Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington DC has submitted a list of Federal monuments in her city which should be “removed, relocated, or contextualized.” She recently formed a commission to study this highly contentious issue. These recommendations come at a crucial time in our analysis of American remembrance.
Bowser’s commission actually lists the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial along with statues to Franklin, Mason, and Jackson.
The National Park Service provides appropriate context where possible, including exhibits at the Washington and Jefferson sites. Further contextual additions are clearly subjective undertakings, likely not to include proponents of maintaining such sites. Reasonable voices are being disregarded as discourse is thrown out the window. Not all historians support such haphazard attempts at political correctness. They need to be heard.
Our collective ride down the slippery slope of misguided historical revision continues.
