworth, 27 Market Street

H Morton Stanley – Park - Redditch, Morton Stanley Park

Statue of Oliver Cromwell on Bridge Street, Warrington

Oliver Cromwell – Statue - St Ives, Market Hill

Ronald A. Fisher – Memorial - Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College

Sir Thomas Picton – Memorial - Carmarthen, Picton Terrace

General Nott - Statue - Carmarthen, Nott Square

Thomas Phillips – Memorial plaque - Brecon, Captain's Walk

Cecil Rhodes – Statue - Oxford, Oriel College

Christopher Codrington – Rename Library - Oxford, Codrington Library, All Souls College

Rename Rhodes Arts Complex and Rhodes Avenue - Bishop's Stortford, Cecil Rhodes

Sir Thomas Picton – Statue - Cardiff, Cardiff City Hall

Edward Colston – Rename Colston Hall and Colston Street - Bristol, Colston Street

Henry Overton Wills III – Wills Memorial Building - Bristol, University of Bristol

Edward Colston – Statue - Bristol, Bristol Harbour

Edward Colston - Building - Bristol, Colston Tower, Colston Street

Captain Edward August Lendy & Captain Charles Frederick Lendy– Memorial Statue - Sunbury-on-Thames, Pantiles Court

Edward Colston – Rename Colston Road - Mortlake, Colston Road

William Beckford – School - London, Dornfell Street

Statue of Robert Clive in The Square, Shrewsbury

Robert Geffrye – Statue located on the Museum of the Home - London, Kingsland Road

Francis Galton – Galton Lecture Theatre - London, Gower Street

Charles II of England – Statue - London, Soho Square Gardens

King James II – Statue - London, Trafalgar Square

Robert Clive – Statue - London, Westminster, King Charles Street

Oliver Cromwell – Statue - London, Houses of Parliament

Sir Robert Clayton – Statue - London, St Thomas' Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road

SirHenry De la Beche – Name on front of Imperial College - London, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus

Christopher Columbus – Monument - London, Belgrave Square Garden

Thomas Guy – Statue - London, Guys Hospital

Thomas Guy - London, Guy's Hospital

Robert Milligan – Statue - London, Tower Hamlets, West India Quay

Sir Francis Drake, Robert Blake, Horatio Nelson – Statues - London, Deptford Town Hall, Goldsmiths College

Sir Francis Drake, Robert Blake and Horatio Nelson – Statues - London, Goldsmiths Uni Deptford Town Hall

Statue of Sir Robert Clayton on Westminster Bridge Road, London

Lord Kitchener – Statue - Chatham, Khartoum Road

Admiral Sir Edward Codrington – Plaque - Brighton, Western Road

William Ewart Gladstone – Plaque - Brighton, Royal Albion Hotel

Christopher Barry Russell – Office - Cosham, Admiral House

Redvers Buller – Statue - Exeter, Hele Road

Francis Drake – Statue - Tavistock, Drakes Roundabout

Nancy Astor – Statue - Plymouth, Hoe Park

Francis Drake - Statue - Plymouth, Plymouth Hoe

I like leftists who are methodical about activism.

Theabove list pertains to just the UK, though. We need similar lists for every country affected by Western colonialism. Anyone want to volunteer?

Quote
A group called Topple the Racists want statues across Britain removed and street names changed.

Theirlist includes some of Britain’s most famous historical figures including King James II, Oliver Cromwell and Christopher Columbus.

Thegroup said: “We believe these statues and other memorials to slave-owners and colonialists need to be removed so that Britain can finally face the truth about its past – and how it shapes our present.
...
“We must learn from, not venerate, this terrible chapter in British colonial history.”

Very well put. We support this group unreservedly:

www.toppletheracists.org/

Keep up the good work!

Quote
Meanwhile,it has been announced 130 Labour councils across England and Wales willbegin reviewing monuments and statues in their towns and cities.

It means dozens more monuments could be removed.

Astatement posted on Twitter said: "LGA Labour have consulted with all Labour council leaders, and there is overwhelming agreement from all Labour councils that they will listen to and work with their local communities to review the appropriateness of local monuments and statueson public land and council property."

I wish success to all involved. To colonialist statues everywhere: WE WILL REPLACE YOU!

