“Monuments” features Confederate statues in a new context.
By Bill Watanabe
The Geffen MOCA in Little Tokyo has a current exhibit called “Monuments,” which shows some of the Confederate statues that have been defaced and torn down in various cities recently in the Deep South.
These were monuments of the leaders of the movement to preserve slavery and to revolt against the United States government. These leaders led the fight in a war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives and many more wounded during four years of terrible battles.
Decades after the Civil War ended, communities in the South raised money to glorify these traitors to America by erecting massive statues of people like Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and placing them in prominent public spaces – displaying a spirit that the white domination culture that instigated the Civil War still resided in the hearts of many to maintain the white power structure.
The effort to take down these statues of traitors was difficult, with much opposition and threats; only after the death of George Floyd and the efforts others who opposed the subtle and sometimes rampant racism did enough public pressure finally force the removal of some of these blatantly racist monuments. The statues on display at the Geffen MOCA try to portray these so-called heroes as strong and brave and just in their cause, fighting for their way of life (without actually saying their way of life was living off the backs of enslaved persons).
These statues have been removed from their lofty perches in public squares but many, many more still exist, extolling the virtues of white domination. It is not mere coincidence that many of violent protesters of Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington, D.C. carried Confederate flags, espousing that white dominance is alive and well.
I believe we are witnessing the violent last throes of white domination in a culturally and racially changing nation – a nation that will soon become a majority non-white population. The white power structure is fighting against a diverse and multi-cultural population that believes in democracy and progressive policies, that America is a land that protects the minorities and the weak and the poor.
Many of the former white majority want to label non-white immigrants as dangerous criminals, rapists, gang members, drug dealers, etc. in order to create fear and discrimination against people of color. They wish to make immigrants into scapegoats and a pariah group that can be blamed for the mongrelization of racial purity and the cause of all the ills of a white and pure society.
We have to have faith that the values of democracy and freedom are strong enough pillars of our society that we will get through this time of turmoil and that the effort to turn back the clock will eventually fail. This chaos too will pass.
Bill Watanabe writes from Silverlake near Downtown Los Angeles and can be contacted at ybwatanabe@gmail.com. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.