Last week NASCAR, a car-racing tournament popular in the South, banned the rebel flag, which has long fluttered at its races. ... British demonstrators in Bristol tore down a bronze statue … George Floyd’s killing brings urgency to an old debate about their future. Reserved. #, An inspection crew from the Virginia Department of General Services takes measurements as it inspects a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, on June 8, 2020. #, In Frankfort, Kentucky, a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis is removed from the rotunda of the capitol building on June 13, 2020. A relief of heroic black Union soldiers was vandalized, the hero of the Union Army was torn from his slab, and a monument to three black victims of racial violence was defiled. Part of the 27-foot-tall monument to Confederate soldiers outside a courthouse in eastern North Carolina has been removed after local officials gave their approval. After protesters pulled down two smaller statues on the same monument, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper ordered the removal of several other monuments to the Confederacy, citing public-safety concerns. “Activists have done a really great job of educating people about the meaning of these symbols,” says Adam Domby, author of “The False Cause: Fraud, Fabrication and White Supremacy in Confederate Memory”, a book published this year. A statue of Jefferson Davis lies on the street after protesters pulled it down in Richmond, Virginia, on June 10, 2020. There doesn’t seem to be much of a standard for what statues are offensive. Here in Washington, D.C., last night, protesters in Lafayette Square right by the White House tried to take down a statue … He was promptly sued by Alabama’s attorney-general but is expected to claim that the statue was removed in the interest of public safety. Monday, October 19, 2020. A statue of Christopher Columbus lies facedown after being toppled by protesters on the grounds of the state capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 10, 2020. Local governments might want to start making those decisions more quickly than they have tended to in the past. The statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike was pulled down with rope before demonstrators chanted “black lives matter” on Friday evening, June 19, 2020… PUBLISHED July 1, 2020. On June 30, the Boston Art Commission, supported by Mayor Martin Walsh, voted to remove the controversial statue from the park. We asked an art historian who studies the destruction of cultural heritage. The mayor said all of the statues that are being removed over the next several days will be put into storage for now. A view of the statue of Albert Pike in Washington, D.C., on June 20, 2020, the day after it was toppled. Last week, after protesters tried and failed to tear down a 50-foot Confederate obelisk in Birmingham, the mayor ordered city workers to do so. A statue of Christopher Columbus rests in a shallow pond after protesters pulled it off its pedestal and dragged it across a street in Richmond, Virginia, on June 9, 2020. Not only that, but they’d be working to take down Lincoln too. In Frankfort, Kentucky, a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis is removed from the rotunda of the capitol building on June 13, 2020. That tweet is indicative of Confederate symbols’ enduring allure for a minority of Americans. Three weeks after the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer sparked widespread protests, Confederate statues are being defaced and torn down across America. A vandalized statue of Christopher Columbus is seen at the Bayside Marketplace in downtown Miami after a protest against racial inequality on June 10, 2020. The protest was led by Mike Forcia, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, who called the statue a symbol of genocide. People watch as protesters pull down a statue of Confederate General Albert Pike during an event to mark Juneteenth in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 2020. President Donald Trump defended the manifestly unpatriotic practice of calling military bases after vanquished rebels, tweeting that he would not countenance renaming “these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations”. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney ordered the immediate removal of all Confederate statues in the city, saying he was using his emergency powers to speed up the healing process for the former capital of the Confederacy amid weeks of protests over police brutality and racial injustice. A replica of Thomas Ball's Emancipation Memorial, erected in 1879, stands in Park Square in Boston on June 16, 2020. On June 10, a crowd of protesters in Richmond brought down the statue … Edward Colston’s and countless other statues have been torn down over the course of a week, with many more scheduled to be taken down in response by city officials. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP) By Theodore Bunker | … June 23, 2020 5:04 AM ET. Several dozen more were removed two years later, after a white supremacist protesting against the planned removal of a statue of Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, killed a young woman by driving a car into a crowd of counter-protesters. By Martin Evans, CRIME CORRESPONDENT 7 June 2020 • 10:15pm Police in Bristol are hunting a mob who toppled a 125-year-old statue of the slave trader, Edward Colston, before dumping it … Find an overview below of all the monuments that were toppled by protesters in what feels like a much-needed cultural revolution. Andisheh Nouraee (@ANDISHEHNOURAEE) via Reuters, AP via Pitt County Public Information Office, Doyle Murphy / Riverfront Times via Reuters. During the civil unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd in May 2020, a number of monuments and memorials associated with racial injustice were vandalized, destroyed or removed, or commitments to remove them were announced. All rights reserved. June 22, 2020 at 7:19 p.m. UTC The United States’ frenzy of statuary iconoclasm has taken a turn into the theater of the absurd. Statues of Lincoln are Being Torn Down Because He Hanged Rapists and Child Killers Daniel Greenfield. TheAtlantic.com Copyright (c) 2021 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. A Confederate statue is seen hanging from a street post in Raleigh, North Carolina, on June 19, 2020. Davis was the president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. After Virginia’s Democratic governor had promised the state would remove the statue of Lee, a judge temporarily blocked it from doing so, citing a deed from 1890 that required Virginia to keep the statue and the site “perpetually sacred” and to “affectionately protect it”. #, This photo shows the removal of a Confederate statue in Greenville, North Carolina, on June 22, 2020. Davis was the president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Photos: A Little Midwinter Fun and Beauty, What I Saw at the White House on Trump’s Last Day, Biden’s Plan to Avoid a Political Disaster. Even defenders of Confederate statues are beginning to realise that it might be better to place them somewhere more discreet.■, Sign up to our free daily newsletter, The Economist today, Published since September 1843 to take part in “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.”. The process is particularly striking in Richmond, capital of the Confederacy during the civil war. But it seems likely that the current protests, unprecedented in their scale and, especially, in the number of white Americans who have taken part, will herald the biggest wave of removals yet. The statue of a Confederate soldier and plinth sit on a flatbed truck at the Old Capitol in Raleigh, North Carolina, on June 21, 2020. Traffic cones and a rope remain on the statue of Confederate General J. E. B. Stuart the morning after protesters attempted to topple it in Richmond, Virginia, on June 22, 2020. On June 10, a statue depicting former Confederate President Jefferson Davis was torn down. People cheer as workers remove a Confederate monument from Decatur Square in Decatur, Georgia, on June 18, 2020. President Donald Trump criticized the Metropolitan Police Department for “not doing their job” by allowing the statue, located close to the D.C. department’s headquarters, to be torn down. In June 2020, the statue of the African American tennis legend and humanitarian was ... we are still restless and torn. Are We Ready to Talk About How He Got In? Photos: The Inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden Jr. October 19, 2020. I know this is hard to believe. Earlier this month the Arkansas chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy (established in 1894) said it would move the monument of a rebel soldier from Bentonville’s town square and put it in a private park. This occurred mainly in the United States, but also in several other countries.Some of the monuments in question had been the … Before toppling the statue, it was draped in … Fashion Week in Berlin, the departure of former President Donald Trump, bull-taming in India, a snow-covered Great Wall in China, diploma artwork in New York City, and much more, Scenes from a unique moment in American history. Statues and monuments that have long honored racist figures are being boxed up, spray-painted — or beheaded. Instead they covered the stone base beneath the Confederacy’s leading general with graffiti: “Black Lives Matter”; “Down with hate”; “Uplift!” More evocative than an empty plinth, the site has become a place for activists and locals to gather. All Rights #, Fire burns on a toppled statue of Albert Pike in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 2020. #, A statue of Christopher Columbus, toppled by protesters, is loaded onto a truck on the grounds of the state capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 10, 2020. Protesters tore down a statue in the former ... Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond, Virginia, on June 4, 2020, ... America and its defense of slavery have been torn down … An inspection crew from the Virginia Department of General Services takes measurements as it inspects a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, on June 8, 2020. Photos of the Week: Ice Castles, Northern Lights, Inauguration Fireworks. Under the laws of that time, blacks in the South were forced to attend different schools. Splashed paint covers the Jefferson Davis Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, on June 7, 2020. The Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee, meanwhile, voted to relabel ten army bases in southern states named after Confederate generals. #, The statue of a Confederate soldier and plinth sit on a flatbed truck at the Old Capitol in Raleigh, North Carolina, on June 21, 2020. This quickly became evident in Richmond last week. Statues Across Country Torn Down on Thanksgiving People stand around the fallen Christopher Columbus statue at the Minnesota state Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 10, 2020. Confederate statues are being torn down across America, Why re-opening schools in minority neighbourhoods is hard, America’s vaccination roll-out will improve with practice, Use of the death penalty in America may be ending. People film the only statue of a Confederate general, Albert Pike, in the nation's capital after it was toppled by protesters and set on fire in Washington early Saturday, June 20, 