---

Meanwhile, more successes back in the US:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8408251/Pelosi-demands-Republicans-agree-remove-11-Confederate-statues-Capitol-Hill.html (pictures and information about the statues included)

Also some I missed earlier:

www.yahoo.com/news/jefferson-davis-statue-torn-down-034826808.html

www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/jun/10/protesters-topple-columbus-statue-minnesota/

---

« Last Edit: June 30, 2020, 02:04:55 am by 90sRetroFan »

90sRetroFan

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Re: Statue decolonization
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2020, 02:09:58 am »
OLD CONTENT contd.

Recap of earlier years:

www.yahoo.com/news/pulling-down-statues-racists-africas-070107944.html

Quote
JOHANNESBURG(AP) — Queen Victoria, Cecil Rhodes, King Leopold. Statues honoring these leaders of colonial rule have been pulled down over the years in Africa after countries won independence or newer generations said racistrelics had to go.

New campaigns in the U.S. and Europe are now following Africa’s lead. Monuments to slave traders and colonial rulers have become the focus of protests around the world, driven by a reexamination of historical injustice after the death of George Floyd atthe hands of police in the U.S.

No protests have been spotted this week around the remaining statues in Africa, but several have facedfurious demonstrations in the past.

A boisterous student-led campaign pressed the University of Cape Town to remove a statue of CecilRhodes from the school's entrance in April 2015. The statue had been defaced and covered in excrement by students protesting against the colonial leader who supported white minority rule in South Africa and the colonization of the southern African territories named for him, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, which later became independent Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Students celebrated as a crane lifted the statue off its base. Now the statue is covered by a tarpaulin at a local army base.

Anotherstatue of Rhodes was toppled in Zimbabwe in July 1980, a few months after the country became independent. When the statue was downed in the capital — then known by its colonial name, Salisbury, now Harare — demonstrators cheered and pounded it with a hammer.

A statue of Britain’s Queen Victoria in Nairobi, Kenya, was knocked down and beheaded in 2015 by unknown vandals. The headless statue lies next to its plinth in a downtown square.

“This statue reminds me of the suffering our forefathers went through in the hands of colonialists and whenever we see them, the memories are fresh,” Nairobi resident Samuel Obiero said. “We need to get rid of them. All over the world they must be brought down and all people who suffered due to colonialism need to also be saved from all these kinds of memories.”

InCongo, a statue honoring colonial ruler King Leopold II of Belgium — a copy of the statue that is now the focus of demonstrations in Belgium — was pulled down decades ago. Erected in 1928, it was ordered taken down by then-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko seven years after independence in 1960.

The statue made a return in 2005 with an updated plaque, intended by authorities to serve as a reminder of the horrors of colonial rule. Public outcry was so great that it was taken down a day later.

Now it stands in a park of colonial monuments set up on the grounds of the Institute of National Museums set up by the U.N. mission in Congo. Although the park is technically open to the public, access is limited because of its proximity to the president’s residence in the capital, Kinshasa. The park also has statues of explorers Henry Morton Stanley and David Livingstone.

There have been so many protests against the statue of Paul Kruger, an early white ruler of South Africa, in the capital, Pretoria, that fencing has been erected tokeep people away from it. “Killer Killer” is prominently painted on itsbase.

“It just reminds me of, like, what’s written over there, ‘Killer Killer,’” said Rogue Wanga, a 19-year-old street vendor. "Those people were killers literally. And they never liked us. I feel like we should replace it. Maybe a fountain or a Madiba (Nelson Mandela) statue wouldn’t hurt.”
...
South African author William Gumede said pulling down statues is just the first step in a process.

“It'simportant for these symbols of injustice to be pulled down,” Gumede said. “This has been going on for decades, and we are grappling with ridding ourselves of these monuments to domination.”

But is there less enthusiasm about pulling down colonialist statues in former colonies in other parts of the world? If so, why? And what can bedone to increase such enthusiasm?

