As a steward of history, Albany stumbled

In front of historic City Hall in Albany, where for the past century the statue of Major General Philip J. Schuyler of George Washington’s Continental Army stood watch, there is now a small circular bed of what appear to be tulips not yet in bloom.

Not a field of poppies exactly, but akin. The general has fallen, again. Schuyler died 220 years ago.

The seven- or nine-foot statue, depending on accounts, has been stored “at an undisclosed location’’ to await who knows what fate, but most certainly a far cry from what was intended by philanthropist-beer baron George Hawley when he commissioned it a few years after the end of the war that would end all wars as a gift to the city. Schuyler, an Albanian, was highly regarded, both in his lifetime and beyond as an ardent patriot, a significant figure in our Revolution and a masterful politician, as befits Albany.

After all, General Schuyler was staring up at the Capitol. Now who is going to keep an eye on them?

Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan has turned that gift into toxic waste. She has disrespected the historical figure, and the generosity of the statue’s sponsor. What a truly bad decision she made whimsically and unilaterally pulling down Schuyler’s statue.

This is a saga four years in the making, which is unbelievable, but at the same time quite revealing over time as to cause and intent. I’ve gotten into this fray late in the game only because I fear worse damage ahead for other statues and historic places in Albany.

Albany has one thing in abundance: history. Four hundred years of it, layers and layers and layers. So you’d think by now we would know how to handle it. The basics: Never judge historical figures or their actions by today’s attitudes or standards. If you judge them at all, do so within the context of their own times, through their eyes and words and deeds and those of their contemporaries.

Nothing far out there at all. That did not happen for Major General Schuyler, the statue.

Mayor Sheehan’ s executive order for taking down the statue is dated June 11, 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd that rightly stunned America, and ignited similar statue removals across the country. Her order stated in part, “Whereas the city’s decision to place a statue of Maj. Gen. Schuyler in front of City Hall ignored a grim aspect of his life, namely that he was reportedly the largest owner of enslaved people in Albany during his time … Whereas, Maj. Gen. Schuyler’s ownership of enslaved people is part of a broader, but often overlooked history of enslavement in New York, which had a population of more than 21,000 enslaved people during Schuyler’s lifetime; and whereas, the City of Albany is long overdue in confronting its history of racism and inequality …’’

Sheehan is reacting to the heat of the moment, and that is understandable. But she is drawing a conclusion that is grossly unfair to the historical