June 12, 2020

All the Monuments to Racism That Have Been Torched, Occupied, or Removed

So far.

A man walks past a toppled statue of Confederate Charles Linn in Birmingham, Alabama June 1, 2020.(AP Photo/Jay Reeves)

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For all the handwringing over the “senseless” property destruction that has accompanied the past week of protest, a number of the damaged sites have a perfectly sensible connection to the protesters’ chief grievance: anti-Black racism. Throughout the United States, protesters have burned buildings and toppled statues that have stood for years as overt reminders of the country’s history of chattel slavery, racial apartheid, and the war fought to uphold it. 

Most of these Confederate monuments were built not immediately after the Civil War but in the Jim Crow South of the early 20th century, as a part of white Southerners’ cult of the “Lost Cause.” In this relitigation of history, Confederate soldiers were not landed gentry fighting to maintain their right to own other human beings (which they were). Instead, they were posited as noble rebels, fighting outmatched against a tyrannical government for a right to “maintain their way of life.” The plaques and obelisks and statues that dotted cities around the South in memory of this myth were designed as points of nostalgic pride for white Southerners and ominous reminders of systemic racial terror for Black Southerners. 

We’ve debated for years about whether these symbols of racist oppression and the Rebel South should continue to exist, but now, perhaps emboldened by the historic moment, people around the country (and now around the world) have taken matters into their own hands. Here’s a running list—updated June 12—of what’s been hit so far. 

June 11: Statue of Captain John Hamilton (Hamilton, New Zealand)

John Hamilton was a British navy captain in the colonial wars waged against the Māori, the indigenous civilization living on the island before any European set foot there. Today, they make up the island’s largest ethnic minority. After a local Māori elder threatened to take down the Hamilton statue by force, calling him a “murderous arsehole,” the city government of Hamilton decided to do it themselves. 

June 10: Statue of Jefferson Davis (Richmond, Virginia)

The people haven’t forgotten about Monument Avenue (scroll down to the May 30–31 entry). A little over a week after protesters occupied statues along the street honoring Confederate leaders, they brought down the statue of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. The statue had stood since 1907, when it was inaugurated in front of a band of Confederate veterans. It had been the subject of debate for years, and on June 3 Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney committed to beginning on July 1 the process of removing the statue through the city council. But apparently the protesters didn’t have that much time. 

June 10: Statue of Christopher Columbus (St. Paul, Minnesota)

Protesters pulled down a statue of Columbushat had stood outside the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. Mike Forcia, a leader of the American Indian Movement who was present at the rally, said that after years of trying unsuccessfully to bring the statue down through official channels, “it was just time.”

June 10: Statue of Christopher Columbus (Miami)

Police arrested seven people on June 10 in Miami after statues of Christopher Columbus and Ponce de Leon—another European colonizer, ahem, explorer—were tagged with “BLM” and George Floyd’s name in red spray paint.

June 10: Statue of Christopher Columbus (Boston)

A statue of Christopher Columbus that stood in Boston’s Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park was found without a head early the morning of June 10, and city crews removed the body the next day. It turns out this was not the first beheading the statue has suffered—it happened once before, in 2006, according to the Boston Globe, and was also doused with paint multiple times in recent years. 

June 9: Statue of Christopher Columbus (Richmond, Virginia)

During a protest organized by Indigenous groups, a statue of Christopher Columbus that stood in Richmond’s Byrd Park was torn down, set on fire, and thrown in a lake. The Richmond Indigenous Society, which took part in the action, was quoted in the New York Times as saying that the lake “seemed very appropriate” as a final resting place. 

June 9: Statue of King Leopold II (Antwerp, Belgium)

Just days after protesters occupied a statue of Leopold II in Brussels, another group in Antwerp set a statue of the colonial king on fire and painted it red. City officials had the statue removed from public display—a small indignity relative to the atrocities Leopold II committed against the people of Congo during his reign. 

 

June 8: Statue of John Castleman (Louisville, Kentucky)

The monument to Confederate soldier John Castleman was quietly removed by the city of Louisville on June 8. The statue had been the subject of debate, and last year a local arts group sued the city to prevent the statue’s removal. But on June 5 a Jefferson Circuit Court judge maintained the city’s right to take it away. 

June 8: Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument (Indianapolis)

City workers on June 8 dismantled and removed a monument to Confederate soldiers who died in a Union prison camp. The monument, which was originally erected in a nearby cemetery, was moved to Garfield Park in 1928 by public officials who were also members of the Ku Klux Klan and wanted to “make the monument more visible to the public,” according to a news release from Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett.

June 7: Statue of Edward Colston (Bristol, England)

During a Black Lives Matter protest on Sunday, June 7, demonstrators in Bristol, England, pulled down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston, who made a fortune in the Atlantic slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries. The monument to Colston and his philanthropy now rests in a watery grave—it was rolled down a street and thrown it into a nearby harbor. 

June 7: Statue of King Leopold II (Brussels, Belgium)

Protesters occupied a statue of Belgian King Leopold II, waving the flag of the Democratic Republic of Congo and chanting “murderer.” Leopold is infamous for the atrocities committed in Congo under his rule in the 19th century, including the murder of between one and 15 million Congolese people. An online petition has since been launched to remove all statues of Leopold throughout the city.

June 5: Slave Auction Block (Fredericksburg, Virginia)

On June 5, Fredericksburg removed a 176-year-old slave auction block that stood on a downtown street corner. Unsurprisingly, the block had been a site of contention for years.  In 2017, after white supremacists descended on Charlottesville in the deadly “Unite the Right” rally, Fredericksburg’s sole Black city council member, Chuck Frye Jr., proposed removing the block but was voted down, according to CNN. In recent protests, people spray-painted the block and chanted for it to be moved, and finally it was. 

