Why Aren’t There Black Historical Monuments In The City of New Orleans?By: Kristoff ThompsonWhy aren’t there black historical monuments in the city of New Orleans? That’s an important question we all should be asking ourselves. Historically, black monuments symbolize the accomplishments of African Americans from their time. In New Orleans, African Americans make up most of the city demographically, yet, they are not represented with monuments.

This is a conflict I am highly interested in simply because African Americans are not as recognized as I think they should be. African Americans have accomplished so much, not only in New Orleans, but also in the United States, unrecognized people such as Robert Smalls, who became a ship’s pilot, sea captain, and politician, Claudette Colvin, who, nine months before Rosa Parks’s arrest, was forcefully removed from a city bus in Montgomery, she was only 15 years old when she was booked and arrested for defying bus segregation, and Matthew Henson, who is said to be the first man to reach the North Pole. They are three amongst a large handful of  African Americans that have gone unrecognized in this country.I feel like African Americans should be recognized in the United States because of their accomplishments and courage to complete such tasks while being discriminated and oppressed. They have paved the way and paid the ultimate price by sacrificing their freedom, or, in some cases, their lives to get African Americans where they are today. Today, African Americans are given more freedom and leniency in this country, but African Americans are taking the opportunity for granted as they are killing each other and being imprisoned for things such as murder, drug possession, rape, sex offense, and more.

This is a reason why I think African Americans are going unrecognized, instead, you see White leaders like Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and others who are recognized for not only acts of racism, but also unjust acts as well. Another reason why I’m highly interested in this topic is because of how lowly the United States think of African Americans as a minority. In my opinion,  African Americans have always been brought down for centuries, they have been taken from their homeland and brought to the U.S. to be enslaved by White settlers mainly in the South of the United States. Then, slavery was abolished but acts of slavery and racism still went on, an example being 1920’s-1960’s America, discrimination, segregation, and lynching were all legal during that time period. Unjust accounts such as the slaughter of Emmett Till, the killing of Trayvon Martin, and Ed Johnson, who, provided many alibi, was still wrongfully convicted and lynched for rape allegations.I feel like there aren’t black historical monuments in the city of New Orleans because of how mistreated and wrongly African Americans are.

To solve this problem, I would like to start a movement to acknowledge that there are no historical black monuments in New Orleans, because African Americans have accomplished many accolades that other races just haven’t been able to accomplish. African Americans, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali, and many more were able to accomplish so much in the span of their lifetime while being oppressed and brought down countless times in acts of racism, segregation and discrimination. They all have gone to prove that anything is possible with hard work and effort.African Americans should be recognized for their effort and persistence with their own monuments, especially those who go unrecognized despite them completing feats that no other person of race would be able to accomplish. African Americans have-literally and figuratively-fought for their rights for hundreds of centuries, and still to this day, African Americans are struggling with not only oppression, but drugs, murder, police brutality, and financially.

This is a matter that is very important to me because I am an African American citizen of the United States and I also struggle with such things. And, one day, I would like to bring forth a legitimate change to this country for African Americans, whether it be starting a movement, running for office or going against the law in the most extreme of cases.