It has been a hell of a year. Charlottesville was a disgraceful display of white supremacy and it has stirred up horrible division within the United States. The whole debacle revolved around a group of men marching in defense of a statue of Robert E Lee, a figure of the confederacy. The march turned to violence and President Donald Trump reacted poorly to the incident, by taking days to condemn, by name, the white supremacists and Klan members that were involved.
Well following this event, many states across the country have turned their attention to statues of controversial historical figures. In Minneapolis, some focus has been on a statue of Columbus. Many residents including, native Americans, feel that glorifying Columbus is hurtful because he represents colonialism and the movement that followed hurt their people greatly.
So who has been suggested as a possible replacement?
None other than one of Minneapolis’ hugest stars, the late, great Prince.
There is even a petition asking for this to happen. The petition is addresses to Governor Dayton and the state legislature. It states the following:
“Across the nation, city governments are choosing to remove statues of white supremacists, slave owners, and those who threatened the livelihood of Black people. Here in Minnesota, communities are reigniting the demand to bring down state’s monument to Christopher Columbus, a man who murdered, raped and enslaved Black and Native peoples in the Americas. We, the undersigned, do not believe that Columbus represents the values Minnesotans carry. Rather than glorify a man who wanted to extinguish Black and Native peoples, we should honor members of our community whose leadership we find inspirational.”
There are almost 6000 signatures on the petition so far and under a heading of “Why is this important?” it answers:
“Prince represents Minnesota values and Columbus does not.”
More and more people of this country want to erect statues of modern heroes – they want people with modern values.
It is important not to forget history, but there is a fine line between remembering and glorifying the past.
Watch:
Featured image via YouTube.
