This framing holds that taking down controversial statues redresses long-standing injustice. It argues one cannot oppose racism without acting to redress it, that the moment forces a reckoning with racism, and that statues themselves allow no nuanced debate.
Supporting arguments · 4
- The crisis forces us to confront the scourge of racismThese statues send a clear message to people about their relative importance. They uphold institutional racism. Their impact on race relations is felt in the lived experience of our minority communities and seen in their lopsided poverty, police profiling, imprisonment, and abuse.
- Statues should not distract us from the real issue at handTearing down Coulston's image was necessary to start a long-overdue debate. Now, we need to turn those that still stand into educational tools by introducing plaques that tell the full stories of these controversial figures. Rewriting incomplete narratives benefits no one.
- Statues do not offer opportunity for nuanced debateStatues cannot give a fair look into the past - they are artwork. We cannot imagine which aspects of a person's life these monuments celebrate. If they're public, any exercise to change its role is futile. Removal of these statues is easier than expecting a politicised shift in the national psyche.
- We are experiencing a long overdue political resistanceFor too long, we have allowed institutional racism into our politics and society. We must create alternative routes for positive change. Taking down statues shows an emerging resistance to this problem. It's a call for action, which is the first step to reimagining an equal future.