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| Columbus monument, Barcelona, Spain. |
Certain issues just seem to belong to Chicago. Dibs, for instance. That peculiar tradition of trying to claim a parking space with a few scattered chairs, or dinette tables, or whatever, just because you took the trouble of shoveling it out. A weird blend of private effort and public display, these fragile monuments to selfishness. "I went to the trouble to clear the public way, so the space now belongs to me." There's something tragic about dibs; I sometimes snowblow the sidewalks of my entire block; I don't then try to stop people from walking there.
So it stood out, from the general wrongness of everything happening in Washington, D.C., to see Donald Trump's White House leap into the Christopher Columbus fight, erecting a statue of the great explorer near the grounds of the White House early Sunday morning. Truly, it was as if the president had issued an executive order banning ketchup on hot dogs, not to give him any ideas.
“In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero," a spokesman declared.
I bet he is. Columbus's heroism has curdled in some quarters, particularly after the 2020 George Floyd protests, when the exact degree that our government values the lives of people who didn't have the good sense to be born white came into sharp relief. Suddenly, deifying Confederate traitors and rampaging colonizers couldn't be shrugged off quite so easily.
Columbus statues were taken down in other cities across the country, such as Boston, Richmond and Pittsburgh. Baltimore's was broken into pieces and tossed into the Inner Harbor. The statue erected on the White House grounds, in front of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, was created by an artist — to stretch the term — working from the shattered Baltimore statue, fished out of the water.
Still, Columbus seems a uniquely Chicago concern. Maybe because the city yanked three Columbus statues off the street in 2020. Maybe just from watching close up the day-to-day gyrations of old-school Italian pride groups trying to make the case that once someone is honored in a public space he therefore must be honored forever, no matter how tastes change. The issue resembles school prayer, where specific groups insist their own private devotions become mandatory public ritual.
Maybe because Columbus, while known around the world, has been a particular fixation in Chicago, where the city's monumental 1893 fair was dubbed "The World's Columbian Exposition," part of the 19th century trend of celebrating Columbus for discovering the continent. An effort picked up enthusiastically by Italian immigrants, who at the time played then playing the despised outsider role now forced upon Venezuelans. Columbus became demonized in the 21st century for his rough handling of the discovered — raping and torturing and murdering them more than many like to see in our public heroes. Except for the president, of course, who has made a career of slathering plaudits over the most loathsome personalities, particularly himself.
As a historically minded person, I generally don't like to see statues pulled down. It smacks of the Taliban blowing up Buddhas. There is an enormous monument to Stephen Douglas at 35th Street, just west of DuSable Lake Shore Drive. Douglas was not only a slaveholder, but a notoriously neglectful slaveholder. Yet the edifice remains, and rightly so, because it's historic and in a part of the city not otherwise bristling with tourist sites. Besides, it's also Douglas' tomb, and it could be argued that everyone, no matter how vile, gets to slumber in his own grave.
Mary Todd dated Stephen Douglas, the Little Giant and Abraham, an actual giant. There should be statues dedicated to her. She went through Hell. We really need to stop naming things after men. After reading 'Ask Not' by Maureen Callahan, I can't drive on the Kennedy without thinking about what went on with THAT guy. Look at what the Latino community is doing.. they are removing Chaves in a flash! I await the day when the big ugly eyesore letters are removed from where the Sun-Times building once stood.
ReplyDeleteWhat did Mary Todd or, for that matter, Maureen Callahan ever do?
DeleteWhat trees have they planted?
The other problem in Chicago with Columbus is that our utterly incompetent former mayor made some really stupid decisions about the Columbus statues. Specifically about the one in the Near West Side Arrigo Park, which was privately paid for. That one really infuriated people, because of the fact it was a gift to that park & then stolen away in the night, not to be seen again. Some news articles have said the city may return that statue to a group to display privately. On top of that, we still have Columbus Drive in Grant Park & Columbus Avenue on the Southwest Side. Why haven't they been renamed if they're so offensive?
ReplyDeleteThen she had her equally incompetent staff compile a bizarre list of "problematic monuments" that should also be removed.
Included on that weird list, is a plaque attached to a building at the North East corner of Rogers & Clark, noting that Rogers Ave, follows the Northern Indian Boundary Line.
1. The Indian Boundary Line is a fact, established by a treaty in the early 1800s. There is also a Chicago park named Indian Boundary Park in West Rogers Park, which straddles the line, long since abolished.
2. The plaque doesn't belong to the city, it was put up by the Chicago Historical Society & is on a privately owned building containing a few stores & apartments above there. The city has zero rights involving it, removing it would be a felony, as its replacement cost would be several thousand dollars, it's solid bronze.
3. Even weirder, it's almost impossible to see that plaque, because the city mounted a traffic light control box in front of it, blocking the view of it. Was that deliberate? Who knows?
It also appears that current incompetent Mayor Johnson doesn't care about that insane list, because absolutely nothing has been done about it since he came into office!
You forgot Columbus Park.
DeleteI will concede that Columbus was, to say the least, a problematic person, and the first step in decimating the native people of America. However, I cannot be sorry that he helped open the western hemisphere to European settlement, including most of our ancestors. (Settlement by others, too, of course). My ancestral community in Europe Was wiped out during WWII. If my grandparents and great-grandparents had not had the opportunity to pull up their socks and move to America, I would not be here (or anywhere else) today.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, it is interesting that the Italians in Italy seem to take very little note of Columbus, while he is wildly celebrated in the south of Spain. There isn’t a city in Andalucia that doesn’t have a major statue of Columbus making his case to Ferdinand and Isabella, and Seville claims to be one of the places where Columbus is interred.
