Statues and Symbols of Slavery, Genocide and Racism Come Crashing Down
|
|
|
The majority of statues and monuments being torn
down in the U.S. at the present moment are those
glorifying the Confederate side in the U.S. Civil
War because they exalt those who promoted slavery
and the dispossession and disenfranchisement of
African Americans. More than 50 such statues and
monuments have been torn down, defaced or
pre-emptively removed by authorities since George
Floyd was killed by the police on May 26.
This includes various statues of Robert E. Lee, a
commander of the Confederate States Army during
the American Civil War. Protesters removed the
statue of Robert E. Lee at the high school that
bears his name in Montgomery, Alabama on June 1.
Alabama, along with some other southern states,
has legislation in place which makes it an offence
that carries a $25,000 penalty to remove
Confederate memorials. However, in Birmingham, the
city itself removed the Confederate Soldiers and
Sailors Monument that had become a converging
point for the protests, saying the fine was less
than the cost of the security the city had to
provide to preserve the monument. Similarly, the
Sons of Confederate Veterans removed a bust of
Robert E. Lee in Fort Myers, Florida on June 1.
Confederate statues in Raleigh, North Carolina are
removed on the Governor's orders after protesters
toppled two such monuments.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, after two confederate
monuments were toppled by protesters, on June 20,
Governor Roy Cooper ordered that all Confederate
monuments on the grounds of the state Capitol be
removed, which he said he did "to protect public
safety." He said, "I am concerned about the
dangerous efforts to pull down and carry off
large, heavy statues and the strong potential for
violent clashes at the site."
"Monuments to white supremacy don't belong in
places of allegiance, and it's past time that
these painful memorials be moved in a legal, safe
way," he said.
Albert Pike's statue in Washington, DC was toppled and burned by protestors on June 19. Pike was a brigadier-general in the Confederate Army as well as a prominent Freemason. Besides other things, in 1850, he organized the Know-Nothing Party, which campaigned on anti-immigration beliefs and emphasized the use of slaves as more "efficient than farm labour."
Statue of Albert Pike in Washington, DC is
overturned by protesters.
In Washington, DC (left) statue of U.S. President
George Washington lies toppled; and (right) the
pedestal is all that is left of a statue of Albert
Pike.
In Washington, DC, Speaker of the House of
Representatives Nancy Pelosi on June 11 ordered
the removal of four portraits of Confederate slave
owners from the gallery of the House.
Confederate monuments were in the main erected
during the period of Jim Crow laws from about the
1870s up to the period of the civil rights
movement in the 1960s, to buttress state-organized
racism, dispossession and lynchings of African
Americans.
Protesters have also singled out some of the
so-called founding fathers, many of whom relied on
the labour of enslaved peoples to enrich
themselves. One is George Washington who is
said to have "owned 317 slaves" on his estate at
the time of his death in 1799. Protesters in
Portland, Oregon toppled a statue of George
Washington on June 18. His counterpart Thomas
Jefferson is said to have "owned" more than 600
enslaved labourers throughout his life. A statue
of Thomas Jefferson was pulled down at Thomas
Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon on June
23. Officials at Hofstra University in Long
Island, New York relocated a statue of Jefferson
from outside the student centre to a museum.
Protesters in Portland, Oregon remove statues of
Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.
Statues of Christopher Columbus have also been targeted, to highlight the enslavement of the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru and all countries of the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors, including the near genocide of the Taíno. The first was brought down in Richmond, Virginia on June 9. Another was toppled in Saint Paul, Minnesota on June 10. A third was decapitated in Boston on June 11, with the remainder removed by the city. Another 16 have either already been removed by municipal authorities or are pending removal.
Statue of Christopher Columbus thrown in the water
in Richmond, Virginia.
Along similar lines, statues in New Mexico and
California dedicated to those involved in the
genocide and enslavement of Indigenous peoples in
the Americas have been removed by protesters or
local authorities, including monuments praising
Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate and Catholic
priest Junípero Serra y Ferrer.
Canada
In Canada, recent protests and petitions are
calling for the removal of statues of the
historical figures directly involved in the
dispossession and acts of genocide against
Indigenous peoples, as well as those involved in
promoting slavery.
A petition started in early June titled "Remove
white supremacist John A. Macdonald's Monument in
Montréal" reads in part:
"We are calling to Montréal Mayor, Valérie Plante,
as well as the city council to remove the monument
of 'Canada's' first prime minister, John A.
Macdonald. There is absolutely no reason or room
for a racist, colonial, white nationalist to be
celebrated on unceded Indigenous land. The very
fact that this monument exists is an example of
the white washing of cultural history, and true
'reconciliation' does not include the
glorification of those that actively pursued
Indigenous genocide.
"Some of Macdonald's lifelong projects include:
- Establishing the first residential school and
creating the system in which over 130 more could
be made.
- Openly promoting the preservation of a so-called
'Aryan' Canada.
- 1885 Electoral Franchise Act.
- Gradual Civilization of Indians Act.
