Archiving the “strange death of Europe,” as Douglas Murray put it, and the West more broadly, at the hands of the neoliberal technocracy.
As a general rule, any art project that includes the term “root,” or any variation thereof, especially one that a government body commissioned, is a glaring red flag that it’s likely to be a Social Justice™ dumpster fire.
This one’s no exception.
Robert E. Lee statue melted down, rendered into African tree
A little over a week ago, Model of Architecture Serving Society won a contract to construct what was marketed as a high-minded “civic landscape dedicated to reflection, gathering, and democratic belonging” called “ROOTED,” as a replacement for the “contested symbol” that was the monument to Confederate General Robert E. Lee before a 15-year-old petitioned the city council to remove it for Social Justice™, and the municipal authorities listened to the child who couldn’t legally drive.
Related: The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire
“Rather than asking visitors to look up at history, the project invites them to inhabit it,” promises Architect Magazine, which could not be more enthusiastic about the project.
Of course, no one can be quite sure what that means, exactly, but, as they hit all the buzzwords, it really sounds super-progressive.
Via Architect Magazine (emphasis added):
On July 10, exactly five years after workers lifted Charlottesville’s bronze statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from its granite pedestal, one of America’s most influential architecture firms received a commission unlike any other.
The nonprofit practice Model of Architecture Serving Society—better known as MASS—was selected to transform the melted remains of the monument into a new work of public memory. Working alongside Oakland-based sculptor Dana King, the firm will design ROOTED, a community-driven memorial that recasts bronze once used to glorify the Confederacy into a civic landscape dedicated to reflection, gathering, and democratic belonging.
It is an extraordinary assignment because it asks architecture to do something few buildings ever can: transform one of America’s most contested symbols into a place for civic life…
The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center paired MASS with Oakland sculptor Dana King, whose public art has long explored race, migration, memory, and belonging. Together they envision ROOTED not as another heroic statue but as an open civic landscape organized around welcome, gathering, beauty, and participation. Rather than asking visitors to look up at history, the project invites them to inhabit it.
Related: Karine Jean-Pierre Lavished With ‘Torchbearer in Communications’ DEI Award
So what is ROOTED going to look like?
Naturally, it’ll be a 27-foot baobab tree, not native to the Americas, but rather a “pan-African” symbol.
Via Charlottesville Tomorrow (emphasis added):
The Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee monument, removed in 2021 from Charlottesville’s Market Street Park, will be replaced by a 27-foot bronze baobab tree, known for its life-giving fruit and pan-African symbolism.…
For Charlottesville, the announcement marks a decade-long process, which began in 2016 when then-15-year-old high school student Zyahna Bryant petitioned the Charlottesville City Council to remove the Lee statue.
Translation: “We hate white people and, accordingly, we are going to systematically destroy all relics of European civilization, starting with the lowest-hanging fruit of Confederate generals.”
Related: WATCH: MSNBC Suggests Trump Plans to Deport African-Americans
Here’s a handy guidebook for convoluted, highfalutin progressive-isms and their distilled meanings, stripped of their shiny veneers:
- “Democratic participation” = “Exclusion of white people and disregard/subversion of white people’s interests”;
- “Transform one of America’s most contested symbols into a place for civic life” = “Tear down any monument to any icon of European civilization wherever we find it using whatever excuse necessary”;
- “Explore race, migration, memory, and belonging” = “Rewriting history to frame the white man as literal Satan.”
