The Birth of a New Nation, Replacing Statues and Symbols of Old

“This, then, is the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves and their oppressors as well.”

– Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

America is apparently trying to rewrite or simply re-identify with its history of violating civil rights, appropriating characters from other cultures, and creating culturally offensive symbols.

While the world has been in quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks triggered nationwide protests that included the demand for removing public symbols of racism and oppression. Local governments and companies then also began to remove or change names, images and policies that represented racist ideals.

The United States is, perhaps, known for foregrounding characters, such as Christopher Columbus, and events in history that reflect a positive, virtuous, and even heroic rise to becoming a world leader, while backgrounding events, such as the burning of Black Wall Street, and figures who don’t fit that narrative. This has led the nation and its leading institutions to create symbols of heroism and magnanimity out of people who were everything but, such as Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee, who were Confederate generals. 

What follows is a list of reforms that have happened due to the recent protests and Black Lives Matter movement:

Rhode Island Changes Its Name 

Many people from Rhode Island didn’t even know that the official name of the state is “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.” Due to its connotations with chattel slavery Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo has signed an executive order, effective immediately, to no longer use the word “Plantations” in any government document including: official correspondence, stationery, executive orders, citations, and paystubs.

Governor Gina Raimondo, 49, announcing the executive order June 22, 2020.

The state’s only black senator, Harold Metts, introduced the bill to officially amend the name in Rhode Island’s Constitution, the Senate unanimously agreed to put the bill to vote, and voters will get to make the decision in November. 

The attempt to change Rhode Island’s name took place once before in 2010, though 78 percent opposed removing the words “Providence Plantations.” Today, amongst the protests and blatant systematic injustice, there is newfound hope that the bill will be passed. 

Rhode Island once dominated the slave trade in North America and had a higher proportion of enslaved Africans than any other Northern colony.

Let’s hope this name change marks the beginning of Rhode Island’s full reckoning of its history with slavery. https://t.co/RbDOXlsOPT

— Kristen Clarke (@KristenClarkeJD) June 24, 2020

School Systems Change Their Names

Woodrow Wilson is an important and influential figure in American history, as he was the governor of New Jersey, the president of Princeton and the 28th president of the United States. His prestigious career has, however, overshadowed his blatant racism.

Within his first term in office, he passed a law making interracial marriage a felony in the District of Columbia. Washington offices, the navy, and the treasury all were ordered to become segregated. Not to mention, he made numerous attempts at stopping the political power of civil rights activists like W.E.B Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and William Monroe Trotter. 

Previously named Woodrow Wilson building at Princeton. School of Public and International Affairs.

Princeton University will be dropping Woodrow Wilson’s name from its School of Public and International Affairs and Wilson college. This decision has been praised by Princeton alum Michelle Obama but criticized by Pres. Donald Trump.

Monmouth University is also another university to drop his name from one of its buildings, which instead will now be called the Great Hall at Shadow Lawn.

Heartened to see my alma mater make this change, and even prouder of the students who’ve been advocating for this kind of change on campus for years. Let’s keep finding ways to be more inclusive to all students—at Princeton and at every school across the country. https://t.co/jQd0TmJe1r

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) June 29, 2020

Can anyone believe that Princeton just dropped the name of Woodrow Wilson from their highly respected policy center. Now the Do Nothing Democrats want to take off the name John Wayne from an airport. Incredible stupidity!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2020

Students at Woodrow Wilson High School have started a petition to change the school’s name. So far, it has received over 1,000 signatures and continues to rise. A school board in Kannapolis, North Carolina has voted to renaming Woodrow Wilson Elementary School to North Kannapolis Elementary School. Other schools named for Wilson, including a high school in Camden, N.J., and a high school in D.C., are proposing to do the same thing.

Protesters recently have pushed to remove John C. Calhoun’s name from Clemson’s Honors College. Western Carolina University unanimously voted remove the name Clyde R. Hoey, former governor and legislator who favored segregation, from one of its buildings. Oregon and Oregon State will no longer use the battle cry “Civil War” before rivalry football games. 

The University of Alabama has removed three confederate plaques and their students are pushing to remove the names of KKK members off some buildings. 

