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As the American Museum of Natural History prepares to remove the equestrian statue of former President Theodore Roosevelt, dueling interpretations of the legacy of the nation's 26th president stir admiration as well as contempt.
This contradiction in values, according to military historian David Silbey, points to Americans' complicated history regarding race.
“I think both Theodore Roosevelts are true,” said Silbey, a professor at Cornell. “I think that he was certainly the kind of progressive politician of the early 20th century who started moving the United States forward on environmental and other issues. But he was also the racist who viewed other peoples around the world as distinctly inferior to Americans.”
“Race is really America’s original sin,” he told NBC News, “And our whole history is really suffused with a perspective about race that shapes what we do and how we are thinking. And that contradiction is always at the forefront of what is going on.”
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