After a petition called Gandhi 'racist,' his statue was removed from the University of Ghana

After a petition called Gandhi 'racist,' his statue was removed from the University of Ghana

在一份请愿书将甘地称为“种族主义者”之后，他在加纳大学的雕像被拆除

Another marker has been felled in the intense argument over whether historic figures with racist histories should be honored. The University of Ghana in Accra no longer has a statue of India independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi.

在关于是否应该尊重具有种族主义色彩的历史人物的激烈争论中，又一个标志被打倒。印度独立领袖莫汉达斯 K·甘地的雕像在位于阿克拉的加纳大学不复存在了。

Gandhi's Indian empowerment argument, critics said in a petition to remove the statue, appeared to be that the British colonial government treated Indians a "little better, if at all, than the savages or the Natives of Africa." He spoke of the "half-heathen Native" and said that treating Indians like Africans would "degrade us." The sole occupation of "raw" natives is hunting, he said and their "sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with and, then, pass his life in indolence and nakedness."

批评者们在将雕塑移除的请愿书中称，甘地关于增强印度信心的言论里，似乎提到了英国殖民政府对待印度人“比非洲的野蛮人或者土著好一点，但也许没有”。他谈到了“半异教徒的土著人”，还说把印度人当非洲人对待会“贬低我们”。他说，非洲“源自传统部落的”土著唯一的工作就是捕猎，他们“唯一的野心就是累积一定数量的牛来买一个老婆，然后，懒惰地、赤裸地度过余生。”

Critics argue that Gandhi's thoughts about Africans shouldn't be whitewashed by history—that no one's flaws should be immune from historical scrutiny. Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Americas,—then killed and enslaved the people who already lived there. Many of America's Founding Fathers owned slaves. Martin Luther King Jr. cheated on his wife. And for members of the University of Ghana council who started the petition in 2016 and the more than 2,200 people had signed it since, a statue to Gandhi had no place on campus.

批评者认为，甘地关于非洲人的想法不应该被历史粉饰——没有一个人的瑕疵应该免于历史的审查。 克里斯托弗·哥伦布“发现”了美洲——之后屠杀、奴役了已经在那里生活的人们。 许多美国的开国元勋都拥有奴隶。 马丁·路德·金有过外遇。而对于 2016 年开始起草这份请愿书的加纳大学委员会成员们，还有从那之后的 2200 多个在请愿书上签字的人们来说，甘地的雕像在校园里没有容身之地。

"We consider this to be a slap in the face that undermines our struggles for autonomy, recognition and respect," the petition says.

请愿书上说：“我们认为，甘地的雕像是一记耳光，破坏了我们对自治、认可和尊重的争取。”