Conclusion

Theodore Roosevelt believed it necessary for the United States to engage in battle to simultaneously prove U.S. military prowess and affirm his manliness which enabled his ability to participate within the political sphere. By continuing a cycle of exclusionary symbols reliant on white manliness, US imperialism, and colonization, Kitson’s Hiker within Kennedy Plaza can only ever be a symbol of violence for the communities of color who traverse and settle within it. It sustains messages of triumph that are only true for the United States, absolving the country from blame by shifting the narrative of Imperialism and colonization to one of necessity and aid. As there is no accidental component to monument creation, its violent visual codes illustrate an unambiguous purpose: white men are placed within the landscape to ensure their supremacy. There is nothing heroic about systemic injustice, genocide, control, and assimilation. Its presence will forever be unsettling to the victims of its messaging. Make the Hiker and other similar monuments overtly visible, do not leave them behind in your peripheral vision, and allow them to be engaged with and critiqued. This is how we can evaluate and reframe the commemorative landscape. The Hiker can only ever be a colonial—therefore racist and white supremacist—object.