---

Next one:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8418521/New-Orleans-protesters-pull-bust-throw-river.html

Quote
Black Lives Matter protesters rip down bust of slave owner John McDonogh in New Orleans then throw it into the Mississippi River

---

Continuing:

www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/06/pioneer-statues-toppled-amid-protests-at-university-of-oregon.html

Quote
The statues have a history tied to the celebration of white conquest, and some students had renewed calls for their removal against a backdrop of international protests against racism and police brutality.
...
ThePioneer was the first statue on the University of Oregon campus, according to the university website. During the 1919 ceremony in which it was dedicated, the president of the Oregon Historical Society gave a speech lauding the “Anglo-Saxon race,” according to a Hidden History article on the university’s library website.

The Pioneer Mother, erected in 1932, was the other statue removed by protesters. Researcher Brenda Frink told The Register-Guard in 2012 that similar pioneer motherstatues celebrated “the expansion of American territory and the expansion of white occupation of that land.”
...
Also on the list was a renaming of Deady Hall, named after Matthew Deady, the racist judge who founded the University of Oregon law school. Deady was a notedproponent of slavery and said only “pure white” men should be allowed to vote, according to a report commissioned by university President Michael Schill in 2016.

---

Quote
activists in northern New Mexico celebrated the removal of another likeness of Oñate that was on public display at a cultural center in the community of Alcalde. Rio Arriba County officials removed it to safeguard it from possible damage and to avoid civil unrest ahead of a scheduled protest.

A forklift priedthe massive bronze statue of Oñate on horseback from a concrete pedestal. Cheers erupted among bystanders who saw the memorial as an affront to indigenous people and an obstacle to greater racial harmony, though several people also arrived to defend the tribute to Oñate.
...
The Oñate statues have been a source of criticism for decades.

Oñate,who arrived in present-day New Mexico in 1598, is celebrated as a cultural father figure in communities along the Upper Rio Grande that trace their ancestry to Spanish settlers. But he’s also reviled for his brutality.

To Native Americans, Oñate is known for having orderedthe right feet cut off of 24 captive tribal warriors that was precipitated by the killing of Onate’s nephew. In 1998, someone sawed the right foot off the statue — an incident that weighed in the decisionto stash away the statue.

---

abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/statue-pioneer-linked-california-gold-rush-removed-71267009

Quote
Severaldozen people cheered as a work crew lifted the statue of John Sutter — a19th century European colonizer of California who enslaved Native Americans — off its pedestal outside Sutter Medical Center in the latestreckoning of historical figures being removed from public display.
...
AshwutRodriguez, a California Indian from Sacramento, spit on the statue of Sutter after it was loaded onto a flatbed and tied down.

“This isonly a Band Aid on a broken arm, but we can’t celebrate or consider anything until you stop celebrating these evil people,” said Rodriguez, 42, who came out with his family and young children to watch.

www.yahoo.com/news/christopher-columbus-statue-removed-st-152227289.html

Quote
Astatue of Christopher Columbus that stood in a St. Louis park for more than 130 years has been removed amid a growing national outcry against monuments to the 15th century explorer (June 16)

---

www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/pelosi-orders-removal-four-portraits-confederate-house-speakers-capitol-n1231436

Quote
Pelosi requested the immediate removal of the portraits of Robert Hunter of Virginia who served as House speaker from 1839 to 1841; Howell Cobbs of Georgia (1849 to 1851); James Orr of South Carolina (1857 to 1859); and Charles Crisp of Georgia (1891 to 1895).

"We cannot honor men such as James Orr, who swore on the House Floor to 'preserve and perpetuate' slavery in order to 'enjoy our property in peace, quiet and security,' or Robert Hunter, who served at nearly every level of the Confederacy, including in the Confederate Provincial Congress, as Confederate Secretary of State, in the Confederate Senate and in the Confederate Army,” Pelosi wrote in the letter. "The portraits of these men are symbols that set back our nation's work to confront and combat bigotry."
...
The speaker said during her weekly press conference Thursday that she and her team were unaware that the portraits existed inside the Capitol until "we were taking inventory of the statues and the curator told us" about the four paintings of the Confederate speakers.

---

www.yahoo.com/news/north-carolina-protesters-tear-down-025419841.html

Quote
Protesters in North Carolina's capital pulled down parts of a Confederate monumentFriday on night and hanged one of the toppled statues from a light post.

Today, Western statues. Tomorrow, Western civilization.

