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Five Card Story: Statue Teardown
a Five Card Flickr story by Dillon H created Feb 25 2026, 09:23:17 pm. Create a new one!
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Introduction (Pic 1):
Statues of dictators and hateful figures should be torn down. They represent hate, subjugation, and the deaths of countless people who may have died under their reign. Many busts of Hitler were removed for this reason, as the Germans did not want to immortalize him in any meaningful way.
Pic 2:
Statues exist as a way to honor the past, but it is not honorable to keep architecture that reflects a period of bigotry, hate, and oppression. Joseph Stalin had statues of himself across the Soviet Union, but the Soviets tore them all down during the de-Stalinization period. They did not want to associate themselves with his awful deeds, and taking down any public art of him was integral to doing that.
Pic 3:
As long as we still make an effort to educate others about history, that's all that's necessary to remind people of such tragedies. When a statue of Robert E. Lee was removed from Richmond, Virginia, people cheered because they didn't want their children to associate their town with an enslaver. They also changed the name of Robert E. Lee High School for this reason, believing the statues did more to respect those individuals and their beliefs than educate about them.
Counterargument (Pic 4):
Many believe that removing statues of problematic historical figures is bad, because it's erasing history. By removing statues of these Confederate soldiers and Nazi leaders, we're mitigating awareness of history's dark side. Some of the leaders we still have statues of today were also not wholly virtuous, such as George Washington, who owned over 100 slaves at the time of his death. Yet we don't remove statues of him, because he did more notable good than bad. The same can be said for building names based on people who were seen as good, like Elmer Holmes Bobst Library in New York, a location dedicated to him and his philanthropic work despite being a known anti-Semite.
Conclusion (Pic 5):
It seems prudent to remove statues and change the names of buildings erected in the honor of awful people, whether we knew it at the time or not. Colleges, libraries, churches, and parks should be made for the public, to honor a country's finest moments. These places shouldn't be permanently tied to racists, bigots, and genocidal tyrants. As long as people stay informed about history, removing these landmarks won't erase the past. All it will do is showcase that times have changed, and our tolerance for those types of people is gone.
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