Removing Flags with the Confederate Symbol

Mississippi has had the same flag since 1894. Designed by Edward N. Scudder, it was the first flag in the state to incorporate the Confederate battle flag canton. 

Former Mississippi state flag

This past Sunday, Mississippi’s state legislature and state senate passed a bill to establish a commission to redesign a new flag without the confederate insignia. It was made official just yesterday when Governor Tate Reeves (R) signed the bill. Mississippi has been the last state in the United States to forgo a confederate flag or emblem on its state banner.

NASCAR has banned the display of the Confederate flag at all events and properties. The auto racing giant also removed its rule mandating that racing team members stand for the national anthem.

Statues Taken Down

Christopher Columbus is taught to be the man who was brave enough to defy the mass perception of the world being flat and to prove that there was a more efficient way to get to India, so he sailed west. In doing so, he discovered the “New World” now established as the Americas. However, in fact, the New World was not quite new. It just new to European societies and had been inhabited for centuries. Not only that, but Leif Eriksson and the Vikings had done “discovered” it five centuries earlier. 

Columbus was notoriously cruel to the indigenous peoples he encountered, enslaving them for his own monetary gain. As governor of the Dominican Republic, he killed the natives who tried to revolt under his rule, and paraded the dead bodies through the streets. His voyages and trade circulations, many which sold indigenous peoples to Spain, brought diseases like measles, smallpox, and the flu, consequently killing an estimated 90 percent of the population, according to PBS. 

Statues of Columbus are being taken down all over the nation. San Antonio, Texas; Hartford, Connecticut; New Jersey City; The City of Philadelphia; Mishawaka, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio; San Francisco, California; and Washington D.C. are a few of the cities that are in consideration of taking down Christopher Columbus’s statue. 

Beheaded Christopher Columbus Statue in Boston

 Even statues of Ulysses S. Grant, who led the union to victory in the Civil War, have been toppled in San Francisco, Calif., and Pittsburg, Penn., for his slave holding connotation. 

These states have taken down statues of historical figures with racist and slaveholding connotations: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia. 

Removal of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Lee Circle, New Orleans. Scott Threlkeld AP

New Holidays and Recognitions

Juneteenth is observed by African Americans each year on June 19 to mark the official end of slavery in the U.S. After Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) sponsored a bill that would recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday, senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, filed an amendment to it that would replace Columbus Day with Juneteenth as a national holiday.

Johnson has since withdrawn that proposal and showed willingness to the support the bill if he can cut federal employees paid leave to offset the cost of the holiday. No matter how it ends up, as a sole national designation or replacement, the Juneteenth bill has 51 sponsors in the Senate, and it looks to be another significant move to curb racism and support unity.

The NFL plans to have the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” — known as the Black national anthem — performed live or played before every game in Week 1 of the NFL season. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was first written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson and typically sung throughout Black History Month in February.

Aunt Jemima, Land O Lakes, Uncle Ben 

For more than 130 years Quaker Oats has been using the symbol of Aunt Jemima on their syrup and pancake mix. Beginning of the 4th quarter this year, the logo will not appear on their products and a name change will be announced on a “later date.”  The company that owns Uncle Ben’s, Mars, announced they are “evaluating all possibilities.” 

The racial stereotypes of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben have long since been offensive, but this begs the question: what took so long for them to change?  The tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police triggered an international public outcry in the form of protests, petitions and so forth. As such, companies like Quaker Oats recognized a time for change had come.

Aunt Jemima logo on a box of pancake mix and bottle of syrup.

Land O Lakes has already removed the stereotyped Native American woman from their packaging and have left the rest of the graphic design untouched, leaving a clean and simple look. 

Comparison of old Land O Lakes logo design v.s. new design

Football teams are being called on to rebrand as well, namely the Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians, and the Chicago Blackhawks. Keep up with how many signatures the petition receives here.

We must end racism in its entirety. Allowing the @nfl to continue to use the @redskins name is destructive to Native communities and cannot be tolerated any longer. Change the name @Redskins@nfl #TheTimeIsNow pic.twitter.com/XbVhS39pwp

— Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) June 25, 2020