Statues

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is the agency in charge of putting up those blue historical markers you see around the state.  About seven of them, including two in Carbon County, commemorate the infamous “Walking Purchase,” when European settlers cheated the Lenni Lenape out of thousands of square miles of land.  

I asked the director of the sign division if the Commission had thought about taking down the signs, since we have reevaluated that whole sordid incident.  She told me that the signs themselves are considered part of the historical record.  That is the way people thought when the signs were put up, and the signs themselves illustrate a moment in time.

Fair enough.  I get that.  While we might not put up a statue to Christopher Columbus today, at one time he was a hero to the Italian community.  We ignored the bad things he did, since he “discovered” America and changed global history.  We shouldn’t change the statue or tear it down; we need to change the way we think about what is sometimes called “the Columbian exchange.”

Same with Andrew Jackson.  He was thought to be a hero of the common man, and the “Trail of Tears” was ignored.  Now we remember that, but we may forget that during “Jacksonian democracy,” white people who owned no property were finally allowed to vote.

We also forget that political leaders are complicated people.  Teddy Roosevelt was an imperialist, but he was also responsible for national parks.  Martin Luther King was a great civil rights leader, but he also cheated on his wife.  Nixon was deserving of impeachment, but he also was largely responsible for the E.P.A.

Finally, here is some advice for the kids who would tear down the statue of Columbus in Easton, Pennsylvania, because of his treatment of Native Americans.  Forget 500 years ago.  Native Americans are dying at a higher rate from the Covid 19 virus than any other group in America.  Native Americans are still at the bottom of the educational scale.  Still the poorest group.  Still getting run over by illegal pipelines.  Still given a hard time when they try to vote.  Still getting sacred lands ripped up by fracking and mining.  You want to do something?  Forget Christopher fucking Columbus and start to act on what is happening now, in 2020, in America.