---

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/20/protesters-statue-washington-dc-albert-pike-juneteenth-us

Quote
Cheering demonstrators jumped up and down as the 11-foot (3.4-meter) statue of Albert Pike – wrapped with chains – wobbled on its high granite pedestalbefore falling backward, landing in a pile of dust. Protesters then seta bonfire and stood around it in a circle as the statue burned, chanting, “No justice, no peace, no racist police”.
...
The Pike statue has been a source of controversy over the years. The former Confederate general was also a longtime influential leader of the Freemasons, who revere Pike and who paid for the statue. Pike’s body is interred at the DC headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, which also contains a small museum in his honor.

---

Our enemies report:

voiceofeurope.com/2020/06/foreigners-start-petitions-to-remove-racist-scandinavian-statues/

Quote
Theiconoclasm in US and UK has now spread to Scandinavia, where petitions in Sweden and Norway have called for statues of “racist” historical persons to be taken down.
...
Jallow, a foreigner, disapproves of Sweden’s commemoration of Von Linne because he was the first scientist who divided mankind into races. There are statues of him in various cities throughout Sweden. Recently, far-left activists have launched a petition to have one of Von Linne’s statues removed. At present, the petition has 1,566 signatures.

Meanwhile, in Norway, a Moroccan woman living named Yasmin Zannachi has started the petition to take downtwo statues in Oslo – one of Winston Churchill, and the other of the Norwegian writer Ludvig Holberg, Document Norway reports.
...
Zannachi’s petition, which now has over 4,000 signatures, is supported by the youth organization of the Norwegian Greens.

TeodorBruu, spokesperson for the Norwegian Green Youth says: “We think it is totally obvious that we should not have statues of racists and slave traders in our towns.”

---


Enemy tweet: coming for, like, ulysses s grant's ass? not sure about that one.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_policy_of_the_Ulysses_S._Grant_administration#Buffalo_destruction

Quote
Centralto the Grant administration Peace policy was allowing the destruction of the buffalo, the Native food supply, to keep Native peoples dependenton government supplies. In 1872, around two thousand white buffalo hunters working between Kansas, and Arkansas were killing buffalo for their hides by the many thousands. The demand was for boots for Europeanarmies, or machine belts attached to steam engines. Acres of land were dedicated solely for drying the hides of the slaughtered buffalo.

And the double-standard to top it off:

Quote
Ranchers wanted the buffalo gone to open pasture land for their cattle herds.

It is true that Grant was opposed to discrimination against "blacks":

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_S._Grant#Reconstruction_and_civil_rights

Quote
Grantwas considered an effective civil rights president, concerned about theplight of African Americans.[312] On March 18, 1869, Grant signed into law equal rights for blacks, to serve on juries and hold office, in Washington D.C., and in 1870 he signed into law the Naturalization Act that gave foreign blacks citizenship.[312] During his first term, Reconstruction took precedence. Republicans controlled most Southern states, propped up by Republican controlled Congress, northern money, and southern military occupation.[313] Grant advocated the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment that said states could not disenfranchise African Americans.[315]

but this is only further evidence that (contrary to rightist accusations ofBLM ethnotribalism) BLM cares not just about oppression of "blacks"

---

Here is a start for the US. This only has Confederate monuments, but this dataset can be downloaded expanded upon to include Columbus statues, pioneer settler monuments, etc.

www.splcenter.org/20190201/whose-heritage-public-symbols-confederacy#findings

This page has the data in a simplified format:

Quote
Across the United States, there are an estimated 1,741 public symbols of the Confederacy, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

These symbols include schools, parks, bridges, roads, statues and more.
...
In2017, during a protest against the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee, a self-described neo-Nazi killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer after he rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protestersin Charlottesville, Virginia.

Since then, at least 44 monuments have been removed across the country.

The map below shows where the 771 statues and monuments are in the US:

www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2020/06/mapping-hundreds-confederate-statues-200610103154036.html

---

We have arrived in France:

www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/06/22/protesters-deface-french-colonial-era-statues-in-red-paint/

Quote
PARIS(AP) — Two Paris statues related to France’s colonial era were daubed with red paint Monday amid a global movement to take down monuments to figures tied to slavery or colonialism.

One statue was of Hubert Lyautey, near the gold-domed Invalides monument that houses Napoleon’s tomb. Lyautey served in Morocco, Algeria, Madagascar and Indochina when they were under French control, and later was France’s minister of war during World War I.

