
Historians say removal not the only way to deal with racist relics - empressplay
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/monuments-racism-historical-tensions-1.4248173
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eesmith
Sure. Then the question is, how much context is needed?

A large statue of a racist traitor, on a pedestal in the middle of a traffic
circle, isn't really contextualized with a small plaque that few read saying
"Fought to preserve slavery."

I'm hard pressed to think of what is the proper contexualization in that case.
Rename the street "Traitor Way" and put a sign over its head saying
"Slaveholder"?

Except that wouldn't be enough. Most of the statues need something about
"erected as a 'fuck you' to blacks during the Jim Crow era, and as a way to
promote the false 'Lost Cause' narrative", because the statue isn't really
about the person. Plus it would need description of what those terms mean,
since it's about context.

So now you've got, what, a few signs-worth of text, which few read?

While there's a great honking statue that no one can ignore?

Nor is this new. Consider "Rhodes Must Fall". What's the appropriate context
to counter-balance a large statue of Rhodes, the Anglo-Saxon supremacist
imperialist, visible to effectively all of the students in campus, including
African students whose ancestors directly suffered the negative effects of
Rhodes's actions? As RMFO wrote at
[https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1688976428...](https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1688976428039724&id=1599672910303410)
:

"We have always rejected the idea that ‘contextualising’ the statue is the
best solution to this debate. First, we do not think that context reveals that
Rhodes was a man of his time; he was criticised extensively in his time for
his retrograde views and damaging actions. Secondly, it is not possible to
contextualise the statue meaningfully, given the gravity of Rhodes’ actions."

"Cecil Rhodes, amongst other things, exploited natural resources belonging to
Southern Africans, as the founder of what is now De Beers; coordinated
military massacres, such as the Jameson Reid; was the head of state of the
Cape Colony when legislation was passed that paved the way for apartheid; and
made numerous outrightly racist statements. We do not accept that this can be
captured in a contextual plaque. The better approach is to ensure students are
educated about Rhodes through a curriculum that engages with imperialism, and
to ensure that the statue of Rhodes is relocated to a museum, where real
lesson-learning can occur."

Lastly, adding "context" is also the least responsive thing that an
organization can do. A city, or state, or university, can drag its heels, put
up the smallest possible plaque, and call it done, which requires yet another
protest to get better context to fix. Repeat a few times.