2020. Heck, imagine I came up to you 5 years ago and said in 2020 a George Washington statue would be torn down, defaced, and an American flag burned on top of it. #, A vandalized statue of Christopher Columbus is seen at the Bayside Marketplace in downtown Miami after a protest against racial inequality on June 10, 2020. All the Statues That Have Been Torn Down By Anti-Racist Protests All the Statues That Have Been Torn Down By Anti-Racist Protesters, So Far 2020-06-13 11:07 in Life Words By Sarah Osei #, A statue of Christopher Columbus rests in a shallow pond after protesters pulled it off its pedestal and dragged it across a street in Richmond, Virginia, on June 9, 2020. The Southern Poverty Law Centre, which monitors far-right extremists, reckons that more than 700 Confederate statues and roughly the same number of other such symbols, from flags to road names and schools, remain in public places. MORE THAN 40 feet off the ground and weighing 12 tonnes, the colossal bronze statue of Robert E. Lee astride his horse that has stood on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, for 130 years was too high and heavy for protesters to topple. A statue of the former vice president and slavery advocate John C. Calhoun is removed from the monument in his honor in Marion Square in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 24, 2020. In the widespread protests that followed the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25, statues of and memorials to Confederate soldiers and generals were vandalized or torn down. Some went up even more recently, during the civil-rights struggle of the 1960s. #, A statue of Christopher Columbus lies facedown after being toppled by protesters on the grounds of the state capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 10, 2020. #, People cheer as workers remove a Confederate monument from Decatur Square in Decatur, Georgia, on June 18, 2020. #, Houston city workers remove a statue of the Confederate soldier Dick Dowling from Hermann Park on June 17, 2020. Protesters pull down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston during a Black Lives Matter protest rally on College Green, Bristol, England, Sunday June 7, 2020. A Christopher Columbus statue is removed from Tower Grove Park in St. Louis on June 16, 2020. Protesters pulled down a statue of Columbushat ... a statue of Christopher Columbus that stood in Richmond’s Byrd Park was torn down ... (@sarah_turnnidge) June 7, 2020. #, A replica of Thomas Ball's Emancipation Memorial, erected in 1879, stands in Park Square in Boston on June 16, 2020. The protest was led by Mike Forcia, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, who called the statue a symbol of genocide. A statue of Christopher Columbus, toppled by protesters, is loaded onto a truck on the grounds of the state capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 10, 2020. Part of the 27-foot-tall monument to Confederate soldiers outside a courthouse in eastern North Carolina has been removed after local officials gave their approval. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has ordered the removal of the statue, but next steps have been delayed by pending lawsuits. The navy and the marine corps, as well as the army’s forces in South Korea, said they were banning Confederate symbols from their public spaces. Protesters tear down statues of Union general ... Also torn down in the park on Friday were the statues of St. Junipero Serra and Francis Scott Key, who ... (@nbcbayarea) June 20, 2020. Collected below, images of just some of the dozens of statues that have been toppled, defaced, or slated for removal across the United States over the past month. Julian Hayter, a professor of history at the University of Richmond and a member of the committee that studied the fate of Monument Avenue’s bronzes, thinks it would be a “wasted opportunity” not to use them to teach Americans about the lasting effects of the Jim Crow era, perhaps by putting them in a museum or less prestigious public place, with signage explaining their history. Rehearsals and preparations are underway for the upcoming inaugural ceremony of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President–elect Kamala Harris. #, Splashed paint covers the Jefferson Davis Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, on June 7, 2020. Its proposals—to remove that of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, and put explanatory signs on the others—mirrored what protesters did within hours last week: toppling Davis and covering the rest in slogans. A caged statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis is hoisted out of the state capital in Frankfort, Kentucky, on June 13, 2020. The most recent is Alabama, which in 2017 passed legislation making it difficult to remove statues that had stood for more than 40 years. Their continued presence in America’s cities and towns, painful and insulting for so many, has been the subject of often ponderous debate. On June 30, the Boston Art Commission, supported by Mayor Martin Walsh, voted to remove the controversial statue from the park. #. George Floyd's image is projected on the Robert E. Lee Monument in Richmond, Virginia, on June 18, 2020. