MOVING FROM ICONS TO THE LIVING

COMPILATION AND COMMENTARY

BY LUCY WARNER

JUNE 12, 2020

A NUMBER OF MONUMENTS TO MEN WHO HAVE BEEN PORTRAYED IN HISTORY AS HEROES, BUT WHO HAVE BEEN BRUTAL IN THEIR TREATMENT OF MINORITIES, ARE BEING DEFACED AND STATUES PULLED DOWN OFF THEIR PEDESTALS. IT IS MAKING THE PRIVILEGED FEAR AND THE UNDERCLASSES TAKE JOY. IT IS SAD THAT HISTORY IS BEING DEMOLISHED IN A WAY, BUT GLADDENING THAT HISTORY IS BEING MADE.

NOW WHAT WE HAVE TO DO AS PROGRESSIVES, OR EVEN JUST LIBERALS, IS TO CONTINUE THE PATH PERSISTENTLY INTO A JUST FUTURE FOR OUR WORLD CIVILIZATIONS. THAT WON’T BE WITHOUT STEPS BACKWARD, BECAUSE THAT’S THE WAY HUMANS ARE, BUT REAL IMPROVEMENT CAN BE PUT INTO LAW BOTH IN THE FORM OF LOCAL TO NATIONAL STATUTES AND IN THE CONSTITUTION ITSELF. THOSE CANNOT  AS EASILY BE REWRITTEN ON THE STATE OR LOCAL LEVEL TO PULL US DOWN AGAIN. EVER ONWARD!

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/11/statues-celebrating-colonialism-racism-and-oppression-toppled-across-us-and

Published on

Thursday, June 11, 2020

byCommon Dreams

Statues Celebrating Colonialism, Racism, and Oppression Toppled Across US and Worldwide

"It's a powerful thing for us to be able to dismantle the entire building of this country, the truths and the untruths that have been told about Christopher Columbus."

byEoin Higgins, staff writer

PHOTOGRAPH -- Mike Forcia, of the Black River Anishinabe, celebrated after the Christopher Columbus statue was toppled in front of the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. (Photo: Leila Navidi/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

People across the U.S. and around the world are tearing down statues to some of the most brutal and racist men in history, a movement spurred by ongoing demonstrations against police brutality and inaction on the part of authorities to take down the racist monuments.

The statues, long a source of pain and anger for the victims of racist state abuses, are being pulled down by activists as part of a long-awaited reckoning for western nations with their past.

At the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, activists led by members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) tore down a statue of Christopher Columbus.

Jessie Van Berkel

@jessvanb

Columbus statue has fallen outside MN Capitol.

[EMBEDDED VIDEO]

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"It's a powerful thing for us to be able to dismantle the entire building of this country, the truths and the untruths that have been told about Christopher Columbus, how he came here and he did all of this good work," said Dorene Day, whose mother Charlotte was a founding mother of AIM. "Well, it's all lies. It's all lies."

Max Nesterak

✔

@maxnesterak

Replying to @maxnesterak

This is Dorene Day, who’s mom was one of the founding mothers of AIM

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A statue of Columbus in Boston, beheaded Tuesday night, was removed on Thursday morning.

Only In Boston

@OnlyInBOS

ALERT: The City of Boston has removed the Christopher Columbus statue in the North End.

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In Richmond, Virginia on Tuesday, demonstrators deposited a statue of Columbus into a nearby pond.

WTVR CBS 6 Richmond

✔

@CBS6

 · Jun 9, 2020

BREAKING: A statue of Christopher Columbus in Byrd Park has been removed by protesters and dragged into the lake. This is a developing story.

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Gary Alexander

@grylxndr

This isn't how you honor Columbus. To do it right they have to come back later, with a lot more people, and systematically wipe out all the other Columbus statues.

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Statues of Coumbus [sic] have come down across Europe as well, along with monuments to Belgian King Leopold II, whose brutaility toward the Congolese in the late nineteenth century still shocks historians.

Bloomberg QuickTake

✔

@QuickTake

👑 A statue of Belgium's King Leopold II has been removed after being vandalized in recent #BlackLivesMatter protests in Antwerp.

The 19th-century king was notorious for leading the brutal colonization of Congo that led to millions of deaths

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Rupert Wingfield - H

@wingcommander1

This Congolese man is staring at the severed hand and foot of his 5 year old daughter - punishment for not collecting enough rubber for Belgian King Leopold II. Today people are complaining because a statue of King Leopold has been taken down in Antwerp.

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In the U.K., demonstrators have torn down monuments to men who made their fortunes in the slave trade and who were part of the nation's imperial past.

NHK WORLD News

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@NHKWORLD_News

Two statues have been removed from display in England as the country reckons with a racist past. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/ataglance/ …

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"It's not the erasure of history that the right fear," tweeted Guardian columnist Owen Jones. "It's that our full history will be remembered, including the horrors of colonialism, and that will force us to reassess our present."

A list of Columbus statues across the U.S. and around the world can be found here.

Meanwhile, demonstrators across the American South tore down monuments to Confederate leaders, including a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond.

Sarah “Attack and Dethrone God” Jones

✔

@onesarahjones

gorgeous. beautiful. I give this 10 out of 10 https://twitter.com/matthewfultztv/status/1270914661257547777 …

Matthew Fultz CBS 6

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@matthewfultztv

#BREAKING the Jefferson Davis statue has been pulled down on Monument Avenue @CBS6

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Elsewhere in the state, in Norfolk, members of the community smashed the heads of statues of four Confederate soldiers and pulled down one, injuring a protester.

Matt Jones

✔

@jones_mattryan

 · 16h

Replying to @jones_mattryan

The remains of the statue.

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Matt Jones

✔

@jones_mattryan

How the statue looks now

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Intercept editor Ryan Grim, on Twitter, put the Confederacy-celebrating statues in historical context.

"Confederates weren't just vicious racists and traitors, they were also losers," said Grim. "They lost a single election and quit the country, then lost the war and pretended to surrender so they could try terrorism instead. Losers and cowards."

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