The other figure drenched in red shows Voltaire, a leading thinker and writer of the French Enlightenment, who owed part of his fortune to colonial-era trade.

No topplings yet, though.....

---

Well spotted!

www.yahoo.com/news/petition-to-change-badge-st-michael-st-george-queen-honour-104906375.html

Quote
A petition is calling for one of the Queen’s highest honours to be redesigned as campaigners say it resembles a white man killing a black man.
...
On the petition, Tracy Reeve wrote: “The image on the Honorary Knights/Dames Commander (KCMG/DCMG) star is a white skinned angel stood on the head/neck of a black skinned devil.

“This is ahighly offensive image, it is also reminiscent of the recent murder of George Floyd by the white policeman in the same manner presented here inthis medal.

“We the undersigned are calling for this medal to completely redesigned in a more appropriate way and for an official apology to be given for the offence it has given!”
...
Sir Simon Woolley, the director and one of the founders of Operation Black Vote, told The Guardian: “The original image may have been of St Michael slaying Satan, but the figure has no horns or tail and is clearly a black man. It is a shocking depiction, and it is even more shocking thatthat image could be presented to ambassadors representing this country abroad.

“For most black and brown people, there is nothing good about the empire. Most people will see this as an image of George Floyd on a global scale and a symbol of white supremacy.”

Judge for yourself:



---

www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jun/23/andrew-cuomo-defends-destruction-us-monuments-its-/

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the attacks on monuments “healthy expression” and “good statements.”

Quote
In an appearance Tuesday on NBC, he denied President Trump’s admonition that, in the words of interviewer Savannah Guthrie, “cities should do more to protect monuments.”
...
“People are making a statement about equality, about community, to be against racism, against slavery, Ithink those are good statements,” the Democratic governor said.
...
“It’sa healthy expression of people saying let’s get some priorities here and let’s remember the sin and mistake that this nation made and let’s not celebrate it,” he said.

« Last Edit: July 15, 2020, 05:08:58 am by 90sRetroFan »

90sRetroFan

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Re: Statue decolonization
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2020, 02:22:32 am »
Not all statues involve people:

https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/man-arrested-for-taking-down-kalispell-monument-with-chain-pickup-truck

Quote
MISSOULA, Mont. — A Columbia Falls man is behind bars after police say he took down the Ten Commandments monument in Kalispell with a chain and a pickup truck.

90sRetroFan

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Re: Statue decolonization
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2020, 01:47:54 am »
https://nypost.com/2020/07/01/christopher-columbus-statue-removed-outside-columbus-city-hall/

https://apnews.com/b27b2bfce3ecefe13c917a69a59cd9da

Quote
Stonewall Jackson removed from Richmond’s Monument Avenue

https://www.yahoo.com/news/belgium-king-leopold-statue-removed-115117221.html

Quote
A statue of former Belgian king Leopold II has been removed in the city of Ghent as Belgium marked the 60th anniversary of the end of its colonial rule in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

We still have a very long way to go, however:

https://us.yahoo.com/news/worshipping-whiteness-why-racist-symbols-080048241.html
« Last Edit: July 02, 2020, 04:17:41 am by 90sRetroFan »

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Re: Statue decolonization
« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2020, 10:15:21 am »
Was Mahatma Gandhi racist? | The Stream
Quote
The University of Ghana has removed a statue of the Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, citing complaints from faculty and students that he was racist toward black Africans. The statue was donated to the university in 2016 by the Indian government, prompting critics to create the hashtag #GandhiMustFall to draw attention to derogatory statements the young Gandhi had written while living in South Africa.

Gandhi is considered an icon of social justice and defenders of his legacy contend that his writings, while ignorant, should be considered within the greater context of his life and struggle against oppression. Organisers of the hashtag campaign argue that Gandhi’s legacy doesn’t justify racism or his view that Africans were “inferior”.

In this episode, we speak with Gandhi historians and #GandhiMustFall campaigners to explore the impact of Mahatma Gandhi’s reported racism on his legacy as a champion of civil rights. Join the conversation.


