Twitter Users Share Statues That Are Better Than The Ones Protesters Are Tearing Down
The recent protester-initiated takedown of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol (due to his affiliation with slave trade) has sparked much debate, forcing societies to rethink who they choose to honor through this medium.
This has also inspired the takedown of a number of other statues, namely those of Christopher Columbus, Jefferson Davis, and the Portsmouth Confederate Statue, and there are also demands to remove the Cecil Rhodes statue in the UK as well. And while this statue purge continues, it’s important to note that not all statues honor people of dubious or debatable reputation, as there are a number of them honoring political leaders, social activists, and all-around good guys in history.
Twitter has recently begun sharing photos of statues honoring people who have genuinely stood for peace, equality, and justice, speaking against structural racism, sexism, homophobia, and many other social issues.
h/t: boredpanda
La Mulâtresse Solitude who in 1802 helped lead a slave revolt in Guadeloupe whilst 8 months pregnant, her last words before she was hanged: ‘Live free, or die’ https://t.co/hKudDDytcf pic.twitter.com/ndfRY634dw
— 🦋 #JusticeforShukriAbdi (@JustSabina_) June 11, 2020
Växjö Sweden.
Commemorates housewife Danuta Danielsson whacking Neo-Nazi Seppo Seluska.
That's a worthwhile subject for a statue.
Danuta's mum was an Auschwitz survivor. pic.twitter.com/sfwUPBGd7F
— Pete M (@fastcarspete) June 10, 2020
Sir Nicholas Winton at Maidenhead Station. He organised the ‘Czech Kindertransport’, rescuing 669 Jewish children who would otherwise have ended up in Nazi concentration camps. pic.twitter.com/PEga3QgMaG
— Janny Girl (@SilkCutBlue) June 10, 2020
Underwater sculptures in Granada, paying tribute to kidnapped/enslaved people who died during the crossing from Africa to the Americas. pic.twitter.com/N8l1zgosoM
— Corina 🌞 (@corinapickering) June 12, 2020
Dignity Statue – Chamberlain SD pic.twitter.com/CagrHoRvIa
— Sara (@Sarakimbap) June 12, 2020
The statue of Alan Turing in Sackville Street gardens, Manchester. In the city in which he was chemically castrated for being gay, his statue now sits beside Canal Street, Gay Village pic.twitter.com/d7RSa2NvLL
— James Holt (@_James_Holt_) June 10, 2020
Queen Lili'uokalani, the last queen of the Kingdom of Hawaii before being overthrown and illegally annexed by US marines. She fought and appealed for years afterward to re-claim the islands independence, but ultimately abdicated in order to spare her people from bloody conflict. pic.twitter.com/uSKr2hVefW
— 👁👀COVID-Y909👀👁 (@fleshflesh808) June 11, 2020
The famine memorial in Dublin is pretty powerful. Statues should honour the victims, not the oppressors. pic.twitter.com/wR4Cys8sDD
— Cailín Corcra (@_Cailin_Corcra_) June 10, 2020
This statue is a reminder that Jewish refugees entered the U.K. through train stations helping them escape genocide. This one is outside Liverpool Street station. It’s a reminder of the lives we saved by opening our doors, if only we’d let more in. pic.twitter.com/ZXSDOJBFKs
— Emily 👾😈 (@Pip_est89) June 12, 2020
Every time I visit Barbados I love seeing this statue of Bussa, who started a revolt against slavery. https://t.co/ZZiIatd736 pic.twitter.com/yMlfStzNZt
— I hate it here since 2002 😑 (@InFluxSince83) June 12, 2020
This is Gaspar Nyanga member of the royal family of Gabon. Captured and sold into slavery in Mexico, he led a revolution of slaves they all escaped to the mountains and killed every spaniard that dare to go in. This was the first free city in the continent, Yanga, Veracuz. Mex. pic.twitter.com/89Yyv1EOcu
