Monument removal, relocation, and reinterpretation is a process that has several means to its end. For some, this process involves work from activists in the community appealing to political leaders. In other cases, decisions to rectify an oppressive monument come from the top down with local and state governments working with their communities in order to create a consensus around how a monument might best be dealt with. In this episode, we’ll discuss both of these approaches and the general trends in monument removal, relocation, and reinterpretation with Professor Kirk Savage from the University of Pittsburgh.

Credits
Song Credits:
Melancholly Lull by Vital
Royalty Free Music: Bensound.com/royalty-free-music
License code: GHSG4LYAWYBKBEES

While the George Floyd Protests of 2020 brought monuments of oppression into light primarily for Black Americans, social justice issues related to Palestinians came into primary focus more recently with the extreme escalation of conflict in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. However, violence in the United States against Arab Americans, including Palestinian Americans, long predates the current humanitarian crisis in the Middle East. Alex Odeh, a Palestinian-born peace activist was killed in Santa Ana in October of 1985 in a domestic terrorist attack. The Alex Odeh Memorial Statue was installed in front of the Santa Ana Central Library in 1994, but this statue has since been the target of protest and vandalism as well as used as a point of unity and celebration.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing the Alex Odeh Memorial Statue and how the monument works to reconcile the past wrongdoings against him, his family, and Arab Americans nationwide. We’re joined by his eldest daughter, Helena Odeh, to learn more about Alex Odeh’s life, work, and legacy.

Credits
Song Credits:
Melancholly Lull by Vital
Royalty Free Music: Bensound.com/royalty-free-music
License code: GHSG4LYAWYBKBEES

On September 29, 1526, 498 years ago, the first recorded shipment of captive Africans arrived with Spanish colonizers on the North American mainland in the Sapelo Bay region of Georgia. This is not well-known African America history specifically related to trans-Atlantic human trade. It is the start of a continuous pattern of exploitation, oppression, survival and resistance spanning more than three hundred years with a legacy that exists today.

This podcast is a conversation with members of the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project and Crossing the Waters Institute, two organizations that raise awareness and commemorate the more than half million Africans who were transported to the United States, and under force contributed with their knowledge, skills,labor and culture to the creation of the United States.

Observing the 25th anniversary of the Middle Passage Pilgrimage Project are Ingrid Askew and Sister Clare, founders of Crossing the Waters Institute and Ann Chinn from the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project.


Show Notes
The following links to what was mentioned in the show:

Crossing the Waters Institute for Cultural Exchange

Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project

Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project Memorial Day 2020 Slideshow

PBS Documentary: This far by faith (Segment: Rise up and call their names)

Bomba Dance Tutorial with Afro-Puerto Rican Dancer Mar Cruz | If Cities Could Dance

Credits
Song Credits:
Melancholly Lull by Vital
Royalty Free Music: Bensound.com/royalty-free-music
License code: GHSG4LYAWYBKBEES

African Night
Music by Paulus Jo from Pixabay