So, We Might Need to Rename Everything: America’s Problem with Memorializing Racists
In recent weeks, following the anti-racist protests of the past month, there has been a dramatic increase in people, companies and institutions working to distance themselves from racist legacies and figures of their pasts.
Commercial products have been renamed, some university buildings are undergoing name changes, and of course, we’ve seen the removal of confederate monuments, and statues of controversial historic figures like Christopher Columbus.
It’s not exactly the systemic change that activists have been demanding, but it’s not a bad thing either.
Critics of these changes have responded, “Well what’s next, you want to take down statues and monuments to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, too? They owed slaves.” to which I respond, “Sure, why not?”
But the more that people ask those types of questions, the more I realize that the US does a LOT to honor people who happened to be racists and slave owners.
And it’s not just a Southern Confederate statue issue, it’s nationwide. From the controversies of Mt. Rushmore, to places bearing the names of brutal Spanish missionaries on the West Coast, racist figures of this country’s history are memorialized in seemingly every state.
