Following the death of George Floyd, many protestors have destroyed monuments that pay homage to historic oppressors of ethnic minorities. Recently, the Catholic Church removed a statue of Father Junípero Serra from San Luis Obispo Mission in order to protect it from vandalism. Fr. Serra founded the California missions associated with abuses against Native Americans, but that was 300 years ago. What some people don’t know is that Fr. Serra made efforts to protect the indigenous people of California from Spanish soldiers.
I don’t think we should consider monuments of past leaders by today’s standards. Nearly every historical figure can be accused of being insensitive to someone, and if that’s the case, how will history judge us?