The Defacement of Racist Statues Is a Renegotiation of Power
An interview with art curator Chaédria LaBouvier
A vandalized statue of King Leopold II in Belgium.
There’s a great argument that there should be a prominent addendum to those statues that explain the history of what they represent.
“In the beginning years of the Reconstruction era, statues were meant to intimidate a burgeoning free Black class and Black middle class.”
In the beginning years of the Reconstruction era, statues were meant to intimidate a burgeoning free Black class and Black middle class.
For better or worse, these statues are works that exist in many different ways in social history as objects of the civic life of a city.
