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thenewgreen  ·  910 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Thomas Jefferson statue coming down in New York's City Council chamber : NPR

I'm sure you've been to Washington DC. I'm sure you've seen the monuments of our founders and those that shaped our countries history. When you were there did the statues make you feel like an outsider or an outcast? Honestly? That's so foreign to me. When I see the statue of MLK I am embolden towards his greatest virtues. When I see the statue of FDR in his wheelchair, and the statue of a family listening to a fireside chat of his, I am reminded that a person, a handicapped man (yes, old and white), helped to steer a country through incredibly dire times. A human. It's right to celebrate each other as humans. I cannot even believe that I am having to have a discussion about it being right and proper to use the art form of sculpture to represent human struggle and achievement. Art has amazing intrinsic value. This statue that started this discussion was commissioned by a Jewish man that felt indebted to Jefferson for fighting for religious freedoms. That story alone has intrinsic value. The debate that this statue has stirred up has intrinsic value.

I can understand having a debate as to weather or not Thomas Jefferson's misdeeds should make us rethink his place in history. But debating the intrinsic value of sculptures of the human experience/form is, to me, bonkers.