I’m not upset, nor am I supporting bigotry.
I’m doing creative, supportive, and difficult things to try to make positive change in this country. People who want to tear things down aren’t generally my allies in such efforts! I will point (again) to the removal of the Baltimore Jackson and Lee statue; despite removing a significant piece of art by an underappreciated female American artist, the racist plinth of no historic or artistic merit was left intact. A victory for hate, I’d call that.
That was one of the options they explored and ultimately rejected. Plaques aren’t always enough; racists who see a monument as a symbol of pride for their cause aren’t going to change their minds just because someone adds a historical addendum. Similarly, if I was a Jewish kid who walked past a monument to Hermann Göring every day I probably wouldn’t be satisfied in the knowledge that a “but we now know he was bad!” note had been tacked on nearby.
Lousy argument; taking it down doesn’t change their minds either, it simply reinforces their sense of disenfranchisement.
Much, much better argument! Well, more convincing to me, anyway.
Personally I still like the idea of non destructive vandalism. If there was a statue of Jefferson Davis in my town, he’d be wearing a frilly pink dress right now! I think that’d do more for our hypothetical underappreciated child than erasing modern history ever could.
That one creates some splashover on the sexism/homophobia/transphobia front, though.
I like the Victoria Cross solution: melt them down and use the metal to create medals for anti-racist heroism.
Well, it’s a very specific reference to American history, well known on this side of the pond.
After Jefferson Davis was captured, the Union put it about that he’d been taken in women’s clothing, trying to sneak away like a coward, belying the propaganda image of the proud Southern gentleman whose sense of honor would permit no such act.
I don’t claim to have the best answers, but I certainly oppose letting vulgarians melt down significant works like the Baltimore Jackson and Lee statue. The woman who created it was screwed over by the US government quite enough while she was still alive, we don’t need to destroy any of her remaining work.
At some point everyone has to choose between positive and negative action. I’ve made that choice; I’m a defender, not an attacker. There’s only so many hours in the day, and I’d rather make a positive difference in the life of a child than smash up other people’s stuff. Sorry if that sounds unfashionably earnest; I’m not a good writer.
The issue at hand is monuments that support racism. That is the problem. Address that. If you can’t argue against the removal of the monuments in good faith on their merits and purpose, stop pretending to bring up a separate issue in defense of them.
Smug rhetoric about “vulgarians” destroying “art” is worthless and fools no one.
If the shoe fits, wear it.
I’ve never been in favor of publicly subsidized art, but I equally disfavor destroying it. I’m still applauding the National Cathedral’s decision to relocate their somewhat cheesy but privately funded offensive art before somebody put a brick through it.
My recommendation to people thinking about tearing down property is go build something. Life’s short.
There was a lot of very grand Nazi architecture built in Germany. If you ignore the political context, much of it qualifies as art of a high standard. Very little of it remains today.
Do you think that the German people regret its destruction?
Having not been to Germany, I could not say, but I’d like to know. I personally regret all the damage the Nazis caused, just as I regret all the damage slavery caused.
Somebody created a statue of a pregnant black woman and put it on one of the old plinths in Baltimore.
It got torn down and ruined. I never got to see it first.
Maybe statue smashing is hard to stop, once that cycle’s been started?
Yes, it is.
But statue smashing is neither the cause nor the beginning of the problem.
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