Not all “bad” historical monuments should be taken down

Photo courtesy of Steve Helber/AP

“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again” – Maya Angelou

Historical monuments are placed to memorialize the past and remember how we got to where we are today. In recent history, some monuments have become the subject of controversy while others have remained inoffensive. What defines this ruling? If certain monuments are considered offensive, why were they put up in the first place, and should they be taken down? Well, not all historical monuments should be removed. Instead, they should be altered to display a more modern and accurate understanding of history to educate the public.

Sometimes public reaction to these monuments changes along with our understanding of historical events and figures far after the monument’s creation. One of the most prevalent examples of this is statues of Christopher Columbus. We used to celebrate him as the “founder of America” and had statues across the entire country in his honor. According to The Monument Lab, as of 2021, there were 149 monuments dedicated to Columbus in the United States, which was third, just behind Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. After education and discourse around Columbus changed to more accurately include all of his wrongdoings, some monuments created in his honor were taken down. In fact, 36 Columbus statues were removed prior to 2021, and more have since then. 

The reasoning for taking the monuments down came from the idea that they celebrate someone who is now regarded as a bad person for his mistreatment of indigenous people. The plaques often referred to him as the man who founded America, and therefore, he was the reason for the start of America’s geographic civilization. However, the more modern understanding of Columbus is that he was a brutalizing colonizer who not only stole land from indigenous Americans but also subjected them to extreme violence and slavery. As a result, many cities decided it was best to take down their Columbus statues after massive protests broke out. 

Taking down statues is a harmful form of censorship. In relation to Angelou’s words, he caused immense pain. He obviously should not be celebrated, but instead he should be the subject of education and public discourse. Changing monument plaques to write accurate descriptions of historical events and figures is the best way to acknowledge the atrocities of the past and hopefully prevent them from reoccurring through educating the public. 

Another example of this is a J. Marion Sims statue in East Harlem, New York City, that was taken down in early 2018 after it became a subject of protest. Sims was regarded as the “father of gynecology” in the 1800s and was celebrated as such for a long time. It was later brought to the public eye that he conducted incredibly unethical medical procedures on Black enslaved women without their consent, which is why the statue was called to be taken down. The two plaques on his monument listed the awards he won and celebrated that he made massive steps in the surgical world. Once people found out about his unethical practices, these statues served as a reminder of the atrocities that Black enslaved women went through during that time.

It is obvious how awful of a person Sims was, and that he should not be celebrated by any means. Instead of taking his monument down completely, it’s important to change the plaques for accuracy to educate the public on how horrible Sims was. Taking down that statue hides important history. No one should have to go through what these women went through ever again which is why it is so vital to educate the public. This way, society can learn from the past and move forward. Sims is not a person we want to see memorialized; we want to see the people who sacrificed their lives for women of the future.

I’m not saying that we should leave up monuments of all the people who we learned horrible things about. Obviously some extreme examples and outliers need changing. However, taking them down and censoring them is forgetting a major part of history. Instead, plaques should be changed, figures should be replaced instead of removed and above all, education should be spread.