Anti-racism protests turn spotlight on icons of US history

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 24, 2017 a statue of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee is seen in the crypt of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. – US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called June 10, 2020 for the US Capitol’s removal of 11 statues of Confederate soldiers or officials, the latest anti-racism effort after a black man’s death in police custody sparked mass protests. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP)

by Cyril JULIEN
Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON D.C., United States (AFP) — As the wave of anti-racism protests rocking the United States brings down monuments to figures linked to the country’s history of slavery, the spotlight is shifting to historic characters long considered untouchable.

Although protesters initially focused on removing statues of Confederate generals, the movement has begun to turn its focus to icons of US history, including the nation’s founders Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, and President Theodore Roosevelt.

The death of George Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis police custody on May 25 has sparked debate around statues and monuments honoring people central to the US’ slave system, some of which have been pulled down or vandalized.

The ongoing protests are “a battle over the narrative of American history in the realm of statues,” Carolyn Gallaher, a professor at American University in Washington, told AFP.

“In the South, people decided to venerate confederates. Protesters are saying, ‘No more.'”

Slavery served as the economic backbone of the American South until the end of the American Civil War (1861-1865), and has left a lasting mark on both daily culture and stereotypes and perceptions of the region.

RICHMOND, VA – JUNE 20: People at the Robert E. Lee monument on June 20, 2020 in Richmond, Virginia. Protesters for racial justice have called for statues of Confederate leaders, like General Robert E. Lee, be taken down. (Eze Amos/Getty Images/AFP)

In Virginia, where some of the first English colonies were established before becoming the heart of American slave country, protesters have called for the removal of a statue of General Robert E Lee, the leader of the Confederate army.

The statue, whose pedestal has already been covered with anti-racist graffiti, has held pride of place for a century in Richmond, the Confederate capital during the Civil War.

In Washington, a statue of Confederate general Albert Pike was torn down last week.

The statue of Confederate general Albert Pike is pictured after it was toppled by protesters at Judiciary square in Wahsington, DC on late June 19, 2020. – Protesters have toppled the only statue of a Confederate general in the US capital, images broadcast by US media show.
President Donald Trump tweeted that the Washington “D.C. police are not doing their job as they watch a statue be ripped down & burn. These people should be immediately arrested. A disgrace to our Country!” The images, broadcast on ABC7 News late Friday, showed the figure of Albert Pike being pulled down with rope before dozens of demonstrators started chanting “black lives matter”. (Photo by Eric BARADAT / AFP)

Increasingly, other figures who hold large places in American history are also not safe, and on Monday evening a crowd tried to topple the statue of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president, in Lafayette Park, close to the White House.

‘Hurt beyond repair’

(FILES) In this file photo taken on March 19, 2020 an empty Statuary Hall is seen at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP)

Thomas Jefferson, the third US president, has been the target of some protesters, with many statues of the leader vandalized.

Even though he was one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence, he also owned more than 600 slaves and viewed black men as inferior to white, according to the website of his Virginia plantation-turned-museum, Monticello.

“There are many statues of him that should come down,” wrote television host Shannon LaNier last week in an essay for Newsweek. LaNier is a descendant of Sally Hemings, one of Jefferson’s slaves with whom he fathered several children.

Seeing statues “of their ancestors’ slave master, a murderer, or a white supremacist” causes “hurt beyond repair” for many African Americans, LaNier wrote.

Even the nation’s father and first president, George Washington, is no longer beyond reproach: he owned 100 slaves at his Mount Vernon plantation, south of the federal capital bearing his name.

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 24, 2017 a statue of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee is seen in the crypt of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP)

“Putting a statue in a public place, it’s a form of veneration, and many people now ask why are we venerating people who owned slaves,” said Gallaher.

In her opinion, even if the differences between Lee and the Founding Fathers are clear, “they all have slaves, and that’s what bothers people so much.”

She noted that other members of the Founding Fathers had “questioned the morality of slavery.”

History in museums

For Daniel Domingues, an associate professor of history at Rice University in Houston, any monument to Jefferson “should be contextualized with a plaque or added inscriptions.”

The city of New York opted for another route, deciding to remove a statue of the 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt, from the entrance of the American Museum of Natural History.

The move, decried by President Donald Trump, was due to the judgment that the statue represented colonialist and racist views.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 22: The statue of former President Theodore Roosevelt, who also served as New York state governor, stands in front of the Museum of Natural History on June 22, 2020 in New York City. The statue, which also features a Native American and a Black man standing at his side, will be removed the city of New York has announced. The statue, which is now being protected by the police, was installed in 1940 and has periodically been an object of controversy. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP

The bronze statue depicted “Teddy” Roosevelt on horseback, while a black man and a Native American walked beside him.

The museum explained Sunday that the statue “explicitly depicts Black and Indigenous people as subjugated and racially inferior.”

The website noted that Roosevelt was considered a progressive environmental defender at the start of the 20th century, but he also maintained racist opinions.

“Where do you draw the line, from Gandhi all the way to George Washington?” White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany asked Monday.

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 24, 2017 a statue of Confederate States president Jefferson Davis is seen in Statuary Hall of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP)

Trump has defended the Confederate monuments and said that removing them would destroy US history and culture.

But “erasing the statues is not erasing the past, it should be read as being a part of the history,” Domingues told AFP, noting that American history “is preserved in history books or museums.”

Gallaher, who grew up in Virginia, agreed: “People don’t learn their history from statues. You will learn about George Washington even if a statue is not there,” she said.

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