Would I advocate removing the statue? No: history is not served by erasure. Standing as and where it does, it can provide a tremendous opportunity to foster thinking about the nature of history and the nature of historical memory. My hope would be that the children of Haverhill will be shown the statue and learn not just the view of the events it celebrates inscribed on its base, but a far more nuanced and historically informed view of those events. And of the evolution of the story over the 178 years between those events and the erection of the statue. And the continuing evolution of our views in the 135 and counting years since the statue was erected.
Personally, I think we should keep the statue, but change the inscription or add more information. Not to change the overall substance, but to add more context: it should be historical, not laudatory.
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Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
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