Herson Garcia

Professor. Rosen

English 1101

Monuments are reminders of people successes and a tribute people who died or a memorial for people who died in tragedies or of our veterans who were in wars that we fought and war memories or buildings that are historical to that state or place .  In New York you’ll find monument in every part of the boroughs which are tributes /memories towards people who did something great passed away or were killed in a tragedy of war or a reminder of a war or building . Not everyone believes or agrees monuments should be out in public and should be put into museums I agree with that statement i believe they should be put into museums.

I believe monuments should be put into museums for many reasons one of them is because museums are where these type of things are usually and people actually go to look at them and learn stuff about our country. People no longer actually go to these memorial sites where monuments are located to learn about it  people just go now to take pictures where these monuments are and share them on social media to show their friends where they went not because they actually care. One example is the horse statue outside of central park  it has historic meaning to new york but people don’t really care about gaining knowledge about the statue. Meanwhile people go to a museum to learn about what this monument means what it signifies who it is a tribute to. Another reason is people sometime vandalize these monuments show it zero respect throw garbage around it do graffiti on it and it just desymbolizes what the monument means and was put up for. Therefore they should be in a museum where no one can vandalize them and these monuments are kept safe and aren’t desymbolized.

Also monuments should be kept put in museums because some may be considered disrespectful to people and remind people of things they don’t need to be reminded of. There are some things they just want to forget and just leave it behind them or offend people. Yeah they might have historical meanings but that doesn’t mean all historical monuments are of honor and joy. Meanwhile some bring painful flashback or are meant to still be around some just kind of should be placed indoors where people who actually want to see these monuments can see them not out in public where some people don’t want to see them or care to see them. Monuments nowadays are just devalued where no one cares about them or care as to why they are put up and for what they stand for.

Monuments are controversial people believe they should be taken down and gotten rid of meanwhile others believe they shouldn’t be destroyed and should be kept. It’s a debate that’s never ending and all it does it create big protest and a huge headache for the police department and the city because they need to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand or oversize. One example are the confederate monuments. According to the article “We need to move,not Destroy Confederate Monuments” ever since the Robert Lee confederate statue incident all around the world people have been looking for things that symbolize hate and could stir up problems.Robert Lee was a confederate soldier who fought in the civil war and had slaves and people at that time period viewed as a hero and believed slavery was alright we are now in a different era we no longer are believe in the things we believed in back then and don’t believe in slavery and to certain people they still respect and honor him but to certain other group they are disgusted by him and believe having this statue as a insult. Another example are tribute statue or paintings. Earlier this year during the Whitney Biennial a British Artist, Hannah Black, called for the destruction of a painting of the Martyred Emmett Till which was painted By Dana Schutz According to The article “We need to move,not Destroy Confederate Monuments” on the website Nytimes. Emmett till was a young African american killed by a group of white people because supposedly he harassed and made sexual advances towards a white lady and dumped off in a river to some people they can view this as a tribute to Emmett till but to others they made believe it is an insult to Emmett till. So to save the headache and end the debate might as put it in a museum where it’s not in public where people don’t want to see it but at least its not destroyed so that people who do believed it shouldn’t be destroyed or gotten rid of can still see it.

Now others believe they shouldn’t be placed in a museum and should be kept where they are and outside but why? We live in a different era nowadays not everyone cares about these monuments as much as people did back then. People nowadays are attached to their phones and  walk by them without noticing or caring about them.What they symbolize or mean so why not put them somewhere where people actually care about learning what they mean symbolize or the history about these monuments but hey that’s just my opinion…

Work cited:

Cotter, Holland. “We Need to Move, Not Destroy, Confederate Monuments.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Aug. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/08/20/arts/design/we-need-to-move-not-destroy-confederate-monuments.html.