C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 25 DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION deeply offensive… but they play an important role in teaching us about our past.’ Dowden explained: ‘Rather than erasing these objects, we should seek to contextualise or reinterpret them.’ The argument that no statue should ever be removed can not be sustained. People are not expected to live with statues of Hitler, Stalin and Saddam Hussein, for example. There used to be several statues of the entertainer and broadcaster Jimmy Savile in public places.They were all removed when his sex crimes were exposed. A man who had been a popular figure was now universally reviled. He was a part of the nation’s cultural history but in the light of new information that history is no longer celebrated. Not if, but when and how So the question is not whether statues should ever be removed, but how such decisions are made. In making those decisions, it will help to know why the memorials were erected; what effect they were meant to have; and what effect they do have. In 2020 the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the USA issued a statement on the controversial issue of Confederate monuments. ‘The [trust] has previously issued statements about the history and treatment of Confederate monuments, emphasizing that, although some were erected… for reasons of memorialization, most Confederate monuments were intended to serve as a celebration of Lost Cause mythology and to advance the ideas of white supremacy,’ it wrote. ‘Many of them still stand as symbols of those ideologies and sometimes serve as rallying points for bigotry and hate today. To many African Americans, they continue to serve as constant and painful reminders that racism is embedded in American society.’ The trust pointed out that the monuments’ history need not end with their removal: it supports their relocation to museums or other places where they may be preserved so that their history can be recognised and interpreted. New statues can be controversial as well. The National Windrush Monument was unveiled at London’s Waterloo Station earlier this year. The bronze statue of three figures, created by the Jamaican artist Basil Watson, was funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. It has been widely welcomed as a celebration of the lives, contribution and legacy of those who came to the UK from the Caribbean between 1948 and 1971. Some people, though, have found the monument offensive.The equality and human rights campaigner Gus John has condemned ‘the entire Windrush construct’ as a sham. While acknowledging the statue as a work of art, John described it as ‘monument to unforgivable political illiteracy Hundreds of statues of Joseph Stalin were taken down after his death. The National Windrush Monument has inspired debate about what historical narrative it represents.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=