Jerry Newcombe cites pitfalls of destroying monuments of the past
It would seem that in our day, American history is being dismantled one statue at a time.
Just the other week, New York City removed a statue of Theodore Roosevelt. NBC notes: “The bronze sculpture of Roosevelt on horseback with Native American and African figures depicted subjugation and racial inferiority, the American Museum of Natural History said.”
A friend remarked, “The idea of erasing Teddy Roosevelt from that specific museum in New York – my goodness, they just made a beloved movie about 15 years ago where Teddy Roosevelt (played by Robin Williams, no less) comes alive at that very museum – is utterly absurd and is the work of Stalinists and Maoists.”
Two months ago, NYC removed from City Hall a statue of Thomas Jefferson because our third president had owned slaves.
Jefferson and slavery is a complicated subject. While he owned slaves, he did much to try and uproot the evil practice. I think he felt it was too massive to uproot in his day, but he helped work toward its eventual removal.
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