Beginning at 12pm on Sunday, June 28th, a protest against the removal of the Theodore Roosevelt statue took place in front of the American Museum of Natural History.
The New York Young Republican Group organized the protest through Eventbrite, with a flyer which read “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore,” encouraging others to “join your fellow patriots in front of the statue.”
Protesters demanding Teddy Roosevelt statue not to be removed in #NYC at the American Museum of Natural history. Stay tuned for updates pic.twitter.com/tB30wWsPFE
— Jorge Ventura Media (@VenturaReport) June 28, 2020
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The AMNH recently expressed its plans to remove the statue, stating that “The Statue has long been controversial because of the hierarchical composition that places one figure on horseback and the others walking alongside, and many of us find its depictions of the Native American and African figures and their placement in the monument racist.”
The Equestrian Statue in front of the Museum has long been controversial for the racial hierarchy it depicts. The Museum has asked that it be moved. More: https://t.co/3hgIWe0fqu pic.twitter.com/m99Bl1EEFT
— American Museum of Natural History (@AMNH) June 21, 2020
In 2019, the AMNH also introduced an exhibit about the controversial statue, which you can read more about here.
SORRY FOR TYPOS very bad eyesight:/(
Sent to museum today :::
I’m not agreed with remiving Teddy Roosevelt statue.
Nobody asked me—its a public monument and lots if us like it but we were not consulted.
Only simplistic minds would call it “hierarchical” in a racist sense . Teddy is the Presudent and supported the Museum. Its naturL he be the central figure in this art.
The two otherv figures hold his guns and are part of the group because they represent other races who had a stake in America and its natural lands. They are not in subservient positions but in unity. Both handsome figures on foot were also known as hunters and/or naturalists.
Its very well made and artistic and has been a joy to observe mornings when I walk by for many years.
It serves to educate on many levels and should remain where it is.
Im not the only one who doesnt see it as offensive but as an interesting historical monument offering a perspective on the past, both positive and negative at once since no man and no era and no race is entirely one or the other.
The move to show only perfect ideas is reminiscent of the Maoist cultural revolution epidemic of wanton destruction, all explained very intelligently in his little red book.
My international friends and students if differing races agree with my statement They do not see racism or anything iffensive but find it interesting and are unhappy with its remival as they learned from it and think its well designed, beautiful and site specific in a way no replacement could ever be.
I am renouncing my museum membership and will avoid the area from now on.
Kindly copy/firward to Administration, especially Ms. Futter, as your website is not transparent on contact information for Admin and Trustees.
Anyone who has ever studied Sociology or Psychology, knows that we are a social group of people who look to leaders. This has nothing to do with race or intelligence or wealth, simply … we need someone to lead and others to follow. It never occurred to me that the two figures on the side of the horse were subservient in any way, simply representing “the people” without whom the leader would not exist. This is a powerful piece of art that honors a leader in our society, I would gladly be a model for “the other white guy” in support of “we the people”, even though I will never be President or Governor, I still stand for ideals and progress, as did he.
Put it in the basement. It is shocking and highly offensive to see this statue upon entering the museum. News flash to the New York Young Republican’s who staged the protest – Republicans have proven themselves to be the party of racists and has no credibility in this matter.
Not Republicans, I am a liberal Democrat who believes the statue should stay. The statue has a a black man who is standing tall and proud with a RIFLE on his shoulder. How anyone can take this as being subservient is beyond me. There are plenty of non-thinking liberals who ignore facts just like Cheeto-man and his cult.
Yeah Americans need to care half as much about almost everything else as they do about these statues. It’s really ignorant to hold onto some of these things forever. NYC of all places is a revolving door of architecture and art. And really it just oozes the white privilege when people show up for crap like this instead of so many more important things. Like black lives. Being patriotic should stem from us all supporting each other as Americans, first and foremost. The sheep are so easily distracted from the basics.
Yes, BLM is the most important thing so stop with the self-righteous “woke” attitude, Sometimes they piss me off as much as Cheeto and his cult. Do you actually know anything about Teddy Roosevelt? Have you ever read any history? Get a life.
Our friend Ans says “Only simplistic minds would call it “hierarchical” in a racist sense” Our friend Mike said, “It never occurred to me that the two figures on the side of the horse were subservient in any way,” It is a symbol of the racist history of our county. The fact that people don’t see that makes the removal all the more important. And such monuments are all over the country. Our children see these and it’s not ok. Things need to change.
Leave all statues alone and focus on crime and homeless $ and tha lousy $15 hr rage in this country
Here’s a thought, remove the two “subservient” figures and relocate them to places of honor respectively and leave Teddy Roosevelt alone. Let’s get real, it was the sculptor who “offended” the over sensitive sensibilities of today’s activists, not Roosevelt himself. What’s next? Blow up Mount Rushmore?
