Why The Natural History Museum is removing The Roosevelt Statue

06/30/2020

The Statue of Theodore Roosevelt riding a horse flanked by a Native American and an African American has been at the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History since 1940. Now, the Statue will be removed.

For those that don't follow the news or don't understand what's going on in the US -- America is currently living through a very challenging yet eye-opening historical, social, and economical turmoil. If on one side, Coronavirus has brought the whole world, not only America, to face a reality different from the one we usually live in, in the United States, the latest episodes of police brutalities and aggressions starting with the death of George Floyd, have forced Americans to confront the demon we never want to see, a very troubling, albeit true, part of our reality which is still, unfortunately, happening today in our streets and cities across the nation -- racism and social injustices towards minorities and people of color.

Following the death of George Floyd, the country started experiencing an uprising. But after the first few tense days of chaos, peaceful marches have invaded American streets from New York to California and in many cases, demonstrators and police officers have marched together to bring about real change. In New York, we have had many marches and protests in the past 30 days and the participation has always been very high and multicultural while for the most part people tried to maintain all the precautions required due to COVID-19 -- wearing masks while protesting, abundant use of sanitizer, social distancing as much as possible (etc.) which is possibly the reason why although NYC has been the center of protests and marches with thousands of people participating, still, the city is seeing COVID-19 numbers going down steadily. Something that other States of the US cannot say.

In this climate, we have also started talking about statues and the possible removal of statues of historical figures and flags that do not represent our ideals of unity, equality, justice, and freedom for all. Of all the Statues being removed and Flags being redesigned, perhaps what surprised many people was the decision by the Natural History Museum to remove the equestrian statue of Roosevelt.


To those who asked why the response from the Museum came immediately -- "The museum's decision is based on the statue itself - that is, its - hierarchical composition - and not on the Roosevelt persona and character which the museum continues to honor as "a pioneer environmentalist".
"In a nutshell," the museum spokesperson added, "the time has come to move it."

Members of the Roosevelt family including the great-grandson also issued a statement advocating for and approving the removal.

"The world does not need statues, memorabilia from another era, which reflect neither the values ​​of the person they intend to honor nor the values ​​of equality and justice," said Theodore Roosevelt IV, 77 years old, great-grandson of 26th president and a museum trustee. “The composition of the equestrian statue does not reflect Theodore Roosevelt's legacy. It's time to move the statue and move on."

So there you have it -- the removal of the Statue has nothing to do with the figue of Roosevelt himself, who he was and what he did, but with the actual statue composition itself.

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The museum already has several Halls and Exhibits named after Roosevelt, including Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall, the famous Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda, and Theodore Roosevelt Park outside.

When the statue will be removed, where it will go, and what will replace it, it remains to be known.

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