Which Women Monument for Lexington (Massachusetts)?

This petition aims at denouncing the Women Monument planned to be erected in Lexington, MA. This monument is proposed by a self-appointed private group composed of a few citizens of the town of Lexington.

In its current version, the project is a gate which portrays several women on each side (on the front and back of the gate). In this pattern, each Black woman is represented with a white woman on her flip side. This arrangement instills multiple messages, including that a Black woman can only stand if backed by a white woman.   

Additionally, in its current version the proposed project uses the same material, bronze, to represent all women in the monument, thus not clearly distinguishing women of the Global Majority from white women. Given that skin color is a key factor of one’s physical appearance, representing all women in the monument with a uniform skin tone contributes to the erasure of the diversity that the monument is supposed to embrace. 

The gate also conveys the impression that all women represented happily joined forces over the past centuries to fight for the same goals, regardless of their skin color. This is historically inaccurate. 

Furthermore, it is disturbing that despite a national search, no artist of the Global Majority could be included as an alternative option. 

Although the artist selected by LexSeeHer, Meredith Bergmann, has some statues that represent Black women, it is worth noting that each one of these monuments only portrays one specific woman at a time; thus, precluding the issues with the current version of the proposed monument for the town of Lexington. 

Finally, the artist was in the midst of a controversy for her Central Park monument erected in New York City in 2020 to honor historical women. Similar issues were at stake. It was only due to public outcry, including the involvement of longtime feminist activist Gloria Steinem, that the artist modified her project, whose 2018 initial maquette did not include any woman of the Global Majority.

More about this, can be found in these articles from the New York Times and the Smithsonian:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/nyregion/is-a-planned-monument-to-womens-rights-racist.html

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/monument-controversy-women-pioneer-central-park-180975662/

Because our society is unfortunately still shaped by structural racism, the Black woman body is disparaged on a daily basis in subtle -and oftentimes not so subtle- ways. Proclaimed good intentions are not enough to avoid problematic representations. 

Given the historical role of the town of Lexington, also known as “The Birthplace of Liberty”, during the War of Independence, this matter reaches far beyond town limits and concerns everyone. At a time when public representation of people of the Global Majority is being addressed worldwide, which image does the town of Lexington want to give of itself? 

We are requesting that the town of Lexington only accepts a project that is truly and fully respectful of all women of the Global Majority and that the selection process really embraces the diversity of the artists who are in this country.