- Chinese Exclusion Act and the Chinese Head Tax.
- Worked to ban the teaching of French in schools
across numerous provinces.
- The death sentence of Metis leader, Louis Riel.
'Riel shall hang though every dog in Quebec bark
in his favour.'"
As of June 25, more than 21,000 people have
signed. The petition can be signed here.
|
|
Already in 2018, a statue of Macdonald was taken
down in Victoria, BC. The artist who created it
recently told CTV "he is ashamed to admit that he
didn't know about residential schools until after
he crafted the statue and now believes these
monuments should also be taken down."
In Toronto, there is a call for Ryerson University
to remove the statue of its founder Egerton
Ryerson. A petition expressing this demand noted
that Ryerson "aided the Canadian government in the
creation of Residential Schools" and "opposed the
education of women." The petition can be read in
full and signed here.
Also in Toronto, there is a petition to rename
Dundas Street, which honours the British Empire's
representative Henry Dundas. The petition
explains, "As the MP for Midlothian in Westminster
and as Secretary of State he actively participated
in obstructing the abolition of slavery in the
British Empire from 1791 to the end of his
political career in 1806. Slavery was eventually
abolished in 1833 and officially in British North
America in 1834. But Dundas' actions to preserve
the profiteering of his friends in the slave trade
cost tens of thousands of lives, if not more."
That petition can be read in full and signed here.
Recent
removals of symbols glorifying those who committed
acts of genocide against Indigenous peoples
include the renaming of Amherst Street in Montreal
to Atateken Street on National Indigenous Day
(June 21) 2019, which realized a decades-long
demand of local residents and businesses. British
general Jeffrey Amherst is infamous for carrying
out biological warfare against the Indigenous
peoples by using blankets contaminated with
smallpox. Atatekan is a Mohawk word meaning
"Brothers and Sisters."
Statue of Cornwallis in Halifax is covered
pending its removal, July 15, 2017.
In Halifax, in 2017 the statue of Edward
Cornwallis was removed from the park also named
after him. Cornwallis was the British Governor of
Nova Scotia who is said to have founded Halifax.
In 1749, Cornwallis put a bounty on the scalp of
every Mi'kmaq man, woman and child in the province
-- a move tantamount to genocide. This practice
was also used against the Acadians between 1755
and 1763, during the British takeover of part of
the former French colonies. The lands seized by
the British had been settled by the Acadians when
they arrived in 1604.
The proposal for the removal of Cornwallis' statue
and to rename the park Halifax Peace and Freedom
Park, was first made on November 21, 2009 when
some 200 people gathered at a rally there to
oppose the inaugural meeting of the Halifax
International Security Forum, the warmongering
agency based in Washington, DC and funded by
Canada's Department of National Defence and
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. With Mi'kmaq
approval, the activists covered the statue of
Cornwallis and took the collective decision
to rename the park as their very first act.
England and Scotland
A statue of Edward Colston in Bristol,
England, is torn down June 7, 2020 by protesters
and thrown in the harbour.
In England, people have removed or are demanding
the removal of statues of slave traders and
notorious racists, symbols of the ruling elites'
glorification of empire, racism and slavery.
|
|
In Bristol on June 7, a statue of Edward Colston
was
torn down by protesters and thrown in the harbour.
Colston was a
notorious human trafficker in the late 17th
century who was associated
with Bristol, one of the main British ports
connected with
trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans. From
1680 onwards, Colston
was chiefly connected with the London-based Royal
African Company
(RAC), which had a monopoly on Britain's slave
trade in that period,
transporting Africans to Britain's colonies in
North America and the
Caribbean. In 1689 he became deputy governor of
the RAC. He was also
involved in sugar production, another industry
based on the labour of
enslaved Africans. On the basis of his great
wealth as well as a Tory
MP he was associated with the Society of Merchant
Venturers in Bristol,
a monopoly that controlled local government and
trade. The Society,
with Colston's support, petitioned to end the
royal monopoly on the
trafficking of Africans, allowing the merchants of
Bristol to engage in
the trafficking of enslaved Africans, which the
Society also
controlled. He became a major benefactor to
various schools and
charities in Bristol to advance his own business
interests, as opposed
to those of the Crown.
Several Bristol schools have been named after
Edward Colston as was until recently Colston Hall,
a major concert venue. A statue was erected in his
honour in 1895 with a plaque reading "Erected by
citizens of Bristol as a memorial of one of the
most virtuous and wise sons of their city."
Protests about the statue have been ongoing for
more than 20 years. In 2018 a second plaque was
proposed which added:
"As a high official of the Royal African Company
from 1680 to 1692, Edward Colston played an active
role in the enslavement of over 84,000 Africans
(including 12,000 children) of whom over 19,000
died en route to the Caribbean and America.
Colston also invested in the Spanish slave trade
and in slave-produced sugar. As Tory MP for
Bristol (1710-1713), he defended the city's
'right' to trade in enslaved Africans. Bristolians
who did not subscribe to his religious and
political beliefs were not permitted to benefit
from his charities."