Mahatma Gandhi's Statue Vandalised In London Amid Black Lives Matter Protest
Quote
Days after the desecration of a Mahatma Gandhi statue US capital Washington DC during George Floyd protests, protestors in Parliament Square, London, targeted a Gandhi statue on the other side of the Atlantic, spraying 'racist' on its foundation and splattering it with white paint. During the George Floyd protests in Parliament Square, which has emerged as one of the major hubs of protests in London, some miscreants took to defiling the statues located along the main square.

The main square holds statues of some historically respected figures of political movement including Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. Most of the statues along the main square were defiled with words such as 'racist' spray-painted on them, while some saw placards of the Black Lives Matter movement being hung around their necks.

90sRetroFan

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Re: Statue decolonization
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2020, 11:59:27 pm »
https://twitter.com/FordFischer/status/1278795602583789573

Quote
Following yesterday's order by Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney to remove all Confederate Statues immediately, a second figure was removed.

The statue of Matthew Maury, a Confederate Naval officer, was removed this morning.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/after-confederate-statues-controversy-native-american-lawmakers-ask-what-about-jackson-2020-07-02

Quote
“There’s no question Andrew Jackson was the worst president ever for Native Americans — cruel, horrible,” said Rep. Deb Haaland, a New Mexico Democrat. Haaland is one of only four Native Americans and one of two Native women in Congress.

Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna in New Mexico, said Jackson’s statue doesn’t deserve its place in the Rotunda.



Also the following is a worthwhile perspective:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/opinion/confederate-monuments-racism.html

Quote
You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument

The black people I come from were owned and **** by the white people I come from. Who dares to tell me to celebrate them?
...
I am a black, Southern woman, and of my immediate white male ancestors, all of them were rapists. My very existence is a relic of slavery and Jim Crow.

According to the rule of hypodescent (the social and legal practice of assigning a genetically mixed-race person to the race with less social power) I am the daughter of two black people, the granddaughter of four black people, the great-granddaughter of eight black people. Go back one more generation and it gets less straightforward, and more sinister. As far as family history has always told, and as modern DNA testing has allowed me to confirm, I am the descendant of black women who were domestic servants and white men who **** their help.

It is an extraordinary truth of my life that I am biologically more than half white, and yet I have no white people in my genealogy in living memory. No. Voluntary. Whiteness. I am more than half white, and none of it was consensual. White Southern men — my ancestors — took what they wanted from women they did not love, over whom they had extraordinary power, and then failed to claim their children.

What is a monument but a standing memory? An artifact to make tangible the truth of the past. My body and blood are a tangible truth of the South and its past. The black people I come from were owned by the white people I come from. The white people I come from fought and died for their Lost Cause. And I ask you now, who dares to tell me to celebrate them? Who dares to ask me to accept their mounted pedestals?
...
Either you have been blind to a truth that my body’s story forces you to see, or you really do mean to honor the oppressors at the expense of the oppressed, and you must at last acknowledge your emotional investment in a legacy of hate.

Either way, I say the monuments of stone and metal, the monuments of cloth and wood, all the man-made monuments, must come down. I defy any sentimental Southerner to defend our ancestors to me. I am quite literally made of the reasons to strip them of their laurels.

I of course recommend the author to voluntarily refrain from reproducing so as to terminate the bloodline she carries ASAP. Though more importantly the state needs to step in and prohibit actual racists from reproducing.

We need to start promoting what I am hereby coining genetic cancel culture. The physical cancel culture currently being practiced, consisting of eliminating colonialist symbols, is well-intentioned but ultimately superficial, and dangerous if we presume it is sufficient. Eliminating the bloodlines celebrated by those symbols is the only true solution.
« Last Edit: July 04, 2020, 12:07:16 am by 90sRetroFan »

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Re: Statue decolonization
« Reply #9 on: July 04, 2020, 11:40:10 pm »
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/protesters-pull-down-columbus-statue-024421492.html

Quote
Baltimore protesters pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus and threw it into the city's Inner Harbor on Saturday night.

https://twitter.com/louiskraussnews/status/1279579607637917699




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Re: Statue decolonization
« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2020, 11:45:29 pm »
https://apnews.com/08b88d1a21f11ba26cf15740d0b563bf

Quote
Richmond removes statue of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart

https://www.change.org/p/rutgers-camden-office-of-the-chancellor-remove-racist-walt-whitman-statue-from-rutgers-camden-campus

Quote
"The ****, like the Injun, will be eliminated: it is the law of races, history, what-not: always so far inexorable- always to be. Someone proves that a superior grade of rats comes and then all the minor rats are cleared out." - Walt Whitman

Topple the racists!

