Tag Archives: statues

Erasure, white fragility, and the verbal monuments of bird names: Should we hold people in the past accountable to present-day mores?

When addressing historic wrongs, and especially memorials that honor people that perpetrated historic wrongs, a common challenge is: Should we be holding these people accountable according to modern values and mores? There are two big problems with this question. Almost … Continue reading

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Decolonizing bird names: Effort reveals fault lines among birders

A revolution is about to sweep the world of birders and ornithologists. After decades of intransigence, the most prominent organizations and authors – including prominent field guide authors David Sibley and Kenn Kaufmann – are endorsing “bird names for birds”, … Continue reading

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The rapid rise and fall of racist symbols

The Southern Poverty Law Center prepared this remarkable diagram, illustrating when Confederate symbols, such as statues, flags, and monuments, were erected in public places– mostly around 1910 and then again in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement.  Their full … Continue reading

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