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A statue of Cecil Rhodes in Capetown being
removed to an undisclosed location. |
June 21, 2020—The
shocking killing of George Floyd has had global implications. The long-time
"Rhodes Must Fall" campaign for the removal of statues to Cecil Rhodes has been reenergized.
Here's the best discussion I have seen on how to evaluate monuments to past heroes. Were they working, within the constraints of their time, for a better world?
Rhodes had a dream of a "Capetown to Cairo" British Empire in Africa. He helped realize that dream and had two countries named after him for many decades—Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, and Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. He created the famed Rhodes Scholarships to Oxford, won by such American political successes as the late Senators Richard Lugar (Univ College, Oxford) and William Fulbright (Pembroke College, Oxford), and President Bill Clinton (Univ College, Oxford).
The Rhodes Must Fall (RMF) campaign looks at his achievements through the lens of his attitude and behavior toward black Africans. The RMF campaign was successful in Capetown, South Africa, where the statue of Rhodes was lifted from its pedestal. However, the campaign to remove a statue of Rhodes at Oriel College, Oxford
came to a screeching halt in 2015 when several alumni threatened to end their giving to Oriel if it acceded to the demands of the campaigners. (
Shameless self-promotion: This is covered on page 63 of the 4th edition of
Oxford College Arms.)
At the time, the RMF banner was not one that the Oriel Provost wanted, in the end, to fight for. The resolution at the time appeared reasonable, balancing the importance of keeping historical valuable monuments while facing up to the moral or other shortcomings of people who were once lionized.
What a difference the video of Floyd's killing has made! On June 9,
a thousand RMF protesters descended on Oriel College. On June 17, the governing body of Oriel College
voted to remove the statue to its alumnus, Cecil Rhodes. The next day (the 78th birthday of Sir Paul McCartney), Husayn Kassai, founder of the verification company Onfido, revealed that he
promised to replace any funding commitments withdrawn by "racist" alumni donors who object to the removal of the memorial to Rhodes.
Back in the United States, even the statue of Oxford alumnus Robert Moses is being threatened. That would have been unthinkable by most people before his principal biographer, Robert Caro, famously (in
The Power Broker) documented the man's aggregation of power and his use of it to preserve public spaces for relatively well off people. Moses was a New York City Parks Commissioner for 26 years. He built parks and parkways all over New York City and Long Island. He used his power to promote the automobile and higher-income residents. For example, he built bridges on his parkway with low clearance,
to prevent busloads of poor people coming to use his park.
There is a Rhodes connection to Moses. After Yale, Moses went to Oxford (Wadham College), graduating with a degree in jurisprudence in 1911. He was not, of course, himself a Rhodes Scholar, but
he had strong opinions about Rhodes Scholars. The new campaign to remove his statue in Babylon gives new meaning to
Paul Robeson's rendition of Go Down Moses.
Removing a desanctified statue poses new problems. If it goes to a museum, and other monuments follow,
the museum could become a shrine for fans, or another flashpoint, or both. A statue of (Roman Catholic) James II that was dumped in a nearby river was rescued; the metal was cleverly "repurposed" to make bells for the Anglican church.
Meanwhile, Oriel has
formed a Commission to make a recommendation by the end of 2020. Permission or signoff will be needed from
English Heritage, as the Rhodes Building at Oriel is listed Grade II. (Meanwhile, what about Rhodes House? It's hard to disentangle the Rhodes Scholarships from the man who created them.)
