The Need To Prove: Manliness Enforced Within the Hiker
Theodore Roosevelt was a proponent that the “American race” was superior to all other races, thus, another facet of his manliness relied on “their ability to stamp out competing, savage races.”[10] This racist aggression became key in fabricating white manliness, and therefore, the white race, as superior. In his journey as a political figure, Roosevelt extended this notion of aggressive manliness to assert “imperialism as a manly duty for both man and race. . .”[11] He succeeded in appropriating these constructed branches of manhood, “never again would TR’s name be linked to effeminacy. Even today, historians invoke Roosevelt as the quintessential symbol of turn-of-the-century masculinity.”[12]
In 1897 Theodore Roosevelt infamously stated, “I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one” and in 1898, he led the Rough Riders into battle in the Spanish-American War. He welcomed this conquest to prove his manhood. This performance of male-gendered behavior does not rely on an innate quality, but on a dominant positioning that one wishes to obtain. White male gender performance became an avenue to assert power and achieve success within the political sphere. Gender insecurity was an excuse for this end, further affirming the binary politics of gender stereotypes. By excluding men of color from the male imaginary, white American manliness is actualized through racial subordination.
It is within this social context that the Hiker monument arises. The monument is a demonstration of manliness as it was enforced by the US imaginary: the rolled-up sleeves, veiny arms, puffed chest, head held forward, and striding posture. Its white countenance actively excludes Black, Latino, Indigenous, and Asian soldiers which are documented to have been part of the US regiments within these historical events.[13] Therefore, this monument of a white soldier serves as an active representation of manliness that can only be accessed by white men—reinforcing white hegemony and American imperialism over the space of Kennedy Plaza which is mostly traversed by Black and Brown individuals who utilize public transportation. There is nothing innocent or unintentional about this exclusionary process.