[Lincolnparkdc] NextDoor--petition and debate about Lincoln Park statue

[Mark]

Whatever happens I hope its just not  recently "woke" people using their
privileges to remove a permanent, tangible symbol that runcomfotably and
daily reminds them of structural inequities.  That would just be a
perpetuation of their privileges.

On Sun, Jun 21, 2020, 12:39 PM regina arlotto <citymom92 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Here's an article A Monument to White Supremacy in Our Own Backyard
> <https://medium.com/@raulspeaks/a-monument-to-white-supremacy-stands-uncontested-in-our-own-back-yard-672f26db429c>
> which provides additional historical context. It was written in 2017. A
> couple of interesting points:
>
>    - Notably, and perhaps most importantly, the freed slaves who raised
>    the $17000 for the statue were not consulted in the design at all. An all
>    white male commission chose the design. The chairman used his own servant,
>    a freed slave from Missouri (where slaves were not freed by way of the
>    Emancipation Declaration, for which the statue is named) for the facial
>    features.
>    - As others have mentioned, *even at the dedication*, Frederick
>    Douglass criticized the statue as it: "“showed the Negro on his knee when a
>    more manly attitude would have been indicative of freedom.”
>    - Numerous contemporary and more recent art historians have also
>    criticized the design for the way the freed slave looks to be shining
>    Lincoln's shoes, or Lincoln patting him on the head. It's sad, to note that
>    paternalistic overtones were very common for the time, even from dedicated
>    abolitionists. So no white person seemed to have a problem with it.
>
> As I mentioned before, I think it should be removed . Perhaps it can be
> placed in a museum where it can be properly displayed as part of a larger
> exhibit that reckons with our deeply racist past as a country. Maybe
> someday we can have a Reconciliation Commission that will help us move
> forward. However, for all the fans of this statue who don't seem to mind
> that it is (as it was on the day it was dedicated) offensive to many
> persons of color, apparently it cannot be moved without an act of Congress.
>
> Gina Arlotto
> 100 bl. Kentucky
>
> On Sun, Jun 21, 2020 at 11:53 AM Leslie Tentler <tentler at cua.edu> wrote:
>
>> Three points in re the Lincoln statue:
>> No matter the deficiencies of the statue in our eyes or indeed those of
>> Frederick Douglass, the freedmen and women who donated funds for its
>> erection intended to honor Lincoln.  Not Douglass or Harriet Tuman or
>> Sojourner Truth or anyone else we might regard as more appropriate.  Who
>> are we to say that they got it wrong?
>> The African-American community in DC endowed the statue with a
>> liberationist meaning by choosing it as a site of their annual Emancipation
>> Day celebrations in the late 19th century.  Several community groups have
>> recently revived the custom.  Who are we to tell them that they were acting
>> out of ignorance?
>> We are fortunate in DC to have two other Civil War memorials with which
>> the Lincoln Park statue is in a fruitful dialogue:  the Shaw Memorial, a
>> cast of which is in the National Gallery, and the African-American Civil
>> War Memorial at 10th and U NW.  Taken together, the three provide a
>> tutorial of sorts with regard to the nation's evolving understanding of the
>> Civil War's meaning.  Sanitizing the past is almost a guarantee that people
>> will fail to understand the present in a full and nuanced way.
>> Leslie Tentler
>>
>> On Sat, Jun 20, 2020 at 7:36 PM jobyl boone <jobyl01 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> FYI, there is now an ongoing debate and petition to remove the statue
>>> from Lincoln Park on NextDoor.
>>> https://nextdoor.com/news_feed/?post=152195306
>>>
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