By: Rohit Iyer
In 1877, the United States Supreme court commissioned, built, and placed a statue of former chief Justice Roger B. Taney in the chamber of the highest court in the land. Heralded as a southern icon, a proponent of state’s rights, Taney is held in high regard by many southerners to this day. However, many don’t realize the impact the bust of Taney holds for many Americans. He represents an era in history where African Americans were not considered humans or citizens and was the deciding vote in the notorious Dredd Scott V. Sanford supreme court case. Due to the ramifications of his decision and the resulting trauma, the bust of Roger Taney must be removed and relocated from the Supreme Court, as it represents centuries of suffering and injustice.
The bust of Roger Taney was placed in the Supreme Court in continuance of tradition. Each former justice becomes immortalized in the chambers of the building, with either a statue or bust being sculpted and placed in the central chambers. The statue has remained in place for 133 years, serving as a constant reminder of the Dredd Scott v. Sanford decision. Recently, the controversy around the statue has erupted following the re-emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, looking for racial equality and healing in America. To achieve these goals, a statue idolizing a man who deemed African Americans to not be human cannot continue to stand in the U.S Supreme Court.
Roger Taney’s racist decision to deem African Americans as property and not humans holds awful connotations that must be left in the past. The fateful decision left deep wounds in America, and we should not commemorate it, “It ruled that ‘African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States-‘” (Hopkins, Daily Mail). This ruling invalidated the citizenship, and essentially humanity of African American citizens, and as Taney continued, they were deemed property. In a state that prohibited slavery, such as Missouri, Taney’s ruling set a dangerous precedent of slavery and southern values drifting into Northern states and threatened the humanity of African American citizens. This was not merely a decision based on beliefs of state’s rights or southern beliefs, but a decision rooted in racist ideals. In his reason for decision, Taney reinforced the idea that Black Americans were inferior to the white race. “…he believed that the federal government had no right to limit slavery. He mistakenly thought he could save the Union when he ruled that the Framers of the Constitution believed slaves were so inferior that they possessed no legal rights.” (Oyez.org). The decision to rule Dredd Scott as property and not a human was rooted in the racist and entirely false belief that Black Americans were simply not as much humans as whites. This perpetuated belief manifesting itself into the most infamous supreme court ruling of all time harmed African Americans for years after, showing the lasting impacts of Taney’s ruling. As a nation, we should not continue to affirm and immortalize the man behind the racist decision by honoring him with a bust in the Supreme Court. It does nothing but remind African Americans of the oppression faced just 150 years ago, and makes confederate sympathizers feel as though their heroes maintain power over the nation to this day. By allowing his bust to remain in the Supreme Court, we idolize the decision in Dredd Scott v. Sanford.
Relocating statues to “confederate graveyards” as well as teaching the 1619 project would help to heal the racial divide stemming from statues commemorating confederate icons. To begin the healing process, the Taney bust should be removed from the supreme court and handled in ways seen in former Soviet nations. A confederate graveyard would help to quell the persisting effects of the Antebellum south. As seen in former Soviet nations, a “graveyard” to monuments such as the Justice Taney bust would go to lengths to condemn white supremacy and the actions of former confederate icons. “We envision a cemetery for the American South where removed Confederate statues would be displayed, perhaps, in a felled position – a visual condemnation of the white supremacy they fought to uphold” (Brasher and Alderman, The Conversation). This method of relocation using other nations as a model would help to preserve the history surrounding the monument while also removing it from a place of power. The other way in which the United States should move forward towards a more racially equal nation is to implement the teaching of the 1619 project in schools nationwide. The 1619 project, while flawed, must be taught to our nation’s youth to show the racist past of our nation. “The goal of the 1619 Project is to reframe American history by considering what it would mean to regard 1619 as our nation’s birth year. Doing so requires us to place the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are as a country.” (Silverstein, The New York Times). To ensure all Americans understand the broad scope of racism in America, the 1619 project must be taught.
