Zack, Jenn, and Alex continue last week’s conversation about the ongoing global reckoning surrounding race, this time focusing on the movement to remove controversial statues. In several Western countries — including the United States, Belgium, and the United Kingdom — people are demanding that statues of historically notable slave traders and imperialists be taken down. The Worldly team discusses the significance of these fights, and look to two other examples of countries that have dealt with issues of historical memory and atrocity: Germany and Japan.

References:

This is a good brief explainer on the Edward Colston statue coming down in the UK and his role in Bristol’s history: https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/07/europe/edward-colston-statue-bristol/index.html

Here’s the Museums of Bristol website describing Colston as “revered philanthropist / reviled slave trader”: https://museums.bristol.gov.uk/narratives.php?irn=2374

This is a good New York Times piece about the Leopold II statue in Antwerp, Belgium, coming down: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/world/europe/king-leopold-statue-antwerp.html

The book King Leopold’s Ghost goes deep into King Leopold II’s brutal exploitation of the Congo.

Jenn mentioned Sarah Wildman’s piece for Vox about how Germany has dealt with its past, which discusses the stolpersteine cobblestones and the Topography of Terror memorial: https://www.vox.com/world/2017/8/16/16152088/nazi-swastikas-germany-charlottesville

Here’s a good piece about Belgium’s colonial-era human zoo and the museum where it once stood: https://www.npr.org/2018/09/26/649600217/where-human-zoos-once-stood-a-belgian-museum-now-faces-its-colonial-past

This is a good look at the comfort women statues in South Korea and Japan’s reaction to them: https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/11/13/563838610/comfort-woman-memorial-statues-a-thorn-in-japans-side-now-sit-on-korean-buses

And here’s Belgian soccer player Romelu Lukaku discussing his experience in his own words: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/romelu-lukaku-ive-got-some-things-to-say

Hosts:

Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp), senior correspondent, Vox

Jennifer Williams (@jenn_ruth), senior foreign editor, Vox

Alex Ward (@AlexWardVox), national security reporter, Vox

 

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