There was opposition to this wording and after
several other attempts no resolution was reached,
until finally the statue has been brought down
altogether.
Statue of Robert Milligan at West India Quay in
the Docklands in London is pre-emptively removed
by authorities, June 9, 2020.
In London, a statue of Robert Milligan at West
India Quay in the Docklands was removed in a
pre-emptive move by authorities on June 9. Erected
in Milligan's honour following his death in 1809,
there have long been demands for its removal. In
early June, a petition from a local councillor to
remove the statue received thousands of
signatures. The Museum of London Docklands issued
a statement prior to the statue's removal that
said in part:
"Now more than ever at a time when Black Lives
Matter is calling for an end to public monuments
honouring slave owners, we advocate for the statue
of Robert Milligan to be removed on the grounds of
its historical links to colonial violence and
exploitation.
"We are currently working with a consortium to
remove this statue and are aware of other legacies
and landmarks within the area. The statue
presently stands shrouded with placards and is now
an object of protest, we believe these protests
should remain as long as the statue remains."
Milligan inherited sugar plantations in Jamaica
and was the owner of over 500 enslaved Africans.
He later led the consortia that built West India
Dock in London to facilitate the import of
slave-produced products from the Caribbean.
Also in London, a statement from Guy's and St.
Thomas' Charity, Guy's and St. Thomas' National
Health Service Foundation Trust and King's College
London announced on June 11 that the figures
depicting Robert Clayton and Thomas Guy will be
taken out of public view. "Like many organizations
in Britain, we know that we have a duty to address
the legacy of colonialism, racism and slavery in
our work. We absolutely recognize the public hurt
and anger that is generated by the symbolism of
public statues of historical figures associated
with the slave trade in some way," the statement
said.
Clayton, a former Lord Mayor of London, had ties
to the Royal African Company while Guy invested in
the South Sea Company, which was also involved in
the slave trade of 4,800 adult men every year.
Another statue the public is demanding be removed
is that of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University.
Rhodes was an ardent advocate of British
imperialism and the supremacy of the "Anglo-Saxon"
race. A petition on Change.org has nearly 190,000
signatures calling on the university to remove the
statue. The petition states in part:
"We believe that the colonialism, racism and
patriarchy this statue is seeped in has no place
in our university -- which for many of us is also
our home. The removal of this statue would be a
welcome first step in the University's attempt to
redress the ways in which it has been an active
beneficiary of empire. While it remains standing,
the statue of Rhodes remains a celebration not
just of the crimes of the man himself, but of the
imperialist legacy on which Oxford University has
thrived, and continues to thrive. While the statue
remains standing, Oxford University continues to
condone the persistent racism that shadows this
institution."
The university has voted to remove it but has not
said when. Students have sought to have the statue
removed since at least 2015, taking up the Rhodes
Must Fall campaign that began at the University of
Cape Town in South Africa, which succeeded in
having a statue of Rhodes removed.
A statue of a more recent figure, that of former
Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Parliament
Square in London, has been defaced during recent
protests, with the slogan "Churchill was a racist"
spray-painted across its base. There are numerous
accounts of his racist outlook directed against
East Asians, South Asians and Black people, and
his belief in white supremacy, as part of his
ardent British imperialist outlook. The statue has
now been boarded up to prevent further vandalism.
In Edinburgh, Scotland, as in Toronto, protesters
are calling to end the glorification of Henry
Dundas. Reporting on the ongoing protests for the
removal of his statue, 570 News notes, "The late
18th-century Scottish politician was responsible
for delaying Britain's abolition of the slave
trade by 15 years until 1807. During that time,
more than half a million enslaved Africans were
trafficked across the Atlantic." In an attempt to
avoid the inevitable, the City of Edinburgh has
responded with a plan to leave the statue in
place, atop a high column, with signage to explain
that he was "instrumental in deferring the
abolition of the Atlantic slave trade."
Belgium
Damaged statue of King Leopold II in Antwerp
removed by authorities June 9, 2020.
There are many statues across Belgium to honour
King Leopold II "of the Belgians," who plundered
the Congo Free State and carried out atrocities
and crimes against the people including mass
murder, mass mutilation, forced labour on pain of
death, rape, assassinations and more, besides
expropriating Congo's wealth, especially for the
production of rubber, in the period of 1885-1908.
The statues aim to sanitize and glorify Belgium's
and King Leopold II's crimes in the Congo. They
have been desecrated on an ongoing basis in recent
years, especially since the killing of George
Floyd. In Antwerp, authorities removed a statue of
King Leopold II on June 9 after it sustained
serious damage during protests.
(Photos: TML, Shara, M. Edwards, B. Karp, China Daily, G. Davis, S. Villiani, J. Lefty, J. Morris, T. Roache, N. Khawaji, B.J. Sky, J. Biggs, C. Onyango-Obbo)
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 23 - June 27, 2020
Article Link:
Statues and Symbols of Slavery, Genocide and Racism Come Crashing Down
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca