Picture this: a city square filled with towering statues of people who, quite frankly, have done nothing monumental. Welcome to America, where they tear down the statues of historical figures and replace them with bronze depictions of everyday people holding phones and looking bored. The latest installment? A series of statues of Black women that are supposed to represent... what exactly? Diversity? Body positivity? Complaining on social media? Whatever it is, it’s definitely not actual accomplishments.
Let’s back up. When did these monuments start going up, and why? The wave began in 2023 when several cities, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, commissioned new statues to celebrate racial justice and diversity in the wake of the George Floyd protests. The goal? To shift the narrative from honoring problematic historical figures to recognizing marginalized voices. And who were these statues of? Random, anonymous Black women depicted as everyday figures holding phones, looking pensive, or just standing around.
One prominent example is the 12-foot-tall bronze sculpture titled Grounded in the Stars, unveiled on April 29, 2025, in New York City's Times Square. Created by British artist Thomas J. Price, the statue depicts a plus-size Black woman in casual clothing, standing with her hands on her hips. According to Price, the artwork aims to challenge traditional notions of who is represented in public monuments and to amplify traditionally marginalized bodies on a monumental scale .
How were these statues constructed? Well, millions of dollars were spent on bronze, sculptors, and installation, all to send a message that, apparently, being a random person with no discernible achievements is now worthy of public display. Meanwhile, the statues that were actually celebrating people who did stuff—like founding fathers, generals, and war heroes—are being torn down faster than you can say "cancel culture." Why? Because apparently, if you did anything that wasn’t perfectly politically correct by 2025 standards, your legacy doesn’t matter. But if you held a phone and looked annoyed, congratulations, you’re a national icon!
Now, let's talk about these specific statues of Black women. I have nothing against celebrating Black women. In fact, there are countless Black women who have done incredible things worth celebrating. But these statues? These are caricatures. Big, body-positive women standing around doing nothing, looking like they just stepped off a TikTok rant about how oppressed they are. It’s insulting—not just to Black women, but to Black people as a whole. It screams, "This is what we think of you: angry, unproductive, and oversized."
And for what? To raise awareness? Oh, please. Awareness without action is as pointless as a statue of a woman holding a phone. If they really want to uplift Black women, why not build a monument to someone who’s actually achieved something? A scientist. An entrepreneur. A politician. A mother who raised five kids to stay out of trouble and get college degrees. But no, let’s just build statues of people who look oppressed so everyone can feel good about how woke they are.
What a joke. What a waste. What a monumental failure.
And before anyone says it, no, this isn’t about being anti-Black. It’s about being anti-stupid. We’re living in a time when people are more concerned with virtue signaling than with actual virtue. And these statues are the perfect example: giant, hollow, and utterly pointless.
