After a petition called Gandhi 'racist', his statue was removed from the University of Ghana
Another marker has been felled in the intense argument over whether historic figures with racist histories should be honered. The University of Ghana in Accra no longer has a statue of India independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi.
Gandhi's Indian empowerment argument, critics said in a petition to remove the statue, appeared to be that the British colonial government treated Indians a "little better, if at all, than the savages or the Natives of Africa." He spoke of the "half-heathen Native" and said that traiting Indians like Africans would "degrade us." The sole occupation of "raw" natives is hunting, he said and their "sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with and, then, pass his life in indolence and nakedness."
Critics argue that Gandhi's thoughts about Africans shouldn't be whitewashed by history -- that no one's flaws should be immune from historical scrutiny. Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Americas, -- then killed and ensalved the people who already lived there. Many of America's Founding Fathers owned slaves. Martin Luther King Jr. cheated on his wife. And for members of the University of Ghana council who started the peition in 2016 and the more than 2200 people had signed it since, a statue to Gandhi had no place on campus.
"We consider this to be a slap in the face that undermines our struggles for autonomy, recognition and respect, " the petition says.
Key words
petition, n.请愿书 | petition sb. to do sth.
fell, v.打倒，击倒
empowerment, 使更强大
savage, n.野蛮人，未开化的人
heathen, n.异教徒
sole, a.唯一的
indolence, n.懒惰，懒散 | He was noted for his indolence. | indolent teenagers
scrutiny, n.仔细观察，详细审查 ｜Her argument doesn't really stand up to scrutiny.
cheat on, 对配偶不忠
a slap in the face, 一记耳光