I have also suggested that the Native American and black man should be removed, but a generation from now others who have never cracked a history book will call the removal of them a racist act.
Sadly, blowing up Mount Rushmore has been mentioned.
The statue has a a black man who is standing tall and proud with a RIFLE on his shoulder. How anyone can take this as being subservient is just looking for ways to be offended.
Totally ridiculous. I agree. Remove the other statues and leave Teddy Roosevelt by himself. He is responsible for the parks and was a great leader. Sorry but you can’t rewrite history. You learn from it.
TR is one of our greatest presidents. Might he not be better honored with a statue that celebrates his environmentalism? Let this one go. It’s dispensable. All these darn equestrian statues are kitsch anyway.
I have created a petition to prevent the removal of this historic landmark with over 5,000 signatures so far.
http://chng.it/fxL9F5BP
Rita said “Sorry but you can’t rewrite history.” But the problem IS that history has been distorted by omission of the role of African Americans and Native American and the inclusion of honoring White Men as if they have only done great things. So yes, people have rewritten history. What part of history does the Roosevelt statue represent? Why is he on the horse? Why aren’t there white men, woman standing below him? Each of us, including the sculpture, has been inundated with racism in every aspect of life. So while the sculptor might have thought he was creating a positive image, it is not. It is multiple images like this across our nation, in textbooks (and now across TV, movies, internets, etc) that perpetrate racism. We can’t pick and choose which ones to leave, because collectively, in the end, they cause the deaths of people of color like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Stephon Clark, Alton Sterling, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and on and on. A change is needed. It is urgent.
If there were white men and/or woman standing below him, you would say “why aren’t there people of color near him”. The black and Native American are at his side and the black man is standing tall and proud with a rifle on his shoulder. The BLM movement is what matters the most now. Debates like this only distract from that important effort. There are always people on every side of an issue that will be offended by something and we should not always try to accommodate those who refuse to be accommodated. Confederate flags, statues and symbols need to be removed because the Confederates were traitors to the Union. Roosevelt might have been a flawed man but he is a true American hero.
Great, the opposition is growing.
Art is up for interpretation. It is a statue and can be interpreted in the eye of the beholder. People see what they want to see. You can choose to see anything in a positive light or in a negative light. Some people choose to see the positive and some people choose to see the negative. Personally, I love people that see things in the most positive light possible. If that is you, then, YOU make the world a better place and I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.
So by this thought process, it was wrong for the Germans to banish all physical relics of the Nazi regime from public view? I think the Germans did this right.
Your comment that equates Nazi Germany (responsible for over 6 million deaths) with the interpretation of a statue of an American hero makes a mockery of the horrors suffered by people all around the world and especially that of the Jewish people who suffered the most because of Hitler. Your kind of jibberish used to be associated with the right-wing nutcases. I am very sad to hear it come from the left.
The total number of African deaths deaths directly attributable to the institution of slavery from 1500 to 1900 suggests up to four million African deaths.
Some academics estimate that approximately 20 million people native inhabitants of the Americas may have died in the years following the European invasion – up to 95% of the population of the Americas.
In the United States, 4,743 lynchings were recorded between 1882 and 1968, according to the NAACP. Of those murdered people, 3,446 were black men, women and children — about 73 percent.
I could go on.
The Germans did right to destroy monuments to the Nazi’s. My family fought against Fascism in Spain, and then Germany, when many were silent. I will not be silent now. What is your plan to eradicate systemic racism in the United States?
My family also fought the Nazi’s, my uncle was a Silver Star awardee for his service in Normandy. It’s still a FALSE equivalency. TR was the first President to invite a black man to the White House for dinner. Unlike Hitler, Teddy Roosevelt did not systematically slaughter people and to even suggest it shows how little you know of history. It must be nice to live in a binary world. Good and evil, right and wrong, day or night. A world with no nuance or context. Unfortunately, it’s people like you who will cause a backlash and we will be doomed to another 4 years of the Orange monster in the white house. Focus on fixing the police departments, not on statues of past American hero’s, or concentrate your effort on real traitors to the Union like the Confederates.
The Nazi’s and their monuments were destroyed by the invasion of Germany in WWII. Fortunately, the Germans left the concentration camps, Dauchau, Aushwitz, and others as monuments to history. How else would we believe such an inhumane history?
Yup, they took down the monuments and left the artifacts of death. Those artifact tell the true story. They do not glorify what the Nazi’s did.
Taking a statue down is different than destroying them. Someone put work into those statues. What right does anyone have to destroy property? Should the many buildings and works of the Roman Empire be destroyed? Teddy Roosevelt was a great president. Destroying statues/property does not change my opinion.