American civic monuments signal belonging only to whites

Evidence

For most tourists drawn to Washington, the majesty of the capital and its ornate string of memorials and monuments, gallant statues and government structures are sights that inspire awe. For most Americans, particularly those privileged with the nation’s greatest gift, whiteness, these structures are symbols that communicate belonging. As I walked down H Street, away from the barricade separating me from the White House, I stopped and reflected. I wondered what it felt like to be a Moor passing the Colosseum at the apex of the Roman Empire. And on this side of history, how life looked for a Uyghur Muslim living in a land where the threat of being thrown into a concentration camp stalked their every step. — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 80

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels Iftikhar’s structural account and the reader’s noise chapters about silencing; also evokes Octavia Butler’s outsider-to-civic-mythology angle, though Parable of the Sower is about a different exclusion.