Statues

Statues

Tonight, I was thinking a bit about the controversial statues in the United States regarding commemoration of Confederate Civil War Leaders.  There have been many stories regarding this controversy in the media lately.  Mayor Landrieu in New Orleans took down several statues of Confederate generals, one of whom was even tied to the city of New Orleans directly.  The protestation towards this decision grew so vehemently that the decision was made to quietly remove the statues at night. The statues were not destroyed but stored for safekeeping until a decision can be made as to how to display them in a less prominent way.

The recent White Supremacist parade in Charlottesville, VA were initiated by a decision to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee from a park there.  The Neo-Nazi parade chanted against people of color and Jews.  The protesters protesting the White Supremacists had a member of their group murdered by a man running a car in to the crowd.  President Trump excused the White Supremacist as "some very good people".  Oddly enough, Robert E. Lee had written himself that there should be no statues to any of the leaders of the failed Confederacy.

There are statues all over the south of Confederate Generals on horseback looking fiercely forward.  There is even Stone Mountain Georgia mimicking the size of Mt. Rushmore with three Confederate Generals. The claim that southerners deserve to celebrate their heritage is a poor excuse for statues that were not erected until the growing civil rights movement.  The statues feel more like threats to African-Americans than cheers for heritage.  

I can most easily demonstrate this by mentioning the flag at most of these sites. The Stars and Bars is flown.  The Stars and Bars was the battle flag of the Confederacy.  The actual Confederate States of America flag looks very different. If heritage of the Confederacy is being honored, then fly the correct flag, not the inflammatory flag. Most of the people calling heritage do not what the actual flag looks like.

But aside from this issue and why I am writing to you tonight dear reader, is the statuary all over America.  Most of our city and small-town civic parks are filled with statues of war leaders waving swords or pointing guns. Everywhere you look in Washington D.C. there are statues of generals with circles named for them. There is the occasional calmer statue like Sacajawea leading Lewis and Clark, but they are less than one percent of the statues honoring our past.

This brings me to my time here in Armenia.  There are statues all over Yerevan.  The two biggest squares of which I am aware are called Republic and Freedom.  There is a statue over the city of Mother Armenia holding a sword, but I have been told that the only reason she is holding the sword across her waist is it makes the sign of the cross. The Soviets were in charge at the time and did not approve of religious worship.  Armenia, being the first Christian nation in the world, tricked the Soviets in to erecting a giant cross sculpted by an Armenian.

Throughout the city there are billboard signs on the road advertising famous Armenians.  I have only seen one general.  Most of the signs are poets, composers, playwrights, authors, architects and other artists.  There are billboards about ancient churches. Armenian cultural history is on constant display along the roads in and around Yerevan.

Then there are the statues, many surrounding a palisade around the Opera building which is another focal point of this city.  The statues like the billboards are artists and architects and musicians.  No warlords here.  My favorite is of the pianist, Arno Babajanyan, with his hair flying and his hands poised to strike the abstract piano below them.  The music can be heard in the majesty of this statue.

The Armenians have chosen the right people to honor. They celebrate what makes life worth living.  In a hundred years, there will not be an outcry to remove a statue of Komitas because he was too good of a musician.  There will be no challenge to naming the street Charents after the poet because of his rhyme scheme or word choice.  Perhaps the one appeasement that could be made would be too drape a wreath of flowers and apricots over Mother Armenia’s sword to make her a little less bellicose.