James McGill statue “must come down”
The perky statue of James McGill on the campus he endowed is the subject of a petition demanding its removal. (The caption to this piece is quite at odds with the main story. In case it gets edited, the caption goes on to say “The contribution Anglophones and minorities made to building Quebec are being omitted from a new history course, critics say.”)
While the Macdonald monument in Place du Canada is from 1895, the McGill statue is relatively recent, dating from 1996. I remember at the time the informal posture of the figure was praised for its evocation of character. Nonetheless, it has to go.
(Have a look at the house belonging to the guy who made the McGill sculpture.)
Chris 13:28 on 2020-06-13 Permalink
No one from centuries, or even decades, ago had the same morals as we do today. And our morals of today will be frowned upon in centuries hence. I could well imagine them wanting to tear down some statues in the future: “Did you know so-and-so owned an automobile!? Didn’t they know it will killing the planet!?” “Did you know so-and-so ate meat!? Didn’t they know animals are sentient!?” What’s normal today may be considered reprehensible in the future.
But imperfect people can still make good contributions to society.
Montreal has a park named after Mahatma Gandhi and he was an anti-black racist. Universities in Africa have taken his statue down. And while searching for that link I see than in the last few days people are now pushing for the same in England.
No one is perfect enough it seems.
Matthew H 14:03 on 2020-06-13 Permalink
An easy solution is for us to stop putting up hagiographic sculptures of individuals, especially politicians. Figurative “statue of a famous person” sculpture usually makes for boring public art anyway.
qatzelok 09:43 on 2020-06-14 Permalink
Is it really enough to just remove his small statue, or should the name of the university be changed completely? Maybe it could be renamed Kondiaronk University?
MarcG 10:45 on 2020-06-14 Permalink
I agree with Matthew, enough with the famous human worshipping.
Kate 11:02 on 2020-06-14 Permalink
It’s been a tradition for centuries if not millennia in the west to put up statues or large memorials to people of note. Until recently, I don’t imagine anyone thought that emperors and kings had to be free of flaws before they put up a statue. But now we do.
In the future this may be considered a new era of iconoclasm, but go for it.
Denise 03:03 on 2020-06-15 Permalink
If people are so offended by the university he paid for, maybe they should just close the university and everyone can go somewhere else.
Unless they are planning to pay his descendants the money back. I mean, you’re willing to use the university he paid for, but you want to pretend he didn’t by taking the evidence he paid for it away.
GC 08:48 on 2020-06-15 Permalink
Denise, if we’re going to acknowledge that he paid for it we can also acknowledge that some of that wealth that paid for it came from slave labour.
Alison Cummins 13:45 on 2020-06-15 Permalink
In order to make the “genocide/slavery/rape was socially acceptable at the time so committing or promoting genocide/slavery/rape can’t be held against them” argument you need to first establish that *all* their contemporaries thought that genocide/slavery/rape were ok at the time. That *nobody* was raising objections, That repugnance towards genocide/slavery/rape was not an emotion that was within the human repertoire at that time.
Unless you can establish that – note that their contemporaries include the people subject to genocide, slavery and rape – then whoever is under discussion had both the “genocide/ slavery/rape are bad” and “some people complain about genocide/ slavery/rape but they suit me so I’ll say they are good” options available to them. And they chose the latter.
jb 21:36 on 2021-10-12 Permalink
University must at least do a major rebranding, racist symbolism also exists on its flag
Kate 22:14 on 2021-10-12 Permalink
Does it? I see 3 birds, 2 crowns, and a book which reads “In domino confido” which, since it expresses faith in a God, could be construed as unfair to those who are not believers. Can you explain the racist symbolism?
The motto that goes with the flag, which is based on the university’s arms, is “Grandescunt aucta labore” which means “By work, all things increase”. A bit smug, but it’s not quite “Arbeit macht frei”.