A controversial statue has been relocated by Saint Louis University after complaints from faculty and students that it symbolizes white supremacy.
The sculpture named ‘Where the Rivers Meet’ has been moved from outside a residence hall to inside the Saint Louis University Museum of Art, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The sculpture depicts Jesuit missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet on an elevated platform above two Native Americans while holding a cross above his head.
SLU spokesman Clayton Berry said the statue, which was created in the 1800s, will now be a part of the museum’s ‘Collection of the Western Jesuit Missions.’
Last month, the school’s student-run newspaper published an op-ed stating the statue seems to say to Native Americans that they are not welcome unless they submit to a culture and religion.
The article’s author, Ryan McKinley, wrote in The University News:
‘The statue of De Smet depicts a history of colonialism, imperialism, racism and of Christian and white supremacy,
‘This statue of De Smet is the clearest message that this university sends regarding American Indians, past and present. This message to American Indians is simple: ”You do not belong here if you do not submit to our culture and our religion.”’
McKinley told Fox News it was his efforts, and those of others over the course of years, that finally got the statue moved.
‘This effort has been a years-long process by many different parties through students and staff,’ the student said.
A school English professor, Steven Casmier, told The College Fix didn’t necessarily agree with the decision.
‘I am not one for pulling down statues or effacing the evidence of history – even if that history is one we would like to forget,’ he said. ‘But it’s good that it’s not entirely effacing the past, and perhaps [the museum is] as good a place as any for it.’
Pierre-Jean De Smet was a Belgian Jesuit priest born in 1801 who took his Christian message to the United States twenty years later and became a pioneer in efforts to convert the tribes west of the Mississippi to Christianity.
According to Britannica.com, De Smet came to be affectionately called ‘Black Robe’ by the Indians, who ‘cast him in the role of mediator in the U.S. government’s attempt to secure their lands for settlement by whites.
De Smet was loved by the Indians – not thought of as some ‘white conqueror.’ That the university would acquiesce to this so easily, speaks volumes for the school. No way would my children be attending that university. Notice the Liberation Theology speak of Ryan McKinley: colonialism, imperialism, racism, Christian and white supremacy. Wonder who he got his talking points from? Or is he just that big of a brainwashed idiot? Maybe both. He’s right though – this has been a years-long effort by Marxists and they seem to be winning. Missouri – you’ve got a real Constitutional crisis on your hands. They are bowing to political correctness, censorship, history revisionism and Marxism. And almost no one is saying a word about it. Now that’s change – Marxist tyrannical change.