Some students at the University of Missouri are so bothered by a statue of Thomas Jefferson they’ve issued a Change.org petition to have it removed. In two months, only 71 of the requested 100 signatures have signed on.
Part of the petition reads:
Being responsible imposes the duty on us and our university to make decisions by acknowledging the context and considering consequences, both intended and unintended, of any course of action” (University of Missouri, 2015). Removing Jefferson’s statue alone will not eliminate the racial problems we face in America today, but it will help cure the emotional and psychological strain of history.
As the College Fix reported, student Maxwell Little, who is behind the petition, became inspired after the statue of Jefferson Davis was removed from the University of Texas.
Many at the University of Missouri took to defacing the statue by placing sticky notes of their grievances against the Founding Father:
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Ian Paris, the president of Mizzou’s Young Americans for Liberty chapter, had a different take on the statue. He feels there is “misplaced anger.”
Paris sent an e-mail statement to the College Fix:
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“While this may not excuse him from his actions, we feel it is important to fully understand the depth of Jefferson’s character before students demand we rewrite history in a style that is less upsetting to some,” Paris said.
Paris added the statue simply represents an “attempt to remember the history of our nation in its entirety, rather than at the discretion of the most easily offended.”
“Any attempt to change that would be a disservice, not only to the memory of one of the greatest men in the history of our nation, but to the University of Missouri as well,” he said.
The statue has been at the university since 2001, and was commissioned and paid for by the MU Jefferson Club, a group of alumni and donors.
Controversy does surround Jefferson for owning slaves, and possibly fathering children with one of them. Jefferson was not the only man of his day to own slaves, or the only Founding Father. To reiterate Paris’ point, it would be wrong to judge him by today’s standards.
Giving into such a demand would be giving into the “most easily offended.” More importantly though, it would remove the statue of a man who contributed so much to the founding of this nation.
