NY Museum Will Move Teddy Roosevelt Statue Viewed As Overtly Racist

“The world does not need statues, relics of another age, that reflect neither the values of the person they intend to honor nor the values of equality and justice,” said Theodore Roosevelt IV, a great-grandson of the 26th president, said in a statement approving the removal.Credit...Caitlin Ochs for The New York Times

The bronze statue of America’s 26th president, Teddy Roosevelt, will be moved.from the entrance to the American Museum of History in New York, where it has resided since 1940. I’ve passed it many times on my way into the museum and never seriously considered how it impacted people of color — especially those of African lineage — and Native Americans.

Looking at it now, I understand completely why the statue had come to symbolize a painful legacy of colonial expansion and racial discrimination.

“Over the last few weeks, our museum community has been profoundly moved by the ever-widening movement for racial justice that has emerged after the killing of George Floyd,” the museum’s president, Ellen V. Futter, said in an interview with the New York Times. “We have watched as the attention of the world and the country has increasingly turned to statues as powerful and hurtful symbols of systemic racism.”

Futter made it clear that the museum’s decision is based on the “hierarchical composition” of the statue and not Roosevelt the man, who is revered as “a pioneering conservationist.” I will add that Roosevelt being clothed and the other two men more naked sends its own message beyond physical scale.

A Roosevelt family member released a statement approving the removal.

“The world does not need statues, relics of another age, that reflect neither the values of the person they intend to honor nor the values of equality and justice,” said Theodore Roosevelt IV, age 77, a great-grandson of the 26th president and a museum trustee. “The composition of the Equestrian Statue does not reflect Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy. It is time to move the statue and move forward.”

In a compensatory gesture, the museum is naming its Hall of Biodiversity for Roosevelt “in recognition of his conservation legacy,” Futter said.

Not all critics agree with the argument that President Theodore Roosevelt didn’t embrace racial hierarchy.

[They] “have pointed to President Roosevelt’s opinions about racial hierarchy, his support of eugenics theories and his pivotal role in the Spanish-American War. Some see Roosevelt as an imperialist who led fighting in the Caribbean that ultimately resulted in American expansion into colonies there and in the Pacific including Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, Cuba and the Philippines.

A nationalist, Roosevelt, in his later years became overtly racist, historians say, endorsing sterilization of the poor and the intellectually disabled.”

How DC Mayor Bowser Used Graffiti to Protect Public Space

How DC Mayor Bowser Used Graffiti to Protect Public Space

When President Donald Trump sent heavily armed federal law enforcement officers and unidentified officers in riot gear into Washington, D.C. during the height of protests recently, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser responded by painting “BLACK LIVES MATTER” directly on the street leading to the White House.

While many spoke of it as a daring political act, for artists like me, it was also an act of urban intervention, an artistic act intended to transform an existing structure or institution, that reclaimed public space back for the public. And she accomplished this with little physical matter at all.

Her action – expressing dissent by marking an oppressive environment – references graffiti, which has been called the “language of the ignored.”

Art scholars note that most types of graffiti are meant to claim or reclaim territory by those who are systematically excluded. “Writers” often work quickly and at night, when they are less likely to be seen and arrested for painting on others’ property without consent.

Bowser’s action would likely be considered vandalism if not for the fact that it was carried out by the city’s Department of Public Works, using city funds. She wielded municipal services as artistic tools to condemn another state-sanctioned action, the violence perpetrated against Black people.

June 9, 2020 George Floyd Buried in Houston | June 10, 2020 Samira Nasr Now Leads Harper's Bazaar US

June 9, 2020 George Floyd Buried in Houston | June 10, 2020 Samira Nasr Now Leads Harper's Bazaar US

On this day June 10, 2020, you might think that the landing page of Harper’s Bazaar US has left the fashion business. I considered posting an old Temptations song ‘Ball of Confusion’ but what we are actually seeing is a ‘Ball of Clarity’.

Somebody needs to write a new song to describe this moment in America and the fashion industry. What does fashion even mean at this point?

One answer is the escapist route of the Chanel Cruise show, an effort that “totally ignored the cataclysmic context in which they would be worn. It was more like a return to some of high fashion’s escapist failings of the past rather than a meaningful step toward the future,” wrote Vanessa Friedman of the New York Times.

If this is how a fashion house “adapts” to the changing world — if these are the clothes that are the response, if escapism is presented as an answer, if photographs and video simply attempt to mimic what once was, as opposed to reframing what could be, if a statement from a designer can’t even acknowledge the pain and complications of her consumers, even the rich ones — then, pretty as the products may be, it is not doing its job.

In the pain and promise of our global fashion moment, voices matter. Who steps up? Who stands down?The fashion gods have delivered a new voice to the dialogue.

The new editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar US, Samira Nasr now carries a bigger megaphone. Talk about an epic moment for a fashion editor to take the reins of a major US fashion magazine.

Serena Williams Steps Up For Vital Voices; Alexis Ohanian Sr. Resigns Reddit Board

Serena Williams Steps Up For Vital Voices; Alexis Ohanian Sr. Resigns Reddit Board

Tennis legend, black activist, fashion designer — and yes, now venture capitalist — Serena Williams became the global spokeswoman for Stuart Weitzman in early May. Photographer Ethan James Green captures Serena in campaign images that present her fierce power and beauty unbowed.

The power of the project for Serena lies in Stuart Weitzman’s alliance with the Vital Voices Global Partnership  Tapped to choose two women leaders to participate with her in the campaign, Williams tapped Ashlee Wisdom and Sage Ke’alohilani Quiamno. Wisdom is the founder of  Health in Her Hue, a platform that connects black women to culturally competent health-care providers. Ke’alohilani Quiamno, founder of Future for Us, a civic organization that gives women of color the tools to succeed in the highest levels of corporate and social-sector careers.

Alexis Ohanian Sr. Resigns from Reddit Board

It’s Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian Sr.that made the big news today — June 8 — as word of his resignation from the board of directors of Reddit traveled through media channels. The co-founder of Reddit recommended that his spot be filled by a Black candidate amid activists’ calls for more representation of BlPOC in positions of power in global companies.

"I co-founded Reddit 15 years ago to help people find community and a sense of belonging," Ohanian wrote across his social media channels, pulling from a blog post on his site. "It is long overdue to do the right thing. I'm doing this for me, for my family, and for my country." Along with the statement to the public, Ohanian embedded a video message from his Instagram account onto his blog entry, and in it he reiterates his original statement.

Revisiting the Johanna Ortiz X H&M Spring 2020 Collab In A Flower Power World

Revisiting the Johanna Ortiz X H&M Spring 2020 Collab In A Flower Power World

The Johanna Ortiz X H&M Spring 2020 collab is one of the Spring 2020 beauties lost in the COVID-19 pandemic. Following on the success of her Fall 2019 collection for H&M, Ortiz returned for spring. Describing the designer, H&M wrote:

If you don’t know that Johanna Ortiz hails from the birthplace of salsa, her energetic designs will give you some immediate pointers. Dramatic, luscious, extravagant — Johanna Ortiz’s dresses are the kind of pieces you’ll want to throw on and start dancing in. They tap their own beat, and demand the wearer does the same.

It’s not only fashion lovers who feel the rhythm of Ortiz’s collections. There’s an irresistible sense of joy and power at the heart of the Colombian designer’s work that has the world’s most powerful women smitten. Michelle Obama opted for Johanna Ortiz during her book tour, at parties, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Alexa Chung and Jessica Biel count Ortiz’s designs as must-haves. Olivia Palermo wears Ortiz to set her style agenda, and when it came to serving a major look at Jennifer Lawrence’s wedding, it was Johanna Ortiz that Sienna Miller favored. 

H&M Magazine then interviewed Ortiz about her frankly-feminine, design vision that resonates deeply with so many women leaders.