Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2020 15:34:47 GMT
but the person went on to say it really seems like a shell game, because the real root causes are not getting addressed, and its almost like those agreeing to remove these statues or change the names are actually conning the others, because they are really not doing anything about substantial things...its like OK, you got what you wanted, we changed the name, now lets get back to business as usual..
so the statue gets pulled down...and now what...the murder rates are still thru the roof, peoples perceptions have not changed etc...
In many respects he is right...what he was arguing for, or stating, is the people demanding these names get changed, or statues taken down, are making a big mistake, because these things are really cursory to their real issues, and the other side is looking at this as token giveaways, and will say ok we did what you wanted, now move on...
The thing is... the real problems are much more difficult to solve. So the hope is if we change a bunch of symbolic stuff first, that will shift the cultural context in a direction that will make the harder stuff more likely to occur.
I would put it this way: a culture which celebrates the confederacy with monuments to apartheid is not likely to get the war on drugs canceled, or reduce the prison population, or get reparations for people impacted by the Tulsa race riots, or for the neighborhoods that were destroyed to make room for a freeway.
The symbolic stuff comes first. Its easy to get done. And it helps build momentum.
