As citizens of the U.S. continue to deface monuments of persons in history who have been a driving force of racism, Lamb Of God frontman has shared that he thinks the statues should be placed in museums, graffiti and all, “so people can understand this time.”
Amidst the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd back in May, many citizens across the United States have taken a stance to have statues glorifying the racists of history removed or replaced, with many being defaced at the time being.
Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe has spoken out on the issue at hand, and offers a bit of a strategy as to where the statues could be placed after removal.
Speaking to The Hundreds TV, the Lamb Of God frontman noted that the first thing people need to realise is the reason behind why these monuments exist: “There’s this false narrative that at the end of the Civil War, the Confederacy put up all these monuments.”
“Most of these monuments, they were erected during the Jim Crow era, when the segregationist laws were put into effect. And they were put there to cement the position of white people in our society, particularly in the South.”
Continuing on, Blythe noted that “with Jim Crow and the need to — now that slaves are illegal — the need to keep black people in a subservient position, both physically and economically, they erect these big monuments,” which resulted in the statues around the U.S. today.
“The monuments are maintained. Tax dollars pay for lighting them. They pay for the upkeep. They pay for the police right now that are protecting them. That’s people’s tax dollars.
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Being from Richmond, Blythe noted that the city has quite a few African-American’s in the community, and that “to a lot of these people in the African-American community, when they see these monuments of these Confederate generals, it’s just a reminder of going back all the way to why the African-American community is here in the first place, which is slavery. Richmond had the second-largest slave market in the United States; the first was in New Orleans.”
Additionally, Lamb Of God frontman Blythe noted that even though we’re seeing widespread protests and change happening now, “it’s not just about one man getting choked to death — this is a built-up thing, and it has been building.
“In Richmond, particularly the younger population, they’ve had enough of this. We’ve talked about putting the statues in context or maybe adding signs or all this other stuff. I think particularly the youth today are just, like, ‘No. This is a slap in the face.'”
As to how he thinks change should be handled, Blythe takes an approach that hasn’t been said as much before: “I believe — it’s my personal belief — that the statues should be preserved. Not where they are, in this glorified position on Monument [Avenue], and everybody’s tax dollars are paying to take care of them. But I think they should be taken — they are supposed to be put in storage.
“And maybe they can be in a museum exhibit or something, so people can understand this time. And when I say this time, I’m talking about right now; there’s graffiti all over these things.”
Check out Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe on The Hundreds TV:
