How to Repurpose a Bad Statue
Cities around the world have recycled historically painful statues. There’s a lot we can learn from them.
As Confederate statues come down across the American South, there is a question of what to do with them once they’ve fallen. Should these metal and stone colossuses be melted down and broken up? Discarded? Should the wishes of those who, like President Trump, see sentimental and historical value in the statues, be respected? And if so, how?
The events of the last week and a half have reminded us about just how powerful these statues can be, both as tangible metaphors of power, and as catalysts for debate over how we write—what happens to the artifacts of the narrative we discard?