I always laugh when I see a photo of the statue of Columbus in Barcelona. Much like the man himself, he is pointing in the wrong direction.
ReplyDeleteOnly the Trump White House would willingly leap into a cesspool and shout out, "The water's fine!"
ReplyDeleteI guess it's ok that usually wealthy people petition the city for permit parking on their block which is just dibs on steroids.
ReplyDeleteBut dude I have been commenting on this blog for 10 years and have never not one time ever denigrated Jewish people for any of their odd notions or revered figures in their history. Lay off the Italians would you we're not solely responsible for decimating the indigenous population here
Was I blaming the Italians for decimating the indigenous populations here? I must have missed that. I thought I was saying that Columbus was a bad guy, I forgot that he's a stand in for the entirety of the people. As for Jews, of course I've been critical but, since your ox wasn't being gored, you didn't notice. The last two times the Israeli consulate invited me to visit on a junket they subsequently read something I wrote on their situation, had second thoughts, and yanked the invite back.
Delete"I sometimes snowblow the sidewalks of my entire block."
ReplyDeleteI do the neighbors one down and two down, and one up and two up from me.
I live in a college town, and a couple who are both residents moved in next door. I told them DO NOT buy a big red two-stage snow thrower.
I'll take care of it. You know residents. They work maybe 100 hours a week. We take care of it. It's not that big of a deal.
(Oh, and Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day, Monday, October 12th.)
No one but twisted old people living in the past gives a blank about columbus. He will forever reside in the hall of shame.
ReplyDeleteSince Spain financed the Columbus expeditions and the crew on the shops were mostly Spaniards you’d think Spain would figure more prominently in the glory.
ReplyDeleteI've lived in several large cities which get snow. Every one of them has a tradition of putting trash -- usually, lawn chairs -- on shoveled out spaces. Residents of every one of them thinks this tradition is unique. What an odd claim!!!!
ReplyDeleteRegarding dibs...I live in one of the snowiest major metros in the country. Cleveland's average winter snowfall is twice that of Chicago's. Double THAT if you live on the high ground...the hilly areas to the east and northeast...the infamous Lake Erie snowbelt. Maybe 150 inches in a bad winter.
DeleteBut regardless of where people live...city, less snowy western suburbs, far snowier southern and eastern suburbs...the concept of "dibs" is completely unknown. In my 33 years of living here, I have never seen it or even heard of it happening. Never. Not once. People here think "dibs" is either funny...or strange. And a totally Chicago thing.
Are people here just nicer and more polite than they are in Chicago? To a limited extent. That has changed for the worse in recent years and decades, same as everywhere else in these Untied Snakes. But mostly, people here have garages and driveways, because of the snowy climate. And there are far fewer Chicago-style apartment neighborhoods. That makes a huge difference. Far less density overall. Period.
The vast majority of residential structures are single-family homes and duplexes, which is what they call two-flats here. And even they have garages and driveways. Only the oldest parts of town have alleys, and garages that face them.
Yeah, Cleveland winters are grayer (but not as brutally cold), and far snowier than Chicago's are. And they really suck. But without dibs, and with off-street parking, they tend to suck a good deal less.
Douglas Park was renamed after Frederick Douglass the former slave in 2020. I would like to just see both coexist with an opportunity to educate people on both of them. If history isn't a little ugly your not getting the real picture.
ReplyDeleteThere is a move afoot to do the same with Jackson Park, changing from Andrew to Jesse.
DeleteDouglas Park was named for Stephen A. Douglas, who owned notoriously brutal plantations, even though he did not run them. Which still makes him a slaveholder, technically or otherwise.
DeleteBy simply adding another S, in 2020, Douglas Park became Frederick Douglass Park. From a slaveholder to a formerly enslaved person. Easy-peasy. Don't even have to change Jackson Park. From nasty Andrew to good-guy Jesse. Easier-peasier.
While I understand and respect the perspective of those who believe statues of historical figures should be removed due to their immoral or troubling actions, I personally feel there is value in keeping them in place. Preserving these statues can encourage future generations to examine history more fully—acknowledging both the achievements and the flaws of those who came before us—and to engage in meaningful discussion about our past.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to note that public sculpture can be both a shrine and/or a commemoration. For example, when I was in Russia in the 1990s, pretty much all the monumental sculptures of Lenin and Stalin were removed or destroyed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Those that were saved in Moscow were placed in a sculpture graveyard near Krimsky Val (House of Artists) for preservation and are still there. As shrines, they are not missed. The public sculpture dedicated to soldiers were commemorative and usually saved. That raises the question, are the sculptures of Columbus shires or commemorative? As shrines, take them down, otherwise treat them for what they are, reflections of history. I agree with Neil about the destruction of public art, whether historic or religious, the symbolism is part of our past and culturally significant.
ReplyDeleteAnything with Trump's name on it is an egotistical shrine and not worth saving. When he is dead, let others decide to commemorate his past by extolling his virtues, which are non-existent. But while he lives, any commemoration is total bull shit, akin to the lunacy of Caligula who declared himself a living god. Thank goodness, some people have found it necessary to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He is revered for his deeds, not for his ego.
Lest anyone forget, George Washington was not perfect either, but there is no outcry to tear down monuments dedicated to all he represents. It is important to preserve history and educate people about it without destroying the symbolism embedded in the fabric of our past. Yes, tear down the shrines, but please preserve the history of human accomplishments.