Brussels Reporter
  • Home
  • Brussels
  • Europe
    • Europe

      How did the moments before Alexei Navalny was…

      January 18, 2021January 18, 2021

      Europe

      Families of Soviet Gulag prisoners still waiting for…

      January 17, 2021January 17, 2021

      Europe

      France pushes suspension of EU-US trade dispute

      January 17, 2021

      Europe

      At least two dead after cargo ship sinks…

      January 17, 2021January 17, 2021

      Europe

      Indonesian rescuers retrieve more bodies from the rubble…

      January 17, 2021January 17, 2021

  • Globe
  • Lifestyle
  • Business

Brussels Reporter

  • Home
  • Brussels
  • Europe
    • Europe

      How did the moments before Alexei Navalny was…

      January 18, 2021January 18, 2021

      Europe

      Families of Soviet Gulag prisoners still waiting for…

      January 17, 2021January 17, 2021

      Europe

      France pushes suspension of EU-US trade dispute

      January 17, 2021

      Europe

      At least two dead after cargo ship sinks…

      January 17, 2021January 17, 2021

      Europe

      Indonesian rescuers retrieve more bodies from the rubble…

      January 17, 2021January 17, 2021

  • Globe
  • Lifestyle
  • Business
Home Globe Theodore Roosevelt statue to be removed by New York museum
Globe

Theodore Roosevelt statue to be removed by New York museum

by editor June 22, 2020
June 22, 2020

Image copyright
Getty Images

Image caption

It has not been announced what will happen to the statue

A bronze statue of former US President Theodore Roosevelt is to be removed amid an ongoing backlash against symbols of racial bias and imperialism.

The statue outside the American Museum of Natural History in New York shows Roosevelt on horseback flanked by a Native American man and an African man.

A great-grandson of the president agreed with the removal, saying it did not reflect Roosevelt’s legacy.

But President Donald Trump tweeted: “Ridiculous, don’t do it!”

There has been a heated debate in the United States over the appropriateness of certain statues and commemorations since the death in police custody of African American George Floyd.

Symbols linked to the US Confederacy, which supported slavery, and imperial acquisition, such as Christopher Columbus, have been particularly targeted in the US.

But the anti-statue campaign, arising from the Black Lives Matter movement, has spread globally, with monuments targeted in a number of countries.

What’s behind the museum’s decision?

The statue has stood outside the museum’s Central Park West entrance since 1940.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Sunday: “The museum has asked to remove the Theodore Roosevelt statue because it explicitly depicts black and indigenous people as subjugated and racially inferior.”

He said he backed the decision, adding it was “the right time to remove this problematic statue”.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionProtesters across America have toppled statues associated with slavery

The museum’s president, Ellen Futter, said the world had become focused on “statues as powerful and hurtful symbols of systemic racism”.

She said the decision was based on the composition of the statue and not on Roosevelt, whom the museum would continue to honour.

A great-grandson of the former president, Theodore Roosevelt IV, told the New York Times: “The composition of the equestrian statue does not reflect Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy. It is time to move the statue and move forward.”

Activists opposed to symbols of colonial expansion and racial discrimination have wanted the statue removed for many years.

President Trump did not agree, tweeting his opposition early on Monday:

At a rally last week, the president condemned “the unhinged left-wing mob trying to vandalise our history, desecrate our monuments”.

It has not yet been announced what will happen to the statue.

Who was Theodore Roosevelt?

The Republican was one of the more flamboyant and commemorated of the country’s presidents, serving two terms from 1901 to 1909, and is often ranked in the top five in terms of achievement.

But there is no doubt his legacy is complex – a man who won widespread praise for proposals that led towards a welfare state, while also having a deeply troubling advocacy of eugenics.

“Teddy”, as he is known, is one of the four faces on the famous Mount Rushmore monument, where he joins Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.

Image caption

Roosevelt wedges his moustache in between Jefferson and Lincoln

The legacies of Jefferson and Washington, both slave owners, have been heavily questioned in the recent anti-racism campaign, and even Lincoln’s position on slavery is regarded as complicated.

Roosevelt was a lifelong and prodigious hunter, but also strongly acknowledged the need for conservation and indeed came to symbolise the birth of the movement.

He was also a big believer in expanding US power abroad, with strong interventionist policies.

With memorable quotes like “‘speak softly and carry a big stick”, it was perhaps not surprising that he took a leading role in the movie Night at the Museum, in the hands of Robin Williams.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionWhat do we do with the UK’s symbols of slavery?

Source link

previous post
The city of 2050: Less smog, more bikes and hyper-local living
next post
US-Russia nuclear talks: Washington condemns ‘no-show’ China at Vienna summit

Related Posts

Kenyan online cartel is luring girls to orgies,...

November 21, 2020

Vaccines in Europe: Who is responsible for the...

January 23, 2019

Coronavirus deaths in US top 100,000

May 28, 2020

Hurricane Hanna batters southern Texas

July 26, 2020

Nike expects permanent shift to online sales

September 23, 2020

Biden inauguration: All 50 US states on alert...

January 16, 2021

Russia’s plan for Europe: Punish Germany, divide the...

January 15, 2019

Robert Trump: President’s younger brother dies in hospital

August 16, 2020

Government backtracks on French quarantine exemption

May 15, 2020

Myka Stauffer: Backlash after YouTubers give up adopted...

May 28, 2020
Promotion Image

Recent Posts

  • Brussels’ police violence problem
  • US in Somalia: 'We still need the Americans for security'
  • How did the moments before Alexei Navalny was arrested in Russia unfold?
  • Families of Soviet Gulag prisoners still waiting for compensation in long-running legal battle
  • Airline industry needs up to another $80bn to survive pandemic
Promotion Image

GO!

Instagram

No images found!
Try some other hashtag or username

Lifestyle

  • Keeping the country in Europe cost Syriza power

  • The populist surge that did not happen

  • Can Europe avoid the coming crisis?

  • Green country went even greener

  • The Social democrats’ comeback

Popular Posts

  • 1

    Beware of scammING. Dirty money of famous bank

    October 6, 2020
  • 2

    The death of the city

    July 27, 2020
  • 3

    From Strasbourg to Stirling: An MEP aims to switch parliaments

    December 11, 2019

Editor’s Choices

  • Can Europe avoid the coming crisis?

    August 26, 2019
  • Avoiding a repeat performance of the financial crisis

    July 14, 2019
  • The EU’s next big challenge

    June 11, 2019

Opinions

  • Keeping the country in Europe cost Syriza power

    August 28, 2019
  • The populist surge that did not happen

    August 27, 2019
  • Can Europe avoid the coming crisis?

    August 26, 2019

@2018-2020 - Brussels Reporter (www.brusselsreporter.com). All Right Reserved.