The refuge city for statues and the 'Park of American Heroes': how the US is trying to save monuments - ForumDaily
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City of refuge for statues and the 'Park of American Heroes': how the USA is trying to save monuments

US President Donald Trump has ordered the creation of "American Heroes National Park" to protect, as he put it, "our great national history" from vandals who destroy monuments. Writes about this with the BBC.

Photo: Shutterstock

By presidential decree, he ordered a special commission to develop a plan for the creation of the park, including the choice of location, in 60 days.

At Trump's insistence, the park's statues must be realistic and not "abstract or modernist."

According to the President, the park of heroes should be located in a picturesque place near the city and open on July 4, 2026. State donors and civic organizations should be donors of statues.

The historical figures chosen by the president are likely to cause a lot of controversy.

The list of “historically significant” Americans quite predictably includes the nation’s founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, as well as pioneer Davy Crockett, Baptist preacher Billy Graham, Ronald Reagan and two heroes of World War II - Generals Douglas MacArthur and George Patton.

It is also planned to perpetuate the memory of African American civil rights activists Harriet Tabman and Martin Luther King.

Interestingly, Trump also included non-Americans on the list “who made significant historical contributions to the discovery, development or independence of the future United States.”

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Therefore, statues of Christopher Columbus, the Franciscan monk Junipero Serra and the Marquis de Lafayette may appear in the park.

For Native Americans, Columbus and the Catholic missionary Serra are hardly heroes, since their “discoveries” led to the enslavement and exploitation of the indigenous population by white colonists.

The US economic development at an early stage also depended on slave labor, therefore, for African Americans some of the proposed candidates are also unacceptable.

As for the Marquis de Lafayette, it seems that there are no complaints: he fought on the side of the Americans against the British during the War of Independence.

Symbolic answer

Donald Trump's proposal to create a Hero Park allows you to understand whom the president considers worthy of respect.

These are the founders of the United States, along with the pioneers of the XNUMXth century, glorified in old television series, generals of the Second World War and the fighters for the abolition of slavery.

Among them is the idol of the Republicans, Ronald Reagan, the only president in the last 150 years noted by Trump, as well as one Supreme Judge, the intellectual support of conservatives, Antonin Scalia.

The list seems to be taken from history books of the 50s, the same era for which the president is nostalgic when he talks about “American greatness.”

In his speech at Mount Rushmore, the president criticized the protesters, accusing them of wanting to destroy the country's cultural heritage. Heroes Park is his symbolic response. By defending monuments to Confederates who fought against the United States Army during the Civil War, Trump is vindicating those who, in his view, embody American patriotism, spirit and courage. At a time when many Americans are critically re-evaluating their history, Heroes Park is intended to be a glamorous tribute to the president's vision of American "exceptionalism."

This idea is likely to cause rejection among critics of the president, who believe that he should not be judged on American values. And it also serves as a harbinger of a tense war of cultures during the fall presidential campaign.

Donald Trump announced the creation of “Heroes Park” while speaking near the famous bas-relief of American presidents on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota on the occasion of US Independence Day, which is celebrated on July 4th.

He criticized those who demolished monuments during the recent protests of the Black Lives Matter movement against racism.

Mentioning the bas-relief, which has become one of the symbols of the United States, in his speech, Trump said that the monument “will stand as an eternal tribute to our forefathers and our freedom.” “This monument will never be desecrated, the faces of these heroes will never be disfigured,” he promised.

On the subject: 10 most famous monuments in the United States

“Our country has witnessed a ruthless campaign to destroy our history, dehonor our heroes, erase our values ​​and indoctrinate our children,” Trump said. “Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, desecrate our most sacred memorials, and flood our cities with crime and violence.” “We will not be silenced!” the president added.

As part of the Black Lives Matter campaign around the world, including in the USA, many monuments to people whom activists consider to be involved in the slave trade or guilty of discrimination against blacks were demolished.

Including participants in speeches in response to the murder by police of black George Floyd, fighting with monuments to the generals and soldiers of the southern states confederation of the Civil War era of the 1860s.

No masks

In his speech, Trump practically did not talk about a pandemic. On Mount Rushmore, Trump spoke to an audience of 7,5 thousand people. At the same time, despite the warnings of doctors, the participants in the event were not obliged to wear masks and observe measures of social distance.

The choice of location was also controversial, as two of the presidents depicted on Mount Rushmore—George Washington and Thomas Jefferson—were slave owners.

In addition, this place is located on the ancestral land of the Indians of the Lakota Sioux tribe, which the American government took away at the beginning of the XIX century.

What else did trump say

The US President said that those who attack symbols of national heritage will be fully accountable to the law. According to him, they face up to 10 years in prison, in accordance with a recent order he signed to protect monuments.

In honor of Independence Day, fireworks were given to the music. Fireworks in this place have not been arranged for more than ten years after they were banned because of fears that this could lead to fires in the forests of the Black Hills massif, where a bas-relief is carved.

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In her acceptance speech, Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, echoing the president's remarks, accused recent demonstrators of trying to "erase the lessons of history." “This is being done on purpose to dishonor the founding principles of America,” she said.

What do Native Americans think?

Native Americans criticized Trump's arrival, as mass gatherings, they say, are now a health hazard. They also disagreed with the idea of ​​celebrating US Independence Day in a sacred place for the indigenous people.

Many native Americans do not celebrate Independence Day, because for them it is associated with the colonization of their lands and the loss of their own cultural freedom.

The bas-relief on Mount Rushmore was created between 1927 and 1941, but the land on which it is located - the Black Hills mountain range in South Dakota - was expropriated from the Indians back in the XNUMXth century.

“The President is putting our tribe members in a dangerous situation by holding a photo op on our sacred site,” said Harold Frazier, chairman of the Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation.

Before this rally, a group consisting mainly of Indians blocked the main road to the monument, with white vans spread across, which eventually led to a confrontation with the police.

According to the local press, the police, with the support of soldiers from the National Guard, used smoke bombs and gas canisters to disperse the crowd.

The vans were driven away and several protesters were arrested after police declared the road closure an "unlawful assembly," a local newspaper reported.

Ohio town is a haven for statues

A small town in Ohio, Newton Falls suggested that other cities remove unnecessary monuments to political figures, declaring themselves to be a "refuge city for statues." This is stated in the proclamation of the city manager David Lynch, writes "Voice of America".

The proclamation grants a “general amnesty” to the monuments of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Patrick Henry, Francis Scott Key, Theodore Roosevelt and Christopher Columbus. “The great leaders of our country and Western civilization, although flawed on many issues, made great achievements such as founding our nation, ending slavery, establishing and protecting our national parks, passing anti-trust laws to protect our citizens from aggressive industrial monopolies and generally discovered the New World,” the proclamation says.

City officials are proposing to take these “unnecessary” monuments that have been dumped in various American cities and place them in their community, in a “place of honor.” Lynch said his city wants to honor great leaders. “Yes, they had flaws, but they laid the foundation for what we have today,” Lynch said.

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