California Gold: The Remember Them Monument, Oakland

Text and photos by Jason McKenney.

I was watching a Michael Che stand-up comedy special the other day and he made comment about the Black Lives Matter movement I felt was smartly insightful. Saying "Black Lives Matter is a controversial statement," said Che. "Not 'matters more than you,' just . . . matters."

I felt it was a poignant way to phrase the argument. There are black people in this country who feel their lives don't mean much to the larger population, and whether or not you or I agree that's a fair feeling to have, it is important to figure out where those feelings come from. What causes this frustration? What are easy ways to quickly begin resolving the issues? Are there ways to make a difference in our everyday lives that don't require the petitioning of slow-moving governments?

While blacks have had a ragged relationship with American mainstream culture going back prior to the US founding, they have still produced a number of the most prominent spokespeople for defining and defending exactly what freedom and equality of races should be.

The Remember Them monument in Oakland, CA, profiles many such voices. While not every person honored with this monument is black, those who are give evidence of a strong tradition of thought in this country that has helped the world face-up to racial hypocrisy, articulate rational grievances, and move in a direction where people do not have to feel their lives matter less than others simply due to pigment levels.

The black voices that have been so full-throated in the Civil Rights and racial equality movements over the years are a jewel in the cultural crown of American and should be embraced by all Americans of all backgrounds. Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. These are people who shouldn't just be thought of as black heroes but as American heroes.

During a recent visit to Oakland, I spent an hour slowly walking around the Henry J. Kaiser Memorial Park while I waited for my wife to attend a business lunch in a nearby restaurant. The park is located on Rashida Muhammad Street in the Uptown entertainment district. It was briefly occupied by Occupy Oakland and is home to the Remember Them: Champions For Humanity Monument.

Across Rashida Muhammad Street sits a theater for plays and live performances. Auditions were being held while I walked through the park. A line of teenage trialists stood along the sidewalk. Slowly, throughout the hour I was there, the line dwindled to just a few strays. The art scene
is rich in this area.

The Remember Them: Champions For Humanity Monument was designed by Oakland sculptor Mario Chiodo. The bronze with cast stone base sculpture measures 25 feet high and 52 feet wide and covers a thousand square feet. With four sections, this is the largest bronze monument on the west
coast. It highlights the accomplishments of 25 global humanitarians:

•  The Rev. Ralph David Abernathy (1926-1990): Partner with Martin Luther King Jr. in civil rights activism
•  Maya Angelou (1928-2014): Poet, playwright, civil rights activist
•  Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906): Human rights activist who fought for women’s suffrage and the abolition of slavery
•  Ruby Bridges (1954-present): At age 6 braved an angry mob to become first black student in all-white school in the South
•  Cesar Chavez (1927-1993): Civil rights activist and agricultural workers labor leader
•  Chief Joseph (1846-1904): Head of the Nez Perce Nation and human rights activist
•  Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965): British prime minister during WWII, alone at first against Nazi fascism
•  Frederick Douglass (1817-1895): A former slave who became a foremost leader in the abolitionist movement
•  Shirin Ebadi (1947-present): Human rights activist for Middle East issues and Nobel Peace Prize winner
•  Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948): Pacifist who lead India to independence from Great Britain
•  Helen Keller (1880-1968): Fought for rights for those with disabilities
•  Coretta Scott King (1927-2006): Civil rights activist
•  The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968): Civil rights leader
•  Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865): American president who abolished slavery
•  Nelson Mandela (1918-2013): Human rights activist and first democratically elected president of South Africa
•  Harvey Milk (1930-1978): A leader of the gay rights movement
•  Mother Teresa (1910-1997): Leader of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, won 1979 Nobel Peace Prize
•  Rosa Parks (1913-2005): Civil rights activist
•  Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945): United States president during WWII, who also established the United Nations
•  Oskar Schindler (1908-1974): German business man who outwitted Nazis to save more than 1,200 Jewish lives
•  Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-present): Pacifist Vietnamese Buddhist monk who is a human rights and anti-war activist
•  Rigoberta Menchu Tum (1959-present): Human rights activist for indigenous people in Latin America
•  The Unknown Rebel of Tiananmen Square (1989): Stood in front of tanks during student human rights uprising in China
•  Elie Wiesel (1928-present): Holocaust survivor dedicated to preventing genocide
•  Malcolm X (1925-1965): Black nationalist, civil rights leader

The monument includes a visually impaired feature, allowing the visually impaired to touch and feel the faces of 25 world figures in one place, with humanitarian quotes also in braille. One section of the monument is designed on a spiraling axis emulating the helix of the common DNA of all humans. The base includes sculptures of books to illustrate the importance of education in the lives and work of all of the honorees. It features seven sets of interlocking men and women, symbolizing the seven continents of earth.

The monument goes a long way to pulling together a variety of defenders of human freedom from around the world, but I would argue that many of the most effective voices on the list are black Americans. These are Americans who have risen up from a society where human freedom is given great lip service, but where they were still treated unfairly and expected to submit to the whims of a de facto ruling class that loomed over them. Their words and deeds have influenced countless others including some who share monument space with them.

Leaving the park, I felt a new appreciation for the importance of minority voices in the ongoing struggle for racial equality. Easy for me to say being a lanky white guy. Easy for me to nod and agree and then forget it all. But I don't want to forget it. I want to learn more. Their words are out there. They just need to be found.