Photo courtesy Bronx Community College
Following the massive condemnation of demonstrations in Charlottesville, Va, Bronx Community College (BCC) plans on removing the sculpture of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson from its much visited Hall of Fame, school officials announced.
The move comes several days after neo-Nazi and white supremacists converged onto Charlottesville over the removal of a statue bearing Lee’s image from public spaces. The violent protests resulted in the death of Heather Hayer, who was killed by a car that appeared to have deliberately run over counter-protesters by alleged driver James Alex Fields, Jr.
“For 60 years, Bronx Community College of The City University of New York has remained committed to reflecting its values of diversity and inclusion in all of its actions and statements,” Thomas A. Isekenegbe, Ph.D., President of Bronx Community College, said in a statement. “Embracing difference includes creating space where all people feel respected, welcomed, and valued. To that end, we will be removing and replacing the busts of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.”
The Hall of Fame opened in 1900 and features some 100 busts of famous historical figures. Lee had been the general of the Confederate Army during the Civil War, which saw the North and South clash over slavery. Statues of Lee can be seen across the southern states to this day, though growing dissent towards the statues on display has grown. Stonewall Jackson was Lee’s second in command during the Civil War.
The move also came after fierce condemnation from elected officials who objected to the sculptures alongside other famous Americans that include presidents Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.
“Their inclusion at this location is especially galling: there is nothing great about two men who committed treason against the United States to fight to keep the institution of slavery intact,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. in a statement. “A more appropriate location for these statues would be a museum, such as the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs, where they could be presented in a historical context rather than venerated. But they should not stay in The Bronx any longer.”
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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IT’S RIDICULOUS AND TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT. WHAT ABOUT THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. DOES THEIR SIGNING NULLIFY THE CONSTITUTION AND COLLAPSE OUR GOVERNMENT? THIS IS THE SILLIEST THING SO FAR. VIET NAM WASN’T CONSIDERED A WAR. ARE WE GOING TO TAKE BACK THE SOLDIERS MEDALS ?
At the height of the Klan’s terror, Robert E Lee was added.
When the segregationists were fighting Brown v Board of Education and Rosa Parks, Stonewall Jackson was added.
The timing was not random. The Hall of Fame twice shamefully announced to the world that it was taking the side of murder and segregation.
Taking down the offensive statues is a start. A public apology is in order.
I don’t mind them taking the bust down. By definition, they are historical figures. Then again, so was Hitler. I just stated the case to take them down.
I agree to disagree, The Military Place in Saratoga Springs is a perfect place to put them. I don’t think statues pose a threat to our life today. What the actual problem is, lies and a fake constitution, that only applies to certain ethnic races, laws that govern certain races, if anything is gonna change, change the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness that we are told we will have as an American, But we don’t have. I don’t know about other people, I was angry about the sadistic doctor, whose statue is in Central Park. Then once I heard how he used black woman to perform GYN and surgeries with no anesthesia, made me understand my strength today as a black woman. History can not, and should not be changed, but a stepping stone to remember what we come from, and grow from it.