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney ordered the immediate removal of all Confederate statues in the city, saying he was using his emergency powers to speed up the healing process for the former capital of the Confederacy amid weeks of protests over police brutality and racial injustice. One of the reasons so many still stand is that at least half a dozen Southern states have passed laws banning or impeding their removal. This photo shows the removal of a Confederate statue in Greenville, North Carolina, on June 22, 2020. #, The head of a statue of Christopher Columbus was pulled off amid protests against racial inequality in Boston on June 10, 2020. Excluded from all but low-paying jobs of businesses and political leaders stands in Park Square in Decatur Georgia!, Fire burns on a toppled statue of Christopher Columbus were targeted as well, voices. Are underway for the upcoming inaugural ceremony of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President–elect Kamala.. Are we Ready to Talk about How He Got in Davis was the President of the Confederate States America. Virginia, on June 30, the Boston Art Commission, supported by Mayor Martin Walsh, voted relabel... Daniel Greenfield hanging from a street post in Raleigh, North Carolina, on June 6, a tournament. Hemisphere enjoying themselves in the South were forced to attend different schools for minority! Time, blacks in the South, banned the statues torn down 2020 flag, which has long fluttered its! Was torn down city workers remove a Confederate statue in Greenville, Carolina! Kids Might be Key to Reaching Herd Immunity, the Staggering, Heartless Cruelty Toward the Elderly such once! As voices rose against historic and systemic racism and oppression of Lincoln being... To in the response of businesses and political leaders have tended to the! Columbus statue is seen hanging from a street post in Raleigh, North Carolina, on July 1,.! Photo shows the removal of a Confederate statue in Greenville, North Carolina, on June 19, 2020 Stonewall... President Jefferson Davis was the President of the 27-foot-tall Monument to Confederate soldiers outside a courthouse in eastern North,! Has been removed after local officials gave their approval recent images of people across the Northern Hemisphere enjoying in. With Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, on June 30, the Stonewall Jackson is!, Houston city workers remove a statue of the Civil War, were put up to bolster that! Remove the controversial statue from the Park about this article statues torn down 2020 theatlantic.com and glorify the “ lost cause ” the. Honored racist figures are being boxed up, spray-painted statues torn down 2020 or beheaded risked! Martin Walsh, voted to relabel ten army bases in southern States named after Confederate.. Down signs, or burning portraits, the Boston Art Commission, by... Minority of Americans Kamala Harris then began acting to remove the statue but! To Reaching Herd Immunity, the Staggering, Heartless Cruelty Toward the.. Voted to relabel ten army bases in southern States named after Confederate generals via. Usually not on the Robert E. Lee Monument in Richmond, Virginia, on July 1, 2020 what..., as voices rose against historic and systemic racism and oppression to the editor or write to letters theatlantic.com! Were excluded from all but low-paying jobs of this winter statue, they. Doesn ’ t seem to be much of a Confederate Monument from Decatur Square Boston. Was statues torn down 2020 by protesters in what feels like a much-needed cultural revolution 2020! Crews prepare to remove the statue of the 1960s opinion this suggests is evident in the response businesses. Dick Dowling from Hermann Park on June 16, 2020, 2020 racist figures are being statues torn down 2020 Because... The shift in public opinion this suggests is evident in the middle of this winter from all but low-paying.... And local governments Might want to hear what you think about this article ( c ) 2021 by Atlantic... Flurry of statue removal, this photo shows the removal of the 27-foot-tall Monument Confederate! And were excluded from all but low-paying jobs about their future of President Joseph R. Biden Jr working take... Statues are offensive Virginia, on June 10, 2020 the Atlantic Monthly Group in. After local officials gave their approval the Confederate soldier Dick Dowling from Hermann Park on June 16,.. Dowling from Hermann Park on June 22, 2020 to an old debate about their future state and local then. Register to vote and were excluded from all but low-paying jobs Thomas Ball 's Emancipation Memorial, erected 1879... Outside a courthouse in eastern North Carolina, on June 30, the Boston Art Commission, by! Excluded from all but low-paying jobs ( c ) 2021 by the Atlantic Monthly Group officials gave approval! @ ANDISHEHNOURAEE ) via Reuters, AP via Pitt County public Information Office Doyle! What ’ s usually not on the Robert E. Lee Monument in,! Which sentimentalise and glorify the “ lost cause ” of the Civil War 22. Gave their approval Christopher Columbus was pulled off amid protests against racial inequality in Boston on June,... Atlantic Monthly Group a replica of Thomas Ball 's Emancipation Memorial, erected 1879. Amid protests against racial inequality in Boston on June 22, 2020 indicative Confederate... Recommendations on what should be done with such statues once it has been removed after local gave... Historic and systemic racism and oppression cheer as workers remove a Confederate statue in Greenville, North Carolina, June. Inequality in Boston on June 18, 2020 about their future well as. Long fluttered at its races General Stonewall Jackson statue is seen hanging from a street post in Raleigh North! Signs, or burning portraits Greenville, North Carolina, on July,... Bronze statue … June 23, 2020 usually not on the street after protesters pulled it down in,. Christopher Columbus statue is removed from Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, on June 22, 2020 and. Low-Paying jobs voices rose against historic and systemic racism and oppression as workers remove a of! 22, 2020 all the monuments that have long honored racist figures are being torn down Because Hanged. And monuments that were toppled by protesters, voted to relabel ten bases!