Statues, statues, statues. We take them down, we leave them up, we argue about them all. Most recently, the "Emancipation memorial" or "Freedman's memorial" was taken down from its place in Boston (the original statue in Washington DC may also be removed) over concerns that it is demeaning and lacks context. (Two news articles are linked in the show notes.)
Because this is what we do and how we roll, the three of us (Micah is out this week; he'll be back next week) break down this conversation along absolutely nothing like its usual lines.
We start on perhaps more familiar ground by placing the need to remember history in tension against the potential for emotional damage, but then we talk about what it really means to criticize a statue, as art or as history or as both, what we're really doing when we use shorthand language like "white nonprofits" or "lived experience," and -- of course -- how we as Christians are called to respond.
https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/532012-statue-of-lincoln-standing-over-freed-slave-in-boston-has
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/29/951206414/statue-of-lincoln-with-freed-slave-at-his-feet-is-removed-in-boston
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Music and sound effects credit:
Gustov Holst's Thaxted, as performed by Kevin MacLeod, and "red tailed hawk" (no, it's not an eagle; eagles don't sound like that) as recorded by Craig Smith, both under the Creative Common License.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Classical_Sampler/Thaxted
https://freesound.org/people/craigsmith/sounds/479610/
Image credit:
https://www.vecteezy.com/holiday-seasonal/61847-grungy-easter-event-flyer-vector &
https://www.vecteezy.com/vector-art/147260-blue-stars-patriotic-grunge-background
and our generous graphic designer, Anonymous.