A Lesson to be Learned

Should it Stay or Go?

Sitting in her Intro. to Visual Studies class, Andrea listened intently to what was being discussed today. More specifically, statues that have become controversial and have sparked debate throughout the world about whether or not they should be removed because they depict an infamous person or a heated subject. Some monuments were, in a sense, vandalized before they were removed, or the act of vandalism angered the government and community who looked on the monuments with pride and put in requests that the vandals clean up what they did. Some debates were about where a statue should be placed, including the whole community around the location of the planned spot into the project.

After watching a video up on the white board, the professor asked the class some questions and discussed some points regarding the subject.

"Regarding that last video, why do you think it's really important that a community is brought into a project, deciding the location of a statue with great importance such as the statue of Maggie L. Walker placed up in Richmond, Virginia, or maybe even deciding what shall be depicted and how the message shall be displayed?"

She waited for everyone to think about it, and when someone finally raised their hand to answer, she called on them.

"Because like in the video, if the statue is of an honorable person but it is in a horrible place that may change the meaning of the monument or places it somewhere people rarely visit, then it is dishonoring the person being immortalized. The statue of Maggie was originally going to be placed under an oak tree in an area meaningful to her history, and is a busy place where it would be viewed, but one of the community members brought up the fact that oak trees were used after the Civil War and during the time of segregation to lynch black folk and placing Maggie there would remind people of that, shadowing Maggie as a symbol of a lynching instead of an important Civil Rights activist. The question then came down to whether the tree should be removed so Maggie may take its place, but most people didn't want the tree to die for a bronze monument and wanted Maggie to have her own space where there was nothing else to compete with her importance, no other important history to the space. Another important thing was that the community wanted a statue of her like every important leader depicted in the city, not a mural or a poetic waterfall."

"Yes! Exactly, and maybe because the community was brought into the project before its creation and placement, it possibly solved a future protest over these very details of Maggie's immortalization."

She discussed a few more points and asked a few more questions before wrapping up the class. Andrea listened intently before quietly beginning to pack up as the professor was about to dismiss the students.

"Oh! And one more thing before you all leave, there has been a statue erected up at the entrance to the campus that has sparked some of its own debate."

As the professor was speaking, Andrea's phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket. It was a text from her brother. It requested that she quickly come to the entrance of the university as soon as class ended. There was a sort of protest going on over a statue that a student had made and had been allowed to put up, intending for it to be graded by his instructor within the space for his sculpture class. Things were getting a little heated and he figured his partner in crime need to see this.

The professor pulled Andrea's attention back up as she continued to speak.

"So as extra credit, I would like you all to head down there after class and just be a part of the protest. Remember to keep it peaceful and respectful, protests don't always get violent and on campus this one should remain nonviolent. Learn about the views different people may have over the project. Do other students like it, or do they want it gone? Maybe they feel it would be better somewhere else and interrupts the space it sits within? Maybe even share your own thoughts and feelings about it. Write about it after and explain what you learned. Alright, I'll see you guys on Tuesday."