A gravestone of the dog that died in 1902 has been removed from a cultural center because of the animal’s racist name.
Amid the Black Lives Matter movement, the Coventry City Council in England has removed the memorial made for the dog named after the N-word from Coombe Abbey Park even though the pooch died back in 1902.
While the council last year announced that the memorial wouldn’t be removed from the popular cultural attraction due to being placed on a listed land, the pressure from the BLM movement prompted the officials to stop the display of the controversial name by removing the gravestone entirely.
“We can confirm the historical gravestone in memory of a loved pet was removed. Our stance on racism is clear and although the gravestone was from another time it is not appropriate today,” a spokesperson for the council said.
According to the reports, city officials previously believed that the memorial could serve as educational material for tourists and locals.
However, many residents allegedly felt offended by the gravestone and didn’t believe that it belongs in their community.
As one local reportedly argued, many people fail to see that people of color may feel offended and hurt by seeing the N-word even though it was commonly used in the past.
“They fail to see that it was acceptable only to white people and black people would have, and still are, hurt to see this word immortalized into stone in such a public place,” they suggested.
While some advocate the removal of offensive or racist monuments, others believe that history should be respected and used as learning material rather than being forgotten.
“Why don’t we just flatten the whole of the British Empire to eradicate the memory of imperialism completely?” one person questioned. “Get all of the history books and blank all the pages up until today’s date.”
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Replaced!