June 5: Confederate flags (US Marines)

The US Marine Corps announced June 5 that it would ban displays of Confederate flags from ” public spaces and work areas” on their bases. It begs the question of why the Rebel flag was allowed on the bases of a branch of the US military in the first place.

June 4: Statue of Raphael Semmes (Mobile, Alabama)

Overnight on June 4, the government of Mobile quietly removed a statue of Confederate navy officer Raphael Semmes that had stood in the city’s downtown since 1900. Earlier in the week, a man had tagged the statue with graffiti phrases including “confed scum.” He was later arrested, and the city workers cleaned the statue, according to local news. 

June 3: Statue of Frank Rizzo (Philadelphia)

Philadelphia officials on June 3 removed the statue of former Mayor Frank Rizzo that had previously stood in front of the city municipal building. The statue had been a target of protesters in recent years, and with good reason. Rizzo was an avatar of white reaction, first as a “tough on crime” police commissioner from 1968–71 and then as mayor from 1972–80. As commissioner, his policies resulted in a pattern of racist police brutality against Black residents, and as mayor, he fought desegregation efforts, blocked public housing, and urged people to “vote white.” In a statement ahead of the removal, which had originally been planned for 2021, current Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kennedy said: “The statue is a deplorable monument to racism, bigotry, and police brutality for members of the Black community, the LGBTQ community, and many others. The treatment of these communities under Mr. Rizzo’s leadership was among the worst periods in Philadelphia’s history.” On Sunday, June 7, city crews painted over a mural of Rizzo in South Philadelphia

June 2: Appomattox Confederate Statue (Alexandria, Virginia)

The government of Alexandria had been planning to move this statue of a southern-facing Confederate soldier for some time now. But apparently the good ol’ gals of the Daughters of the Confederacy who own the statue decided to speed things along and preemptively had it removed on June 2.

May 31: Statue of Charles Linn and Confederate Soldiers & Sailors Monument (Birmingham, Alabama)

Demonstrators took down a bronze statue of Charles Linn, erected in the center of an eponymous park in honor of a sea captain who volunteered to help the Confederacy in the Civil War. They also attempted to bring down a nearby obelisk monument to Confederate soldiers and sailors until Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin deterred them, saying “allow me to finish the job for you.” Woodfin promised that the statue would be removed by Tuesday, June 2 at noon, and by Monday night it was gone.

May 30–31: Statues along Monument Avenue (Richmond, Virginia)

Richmond’s Monument Avenue, built explicitly to honor Confederate soldiers at the turn of the 20th century, has frequently been a flashpoint in the nationwide debate about the removal of Confederate symbols. Over the weekend of May 30, the statues of Confederate idols Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis, and others were tagged with such phrases as “No More White Supremacy” and “Blood on Your Hands.” In demonstrations Monday, protesters attempted to pull some statues down, according to police. They were met with tear gas. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced on June 4 that the Robert E. Lee statue would be removed “as soon as possible.”

May 31: The Daughters of the Confederacy building (Richmond, Virginia)

The United Daughters of the Confederacy was founded in 1894, dedicated to “the purpose of honoring the memory of its Confederate ancestors” and “protecting, preserving and marking the places made historic by Confederate valor.” In practice, this has meant serving as the standard-bearers of Lost Cause ideology, constructing and defending over 450 Confederate monuments across the South. The Richmond headquarters of the organization was set on fire during protests overnight on May 31. It was later put out by firefighters. 

It appears, however, that some Stonewall Jackson memorabilia inside the building was destroyed before firefighters could get to it. How sad. 

May 31: Confederate Defenders Monument (Charleston, South Carolina)

Built in 1932, this statue was paid for by—you guessed it—the Daughters of the Confederacy, to honor “the Confederate Defenders of Charleston.” Engraved around the base are the words “Count Them Happy Who for Their Faith and Their Courage Endured a Great Fight.” On May 31 protesters crossed out the word “courage” with spray paint and replaced it with “traitors.” The statue has since been covered up.  

May 30: I-630 Highway (Little Rock, Arkansas)

Protesters blocked traffic on I-630 in Little Rock on May 30. The construction of the highway in the 1960s and 1970s cut through a Black community and business district and created a barrier that further segregated the city, just like many, many, many other highways constructed in post-war America. 

May 30: Confederate statue at Ole Miss (Oxford, Mississippi)

In 1906, Nellie Durham Deupree and her band of Lost Cause ladies commissioned this monument for all the usual Lost Cause reasons. It’s long been decried as a racist symbol by some Ole Miss students, and in March 2019 the student government voted unanimously to have it removed. But in January of this year, the university’s governing board delayed a vote on whether to move it. Over the weekend of May 30 a man tagged the statue with the words “spiritual genocide.” He was later arrested.  

May 30: Market House building (Fayetteville, North Carolina)

Today Fayetteville’s Market House is mainly a historical landmark and tourist attraction, but as its name suggests, it was previously a commercial center and site where slave auctions were held. It was burned in protests on Saturday, May 30, but by Sunday people had come to clean it up. 

May 30: State Capitol Confederate monument (Raleigh, North Carolina)

Raleigh, North Carolina, a capital city in the United States of America, has sitting in front of its state government building a monument to the soldiers of the Confederate States of America, a failed slaveholding republic that resulted from an attempt of treason against the United States government. This monument was spraypainted by protesters over the weekend of May 30, presumably violating the 2015 state law that prevents such monuments from being removed, destroyed, or altered.  

Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama. He is Randall Woodfin.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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