Red paint to remain on vandalized Sir John A. Macdonald statue

[conuly]

Link.

All I know about John A. Macdonald is:

1. Macdonald Hall is named after him.

2. As stated in the Wikipedia link in (1), he's the first Prime Minister of Canada.

3. Some people strongly dislike him for reasons that are not explained in the article above. He did genocide, maybe? I'm just guessing here. As an American, Canadian history was not exactly a priority in my education, and even if it had been I doubt we'd've focused on that.

I should probably take this more seriously, but what I'm really asking myself is "How are Bruno and Boots reacting to current events?"

Edit: I will screen and freeze comments talking about whether statue vandalism is ever a good thing, or trying to nitpick when it's okay and when it's not. Sorry, those conversations are boring.

Edit again: I reserve the right to selectively not do the above if you manage to be interesting, especially if you're in character as somebody from Macdonald Hall or Miss Scrimmage's.

Third edit: But I seriously will do it if anybody brings up the word "presentism". I think we all can agree that genocide (?) is bad, even if it happened a long time ago.

Comments

#NotAllMenofTheirTime

[oursin]

The Aborigines Protection Society was founded in London in 1837 over concerns to do with the “aggravated sufferings and oppressions inflicted on the uncivilised portions of the great human family, by the cupidity and avarice of merely nominal Christians.” and operated in operated in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Canada, South Africa and the Congo. It had some of the limitations of its time in its attitudes, but even so: they had serious concerns over what was being done, directly, or as a consequence, to indigenous populations by colonialists.

[jo]

Brief explainer of what Sir John A did to Indigenous People: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/here-is-what-sir-john-a-macdonald-did-to-indigenous-people

[redbird]

TAngentially, the Museum of Natural History is -- deliberately or not -- missing the point, by saying yes take away the statue, *and* that instead they're renaming the Hall of Biodiversity after Roosevelt. Because they have a long connection with his upper-class family is still rich, and one of his great-grandsons is on their Board of Directors.

That's not me guessing at reasons: it's in the email, along with saying that he did a lot for conservation. Which, okay, but so did a lot of other people they aren't naming parts of the museum after.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Wouldn't they be better naming some fumigation machines for taxidermy specimen preservation after Teddy? I think we could make enough aluminum tags to assuage any propitiatory clout flout.

Clearly the statue needs to go somewhere that can approach the way non-Euro peoples were represented/schematized in both art and museums.

I've got to say, the red paint on that particular monument seems apt. If only were it could return the paint to the Elgin Marbles. (Because no amount of paint can actually account for the crimes against humanity; racism was behind the Ancient Greeks Were White strain in Classics. And they would have them white even if it meant harsh cleaning tactics up to and including chisels.)

[redbird]

We could ask the Cuban government what they think. (The Philippines, under Duterte, I wouldn't ask which was is north, and Puerto Rico is still a colony.)

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Museum curating has known the natural history versus world history distinction and the consigning some peoples to one rather than the other was a horrible position. So possibly Teddy and attendants should go into world and open that conversation.

[sabotabby]

Hi, Canadian here. All of Canadian history is an extended act of genocide. Unlike the US, which brags about it, we just sweep it under the rug and pretend it didn't happen. The fact that there are schools and highways and monuments dedicated to this monster says everything you know about whether or not this genocide is ongoing.

Macdonald's big acts included a war against Métis people, including the execution of Louis Riel, deliberate mass starvation of First Nations peoples, instituting the mass kidnapping, rape, torture, and murder of Indigenous children through the residential school system, and banning Indigenous social, spiritual, and cultural traditions like the Potlatch. Any of one these would be considered genocide. He did all of them on purpose because he wanted to wipe out Indigenous peoples. And it's not like "he was there when it happened"; the repeated attempts to wipe out the original inhabitants of this land was a deliberate part of nation-building.

It has been a looooong time since I read the Bruno and Boots books but I'm sure they'd be right there with the red paint and hacksaws b/c they were basically Chaotic Good.

[ioplokon]

I think another important bit of context is the Canadian government's continual failure to meet the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. So it isn't as if Canada is Good Now and the issues of genocide and racism against First Nations are long in the past. Whether it's sovereignty issues (eg: pipeline construction), over-policing and racist arrests and killings of First Nations, the still-observable negative impact of residential schools, or the utter disregard for missing and murdered indigenous women, John Macdonald's legacy is sadly alive and well in Canada.

[tielan]

Yeah, this happens in Australia, too. Lies and coverups and rewritings of history and even explorer evidence that the Aborigines had agriculture (the big fiction of 'terra nullius' - or unused and unappreciated land), then a reluctance to acknowledge either the genocide and racism of the past, or the insistance on their assimilation into white culture and the attendant racism of the present.

[bitterlawngnome]

All of the above. He was also central to creating systems of oppression for Chinese/Canadians (Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 ... "[the Chinese must be excluded or] the Aryan character of the future of British America should be destroyed.", viz also http://activehistory.ca/2015/01/john-a-macdonalds-aryan-canada-aboriginal-genocide-and-chinese-exclusion/). And he alienated French Canadians by executing Riel (two-fer: anti-French/Catholic and genocide). Essentially he was a faithful tool of the Imperium.

[em_h]

I grew up in Kingston, Ontario, which is basically one big Sir John A tribute city. One of the few forms of entertainment available to young people was endlessly visiting the historical recreation of a house in which he lived, which was free (because incredibly boring) and generally open. My mother, sad to say, is still part of the Sir John A industry in the town.

He was a truly awful man, as previous commenters have comprehensively explained.

[silveradept]

I suspect both schools would combine their forces to make a much more historically accurate memorial to Sir John wherever it might be in the Hall.