On Tuesday, playwright, painter, and Gold Dust Orphans theater company founder Ryan Landry returned to Boston Public Radio, calling in from a self-imposed quarantine in Provincetown.
During the conversation, Landry touched on a recent piece in The Atlantic by writer Graeme Wood. The article posited that a statue of Robert E. Lee, currently on display in Virginia, ought to be left to decay in the elements, rather than be removed outright or moved to a museum, where it could preserve an air of prestige.
"I just think 19th century sculpture is beautiful, but it’s not beautiful when it’s got Jefferson Davis on it,” Landry said. "Cut his head off and leave the horse, I say.”
The Robert E. Lee statue in question is currently being preserved by a Virginia judge, who on Monday put a 10-day injunction on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s decision to take it down.
"I also think that we should just knock these sculptures down and leave them where they were, kind of tipped over, with a big sign that says what they did,” Landry added. “And then put in their place, on the pedestal, someone who worked for the good.
"I do believe that erasing history is not a good move,” he said, "because the same mistakes can happen over again… if we pretend it never happened, or we hide it under the rug.”