These reforms would heal the United States racially, moving forward and removing the power inequities seen by placing confederate statues in important federal sites. By implementing confederate graveyards, statues such as the Taney bust would be removed from their high positions, and relocated to a museum style cemetery, where it would be displayed fallen, a remnant of an evil time, broken. This would signify a major shift in the way confederate era monuments are displayed in America. Many believe, however, that by removing statues, people run from the issue on hand and risk forgetting history. “He warned that moving the statue would take Taney’s impact out of context. “When you lose that context, you’re left with bias, you’re left with prejudice,” he said. “Let’s use it as a learning experience. Let’s not run from it.” (Levin, The Fredrick News-Post). However, with a graveyard, these issues would not be an issue, as history would not be removed or forgotten. Simply, it would be put into context. The ultimate goal of the confederate graveyard is to reduce the power the Taney bust holds, and to ensure the nation does not idolize the man who stated Black Americans were not humans in the U.S. By implementing the 1619 project as curriculum across America, racism and misguided beliefs about our nation’s history could be weeded out at a fundamental level. The 1619 project is integral to the progress of the nation, ensuring the racially evil history of the nation be taught in a clear manner, and to help move forward as one. Some believe that by teaching the 1619 project in schools, anti-Americanism would prosper. “The banning of the 1619 project is the latest effort by Trump against new progressive interpretations to history that he deems un-American. Trump has in the past defended Confederate statues, called the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ a symbol of hate…” (Edwards, Alexander, Mail Online) Trump’s rhetoric is emblematic of a divided nation, in that he and his base believe the phrase “black lives matter” is a hate symbol, and that the 1619 project teaches unamerican Values. Once again, this is unequivocally false. The 1619 project, while with its flaws, does more than any other nationalized curriculum to address the atrocities of America’s past, while educating the nation’s youth, attempting to forge forward for racial unity. Both implementing a confederate graveyard and teaching the 1619 project extensively would ensure statues like the Taney bust lose their stature, rather being placed in an ecosystem where historical context is preserved, and idolatry doesn’t occur in the highest court in the land. The 1619 project ensures that the historical context of Taney’s actions among many others does not get lost in education, but rather gets elevated. By doing so, the confederate south’s power begins to fade, finally becoming history rather than a current issue.
By allowing the bust of Roger B. Taney to sit elevated in the middle of the Supreme Court’s chamber, the decision of Dredd Scott v. Sandford becomes further legitimized, treating Taney as a hero rather than viewing him through a critical lens. The man who deemed African Americans as non-citizens, perpetuating racist ideologies cannot be held highly, immortalized in the Supreme Court, but must rather be part of a confederate graveyard, symbolizing the fall of white supremacy and the confederate south once and for all. By teaching the 1619 project, racism and distorted American history can be rooted out, rather teaching the nation’s youth about all of history, not just a rosy picture. By implementing these reforms, we do not forget or wash away history, we enhance it. That is why the confederate south must be given a proper burial, with the 1619 project its moving eulogy.
Works Cited
Brasher, Jordan, and Derek H. Alderman. “A Confederate statue graveyard could help bury the Old South.” The Conversation, 26 July 2019, advance.lexis.com/document/?pdmfid=1516831&crid=4f441433-c706-4784-beb5-9be09a14fedb&pddocfullpath=%2Fshared%2Fdocument%2Fnews%2Furn%3AcontentItem%3A5WNF-6VC1-JB75-9088-00000-00&pdcontentcomponentid=463575&pdteaserkey=sr0&pditab=allpods&ecomp=fzx2k&earg=sr0&prid=96f93af1-b1fb-4166-86d7-5a38f23f7700. Accessed 11 Nov. 2020.
Edwards, Valerie, and Harriet Alexander. “‘Democrats want to remove America’s guts’: Trump tells cheering North Carolina crowd that he wants to ‘restore patriotic education’ after threatening to defund schools that are trying ‘to take away history’ by teaching The 1619 Project.” Mail Online, 9 Sept. 2020, advance.lexis.com/document/?pdmfid=1516831&crid=8b3dce3f-22b9-4f02-910f-8e052a48c7d8&pddocfullpath=%2Fshared%2Fdocument%2Fnews%2Furn%3AcontentItem%3A60T0-C6K1-JCJY-G0B6-00000-00&pdcontentcomponentid=397135&pdteaserkey=sr3&pditab=allpods&ecomp=fzx2k&earg=sr3&prid=eb805b44-80e8-4e45-b553-4298928c886a. Accessed 11 Nov. 2020.
Hopkins, Anna. “Ancestors of judge who sentenced Dred Scott to a life of slavery finally apologize to his family after 160 years but the relatives liken the gesture to ‘bringing a Band-Aid to an amputation.'” Daily Mail, 7 Mar. 2017, advance.lexis.com/document/?pdmfid=1516831&crid=5dd2eddb-bfd3-4655-80b8-c8e109c453c0&pddocfullpath=%2Fshared%2Fdocument%2Fnews%2Furn%3AcontentItem%3A5N1R-0S51-F021-633C-00000-00&pdcontentcomponentid=397135&pdteaserkey=sr2&pditab=allpods&ecomp=dzx2k&earg=sr2&prid=21e77a64-46a8-4c92-ad1d-ca4324861e19. Accessed 24 Nov. 2020. Lavin, Nancy. “Community weighs in on Taney statue relocation.” The Frederick News-Post (Maryland), 13 Aug. 2015, advance.lexis.com/document/?pdmfid=1516831&crid=23e1c576-49f4-400b-b46b-6af43ca62653&pddocfullpath=%2Fshared%2Fdocument%2Fnews%2Furn%3AcontentIt
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