Re-Evaluating Our Statues/Memorials

With the rise of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement comes a needed re-evaluation of many of the memorials and statues both in the United States and throughout the world.

The fact of the matter is that with the passage of time, we’ve come to re-evaluate some of the statues and memorials in light of these more enlightened times and deem some of these items need to be gone.

I wrote about the Stone Mountain Memorial and the many Confederate statues and monuments which are currently being -rightfully, in my humble opinion- re-evaluated and/or taken down (you can read about that here), but when I heard the other day that a statue of Teddy Roosevelt was being removed, I thought… really?

I mean, Teddy Roosevelt never struck me as a historical figure quite in the same vein as the various Confederate characters we see paraded around far too much in the South… why him?

Then, I read this article, by Ed Mazza and presented on Huffingtonpost.com, and it all made sense:

Teddy Roosevelt statue gets evicted from outside Museum of Natural History

In this case, the removal of the statue is not so much because of any nastiness in Teddy Roosevelt’s history but rather because of what the statue depicts…

Equestrian statue of Theodore Roosevelt in NY New York City US

…and from the other side…

Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt" (1940), bronze statue by ...

From the article:

“The statue has long been controversial because of the hierarchical composition that places one figure on horseback and the others walking alongside,” the museum said in a statement. “Many of us find its depictions of the Native American and African figures and their placement in the monument racist.” 

You know… I can see that. It sure does make Roosevelt look like some kind of “giant” alongside the others.

Again, from the article, even the relatives of Mr. Roosevelt, the Museum itself, and it seems just about everyone else involved are fine with the removal of the statue. Further, there is no implication Mr. Roosevelt himself is being removed because it is somehow distasteful to show him… just to show him in this very questionable mileu, which is more on the artist and the people who commissioned the statue originally.

Whew.

Sometimes its nice to hear how everyone can agree about something without it going nuclear!