a Group of residents believes that it might offend the feelings of indigenous peoples.
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, June 26. /Offset. TASS Vladislav Pavlov, Ivan sawyers/. A group of residents of Sitka (Alaska) has proposed to remove from the center of the city the statue of Alexander Baranov (1747-1819), who was the Governor of Russian settlements in North America in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This was reported by TASS on Thursday, city Manager John Leach.
we are talking about the monument, located in the historical centre of the city, which until 1867 was named new Archangel and was the capital of the Russian possessions. The statue by sculptor Joan Bagby-Jackson was donated to the municipality in 1989 by a local family and since then installed in the Park in front of the public centre, Harrigan Centennial Hall, near the ocean.
“In the city there is a group of people who, as I would say, hold peaceful protests against the statue in connection with what was put in it the sense,’ said Leach. Performances of this group in a sense are on a par with everything else that is happening in the United States.” He explained that activists were June 23 at the open session of the city Council. They believe that the statue might offend the feelings of indigenous peoples. “Several people also spoke in defense of the statue,” said Leach. They focus on the fact that the monument is of historical and artistic value.
Leach stated that the statue was donated to the city one of the “influential families of Hasami”. Its members also spoke at the Council meeting. They are, according to Leach, “said would preserve the statue,” but noted that the final decision should be taken by the Council. They also encouraged “to respect and preserve the work of the sculptor.”
City Manager stressed that the decision about the possible transfer of the statue should take advice:
City Manager admitted that the discussion of the future of the statue can continue at the next meeting of the Council, which is expected to be held on June 30. At the moment this issue is not on the agenda. Leach assured that the final decision will be made “with all stakeholders” from the local community. As he stated, “there are supporters of both points of view.”
In turn, the mayor of Gary Paxton told TASS that one of the options local authorities could be saving statues Baranova and at the same time in the city, another monument to anyone representatives of the indigenous population of this region of Alaska — the Tlingit:
“But we are only at the initial stage”, — said the mayor.
According to him, when decisions must be considered on both sides. “We ��erode, of course, there are people who honor the same heritage, and there is lenkiskai community, which forms about one third of the population of the city, so we try to move forward in a respectful and constructive manner,” said Paxton.
As noted in conversation with the correspondent of TASS historian Alexander Molodin, President of the Heritage Foundation and a member of the Committee for the historical heritage at the Coordination Council of Russian compatriots (XORS), the United States, “under the management of Baranova was Russian-American company at the part that was in Alaska.”
As stated the expert, Russian-American, the company “did quite a lot of good in Alaska, at least, brought to civilization, trade, religion, there began to develop Russian Orthodoxy.” Molodin emphasized that to Alaska “all the modern technology at the time, of course, brought in the Russians.”
the Historian noted that during the stay Russian-American company in Alaska between the Russian settlers and Tlingit regularly had clashes. They were personally involved himself sheep. Took place, including cases of violent attacks by the Tlingit to Russian settlements, in which were killed dozens of people. However, relations with Russian settlers lived North of the Aleuts, for example, was very good.
Commenting on the calls to remove the statue Baranova from the center of Sitka, Molodin said: “the sheep is, of course, though a controversial figure, but not as negative as it is trying to present to the public”. He added that we are talking about trying to “transfer the current standards to events of the late XVIII and early XIX century, which, in fact, impossible to do.”
the Russian Empire for 135 years owned Alaska. The area was opened in 1732 expedition under the leadership of the military surveyor Mikhail Gvozdev and Navigator Ivan Fedorov.
They marked the beginning of Russian settlement in the region. Colonists were attracted here, above all, a variety of fur-bearing animals. A center of trade and export of furs was founded in 1799 Baranov new Archangel.
the question about the possibility of the sale of Alaska first raised in 1853 Governor-General Eastern Siberia count Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky, expressing doubts that the Russian possessions in North America will be able to effectively protect.
In 1866, at a meeting in the presence of Emperor Alexander II, the idea was approved. March 30, 1867, the contract for the sale of Alaska to the United States for 7.2 million dollars in gold was signed, and on 18 October 1867 flag Russian-American company was launched in Novo-Arkhangelsk.
a New wave of Protestants��s with the requirement to remove the monuments of a number of political figures of the past began in the United States on the background of mass protests in connection with the death of the African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis (Minnesota). Police used during his arrest on may 25, hard choke. Floyd died after that in hospital. All four involved in the arrest of police officers dismissed, they charged.
the protests often turned into riots and looting. In some cases, the vandals destroyed the monuments to leaders of the Confederation, which embraced the States of the slave South during the Civil war (1861-1865). In addition, was demolished several monuments to the Explorer Christopher Columbus, and the statue of the first U.S. President George Washington in Portland (Oregon).