— 𝕹𝕺𝕸𝕭𝕽𝕰𝕿 (@cnombret) June 12, 2020
Can I put a vote in for Sheffield’s ‘Women of Steel’? #sheffieldissuper pic.twitter.com/IwsTGBjHbD
— Kate Bottley (@revkatebottley) June 10, 2020
Anne Frank pic.twitter.com/NU7eWs0CN2
— HerefortheMerlot Wine (@HerefortheMerl2) June 12, 2020
Virginia Civil Right Memorial pic.twitter.com/05TFWBhuK9
— Judith Freedman (@JudithFreedman) June 10, 2020
can i just add.. Lapu-Lapu of Mactan, Philippines. He was the first native to resist imperial Spanish colonization and is best known for the Battle of Mactan. This datu (leader) and his soldiers defeated Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Truly a hero pic.twitter.com/qj4BoYQ9UT
— ًboba𖧵⁷🧋🐋 (@moongiggles) June 12, 2020
Benkos Biohó, he was a leader who commanded the rebellion of 'wild slaves' in Colombia in the 17th century, becoming king of the first free town in America known as San Basilio de Palenque pic.twitter.com/EeDRhy2XoL
— beTh (@firendeslre) June 12, 2020
Louis Riel, a métis Canadien (half native American). He stood up to racist white politicians and he defended the métis, natives and French Canadians. He lead the métis people and founded Manitoba. He shot a w racist politician, then got executed by another one, John A MacDonald. pic.twitter.com/1ZKL7zyCbu
— ✨LaurenceL✨Black lives matter! (@LaurenceL_Art) June 12, 2020
C.L Dellums, a Black labor activist at the Amtrak station in Oakland, California. pic.twitter.com/pdDVNYbL59
— Sterling G. Hardaway (@SterHardaway) June 10, 2020
The sculpture features a male and female figure gazing to the skies –symbolic of their triumphant rise from the horrors of slavery. pic.twitter.com/C4IOHGahpk
— 𝕊𝕒𝕞𝕞🇯🇲 (@SammSpamm1) June 12, 2020
Martin Luther King Jr in Newcastle and Emily Wilding Davison in Morpeth pic.twitter.com/C3PH2VZhkN
— David 🇪🇺🇬🇧 (@onthemoon69) June 10, 2020
Fun fact: The Statue of Liberty was designed to celebrate the ending of slavery & was originally modeled after a black woman. It's for this reason that it never sits well with me that the design was changed to reflect more accepting European features. I prefer this Lady Liberty. pic.twitter.com/CYf9LyFrt7
— Tweettweetter (@Tweettweetter) June 12, 2020
Coal city Enugu Eastern Nigeria . 18th Nov 1949, 21 striking coal miners Massacred by British Government. pic.twitter.com/9jYQ3OMtsv
— Ikechukwu Charles (@krayziedoc) June 12, 2020
https://twitter.com/CuteGal432121/status/1271298431194148864?s=20
This one in Glasgow celebrates fighting fascism in Spain pic.twitter.com/3WstB78734
— Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) June 10, 2020
Circa 2011 Taken during my trip to Washington D.C. MLK memorial. Fun fact this memorial is based off MLK in his SCLC office in 1966 but he had a pen in his hand not a roll of papers. pic.twitter.com/XJrQOXCxoi
— 👿 Broke 🅱️Lack Thanos 😈 (@ARCASH) June 11, 2020
mary slessor, Christian missionary work in Africa;women's rights and rescuing children from infanticide. In calabar land "Nigeria" pic.twitter.com/vvPzVV0YCI
— Liquid metal (@UgonnaOkoro) June 11, 2020
And there's toussaint louverture who among others things, helped transform the slave insurgents into a revolutionary movement pic.twitter.com/UrTNHV7eEp
— sphiwe mingaz (@Sphiwe52346137) June 11, 2020
The 1763 Monument
Georgetown, GuyanaCuffy, (Kofi or Koffi)was an Akan man captured from West Africa by (at the time) Dutch colony of Berbice – He famously led a revolt of more than 2,500 slaves against the colony regime in 1763. pic.twitter.com/IS7bEASXa5
— T I Y A N A (@TinkerbellTinny) June 12, 2020
Mary Barbour's Army
Statue of the Highlander cleared by the rich from the Highlands
Gorbals Boys
Kelpies pic.twitter.com/A4NKqrK1zR
— Rattlecans (@rattlecans) June 10, 2020
