""I don't like erasures," the novelist Toni Morrison told a Princeton audience in 2017. She had been asked what she thought about Confederate statues, then being torn down throughout the South. Leave them up, she said: "Talk about the offense. You know, put another statue next to it and say the opposite." Hang a noose around its neck, she added. The audience laughed nervously, but she wasn't kidding."
"Never mind that the statuettes were meant to be demeaning. Better to mine an artifact for history than conceal it for fear of white contempt: Instead of being delighted that the profession of being a jockey virtually belonged to black men before 1900; that 14 of the first 27 Kentucky Derby races were won by black jockeys; that Isaac Murphy, a black jockey, was the first to win three Derbys; that Jimmy Lee won all six races at Churchill"
Offensive monuments and demeaning artifacts should be preserved and contextualized rather than erased. Add counter-monuments or provocative markers to force public confrontation with the offense and stimulate historical reckoning. Concealment robs the public of opportunities to recover overlooked achievements and complex histories. An incident involved statuettes of Black jockeys being draped before planned removal, illustrating how concealment erases evidence of past Black accomplishment. Black men dominated the jockey profession before 1900; 14 of the first 27 Kentucky Derby races were won by Black jockeys; Isaac Murphy was the first to win three Derbys; Jimmy Lee won all six races at Churchill.
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