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Re: Statue decolonization
« Reply #12 on: July 09, 2020, 07:26:10 pm »
Melania Trump statue removed after being set on fire
Quote
A statue of Melania Trump has been removed from near her hometown in Slovenia after being badly burned by vandals.
The statue, near Sevnica, central Slovenia, was set alight on July 5, Slovenian Police confirmed to CNN.
Brad Downey, the artist who commissioned the piece, told CNN that he received a call from the local police department asking him what to do with the statue, which was made in July 2019 as part of an ongoing project that includes a short documentary film.


Well, that didn't last long....

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Re: Statue decolonization
« Reply #13 on: July 11, 2020, 12:48:53 am »
NFAC joins in the call to remove the Stone Mountain carving:

https://us.yahoo.com/gma/georgia-activists-seek-remove-stone-mountain-granddaddy-confederate-154456160.html

Quote
The Official Grand Master Jay, the NFAC founder, told ABC News he believes the Stone Mountain carving is a reminder of white supremacy, a history that cannot be cast simply as southern Confederate heritage.

“The United States has allowed it to exist but it's become a pain point. It's gotten to the point where it's more so fuel to the fire than it does to remind folks of their heritage. And of course, there are both sides to that, but I do believe that this particular monument is the pink elephant in the room,” he said.

Other organizations such as Black Lives Matter and the NAACP have also called for the removal of the monument.

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Re: Statue decolonization
« Reply #14 on: July 13, 2020, 12:22:25 am »
We have reached Puerto Rico:

https://time.com/5865928/puerto-rico-confronts-spain-legacy/

Quote
(SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico) — Statues, street names, plazas and even the body of conquistador Juan Ponce de León himself: Spain left a nearly indelible legacy in Puerto Rico that attracts hordes of tourists every year, but some activists are trying to erase it as they join a U.S. movement to eradicate symbols of oppression.

Dozens of activists marched through the historic part of Puerto Rico’s capital on Saturday, some wearing traditional Taino clothing as they banged on drums and blew on conch shells to demand that the U.S. territory’s government start by removing statues including those of explorer Christopher Columbus.

“These statues represent all that history of violence, of invasion, of looting, of theft, of murder,”
said an activist who goes by the name of Pluma and is a member of Puerto Rico’s Council for the Defense of Indigenous Rights. “These are crimes against humanity.”

Columbus landed in Puerto Rico in 1493 accompanied by Spaniard Ponce de León, who later became the island’s first governor and quelled an uprising by the native Tainos, a subgroup of the Arawak Indians. Historians and anthropologists believe that up to 60,000 Tainos lived in Puerto Rico at the time, but they were soon forced into labor and succumbed to infectious disease outbreaks.

Centuries later, local government officials honored both explorers by erecting statues and naming streets and plazas after them across Puerto Rico. The Columbus Plaza is located at the entrance of Old San Juan and bears a statue of Columbus unveiled in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his arrival. Meanwhile, a nearby statue of Ponce de León stands facing south with his left hand on his hip and right finger pointed toward the first settlement he founded. The ruins still mark the spot of the island’s first Spanish capital and is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. The statue made of melted steel from British cannons also points in the same direction of the nearby San Juan Bautista Cathedral that bears Ponce de León’s remains and is a popular tourist spot.

Activists on Saturday demanded that both statues be removed as the first step in taking down symbols of oppression across Puerto Rico.

“No, it won’t be easy,” acknowledged activist Francisco Jordán García, who helped organize the march. “It’s going to be a long process.”

But he quickly offered alternatives: “We can melt them and create a different statue of someone who truly deserves it.”

Activists recently contacted the office of San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz and said an assistant told them officials would evaluate the cost of taking down the statues. A Cruz spokesman did not return a message for comment.

The march comes as Puerto Ricans’ interest in the territory’s indigenous past continues to grow. In the 2010 Census, some 42,000 of the 3.7 million people living on the island at that time identified themselves as at least partially Taino.