While taking photo's of the Robert E. Lee statue, I met Jessica (left) and Bethany (right) walking through the park. Both of them are graduating from the University of Virginia and realized that in four years they hadn't explored that much of the downtown area, and wanted to walk through the park. Jessica, who studied urban planning told me about how envious she was that I'm from Canada, and while she felt that a lot of tension was overblown in the media, she really liked the way our society and culture functioned and wished that the United States could incorporate more of it.
April 28, 2018 - Robert E. Lee Statute, Charlottesville - VA
Ironically located in the centre of Emancipation Park, this statue of the confederate general Robert E. Lee, riding atop his horse sits prominently in the middle of the green space. The site of a protest and rioting that made national headlines the previous summer featuring torch wielding white supremacists, it forced a painful re-examination of the racial divides that still exist in the United States. The park was quiet when I arrived on a Saturday evening, and the statue, still slated for removal seemed more like an uncomfortable afterthought than the centrepiece of the park.
April 27, 2018 - Beaver Stadium, State College PA
It emerges like a death star, holds a hundred and ten thousand people and nowhere on its wikipedia page does it mention the statue of former head coach, and the man whose success effectively built the stadium being removed after it was discovered that he helped to cover up the pedophilia of one of his assistant coaches.. Statues don't last forever and time will always decide how history is written.