The good news is it's just a statue, and statues can be repaired and remounted.
Racists: "For extra insult, we'll tear down the Frederick Douglass statue on the Fourth of July!"
Frederick Douglass: "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. I think I may have mentioned that once before."
Frederick Douglass: "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. I think I may have mentioned that once before."
And as @Jesselansner notes (and the AP missed), the Frederick Douglass that was knocked down was one of thirteen identical modern statues that were placed in various Rochester locations just two years ago. democratandchronicle.com/story/news/202…
Very very few public statues are unique irreplaceable works of art. When they are not, the most interesting question that accompanies their toppling is whether the political will exists to put them back up.
The Douglass statue will be replaced soon, and before long the fact of its having been taken down will be largely forgotten. It's where political or institutional leaders follow the lead of the crowd that toppling statues becomes a more momentous act.
Pulling down a statue alters the status quo. Whether the statue stays down depends on—and reveals—how stable that status quo was before the shift.
It's a pretty useful metaphor, actually.
