User:Deisenbe/Sandbox/Make It Right Project

Make It Right Project
The Make It Right Project was formed in 2018 to encourage and advance the removal of Confederate monuments. It is a project of the Independent Media Institute; director is Kali Holloway. According to the group's statement, they are "dedicated to working with multiple groups—activists, artists, historians and media outlets—to remove Confederate monuments and develop post-removal protocols to properly historicize and contextualize these markers.... The point of the initiative is to do more than just 'raise awareness' or 'start a national conversation,' and instead aims to genuinely move the needle, creating measurable, visible change." In a later statement, "contextualize these markers" has become "to tell the truth about history".

The group has compiled a list of 10 monuments it is targetting:
 * 1) Confederate War Memorial, Dallas, Texas. "Includes a statue of General Robert E. Lee, who waged war to preserve slavery and was so violent toward those he personally enslaved that they described him as 'the worst man I ever see'. Also represented is Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who sought to expand slavery to new territories and described blacks as 'inferior [and] fitted expressly for servitude'.
 * 2) Silent Sam, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group's first activity was the erection in July, 2018, of two billboards in Raleigh, North Carolina, depicting Silent Sam covered by a red X and the words "North Carolina needs a monumental change". The stated audience the billboards were intended to reach — thus the Raleigh locations — were the members of the North Carolina Historical Commission, under the impression, which others as well had until August 2018, that a controvedsial 2015 North Carolina law allowed it to approve the removal of Confederate monuments.  The Project responded: "The only way to truly contextualize racist monuments and white supremacist statues is to take them down from their lofty positions of public reverence.... The Commission and study committee had an opportunity today to correct the historical record and help bring an end to the era of white supremacist Lost Cause mythmaking. Instead, they chose moral ambivalence and hostility to historical truth. The vote was yet another example of the frustrating institutional decisions that have led community outrage to boil over." At about the same time, the Project printed posters with a picure of Silent Sam, an X over him, and the words ”We need REAL heroes", and students put them up on the campus.
 * 3) Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson Statues, Charlottesville, VA. In September of 2018 the group erected a billboard depicting the two monuments, and between them the words "Monumental Change Needed". They also prepared lawn signs saying "Monumental Lies", with pictures of the two monuments; these have been seen in a number of yards in the city. "Neo-Confederates made a grotesque parody of the Make It Right billboard in response. And then put it on a truck and drove around town with it."
 * 4) Spirit of the Confederacy, Houston, Texas. This monument is located in one of Houston’s major city parks. The winged, muscular, 12-foot-tall avenging angel clad in palm fronds leaning on a sword suggests the “spirit of the Confederacy” remains fiercely unrepentant in its dedication to the cause of black enslavement.
 * 5) John C. Calhoun Monument, Charleston, South Carolina  Though Calhoun died in 1850, he contributed greatly to the Southern position by advancing the theory that black enslavement was “a positive good.” According to Calhoun, white people profited off black labor, and the enslaved were civilized by the brutality of bondage. Charleston’s History Commission has spent several months quibbling over the language for a plaque to acknowledge Calhoun’s racist positions, but protesters continue to fight for complete removal.
 * 6) Oak Woods Cemetery Confederate Mound Statue, Chicago, Illinois. There is a bronze Confederate soldier at the top of a 30-foot granite column overlooking a mass grave. The Cemetary also has the graves of several notable African Americans, including journalist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells.
 * 7) Shepherd Heyward Memorial, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
 * 8) Denton Confederate Soldier Monument, Denton, Texas. Every Sunday afternoon since 1998, Willie Hudspeth—a Vietnam War veteran and president of the Denton NAACP—has staged a one-man protest at the site of this monument to the Confederacy. In February 2018, a town committee decided not to remove the structure, but instead to provide “context” with the addition of a video kiosk and plaques detailing the history of slavery. Hudspeth has vowed to continue protesting until the monument comes down. The town committee has yet to commit to a date for the proposed additions.
 * 9) United Confederate Veterans Memorial, Seattle, Washington. The protesters of this monument include Heidi Christensen, former president of the Seattle chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Though it sits on private land in Lake View Cemetery, those pushing for the memorial’s relocation argue that it is located in a “publicly visible location and therefore should fall under current ordinances to remove offensive markings visible to the public.”
 * 10) Florida's Tribute to the Women of the Confederacy, Jacksonville, Florida. An ode to the many white Southern women who, according to the inscription, “sacrificed their all” for the Confederate cause.