Has the time come to change the name of Brandon’s Rosser Avenue?
As calls grow to end systemic racism and discrimination around the world – statues and monuments of past leaders are being removed.
In Belgium this week – a statue of King Leopold II, whose rule of Congo led to the death of 10 million people, was vandlized – at Oxford University, there are calls to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes, an architect of the apartheid – and in Bristol, England, a statue of slave trader Edward Colston was dragged through the streets and dumped into the harbour.
Here in in Canada, a Change.org petition is calling for the removal of a Sir John A. Macdonald statue in Montreal. It’s received over 10,000 signatures. Our first prime minister was an architect of the residential school system and led starvation tactics against Indigenous people in the Prairies.
In Brandon, Rosser Avenue is named after U-S Confederate General Thomas Lafayette “Tex” Rosser who fought to preserve slavery in the American Civil War. The municipality of Rosser also bears his name. So, as symbols of racism are being torn down – has the time come to remove the Rosser name from Brandon’s main street?
Protests to decry systemic racism and discrimination will take place today in Brandon as two walks are scheduled for this afternoon and evening. One begins at 5:00 pm at the Keystone Centre, the second at 6:00 pm at Brandon University. Both marches will end with gatherings at Princess Park.
(A link Brandon Sun article “Researching Racism in Brandon” is available below)
