This Is Really About Cultural Complexity Interactivity History Is Dynamic, Subject To Reinterpretation.

A downtown Spokane monument erected in an earlier time bears a plaque whose inscription includes the word “savage.” Should that be changed or left alone?

We all know what it’s like to be put in boxes. Someone speaks with you face to face but doesn’t really meet you or look you in the eye. The person holds a preconception of who you are and never lets go of those labels and limitations.

This phenomenon is an important part of the debate over the racial connotations of a bronze statue in downtown Spokane that describes Samoans in 1899 as “savage.”

Why the big deal over small words? Because the language of the plaque taps into an old, solidified perception of the exotic and primitive “other.”

Some say the complaint about the statue is too politically correct. They argue that the battle was fought in a different era and the plaque was placed there in an earlier time. So let it be.

Perhaps, then, the phrase “political correctness” should be restated as “cultural complexity.”

Cultural complexity attempts to break down the simple model of us vs. them. In this case it is white Monaghan vs. the dark, savage, Samoan foe.

Cultural complexity means getting to know the human beings behind the stereotypes. Any Samoan visiting or living in Spokane might laugh (or cry) at the statue’s depiction of Samoan culture as barbaric. After all, the Samoans were human beings with lives and families to protect.

So what can be done about the statue? A second plaque should be placed next to the old one as retrospective commentary. The actual events of history can’t be remade but they can be reinterpreted and communicated.

The modifying plaque should be placed with the intent of creating dialogue with history. It should prompt critical questions: Is war just a game of good guys vs. bad guys? What should multicultural interaction look like? How can we check our modern American preconceptions?

History as a narrative is dynamic and interactive, and if we fail to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the past, we risk the future.

Leave the statue as a reminder to avoid setting stereotypes in stone or bronze. But tack a second plaque next to the first one, add a modern modifier for discussion and know that our ideas, too, will be re-discussed 100 years from now.