ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester on the anniversary of one of his most famous speeches, delivered in that city in 1852.
First time I went to Memphis, I got a cab at the airport and headed into town, to stay at the Peabody Hotel. The driver was a central-casting local. He didn’t say much to me, and made me a little nervous. As we went past the park downtown, he pointed to a statue of a guy on a horse and said “do you know who that is?”. No. “That’s a statue of General Forest”.
Oh, the guy who founded tke KKK? “Yes, that’s him. Do you know why that statue is facing South?”.
No.
“So that the horse’s ass is in the Yankee’s face…”
It was a long two minutes to the Peabody. I didn’t tip him.
“Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.”
[“Is this some type of retaliation because of the national fever over confederate monuments right now? Very disappointing, it’s beyond disappointing,” Eison told WROC.]
That’s the general idea. The “beyond” part.
I grew up in the finger lakes area. Recently I read an article about a guy who used a google functionality to do a search that produced a map of where militant racism was in this country. Alabama was one hot area. Upstate New York thru Pennsylvania into Ohio was another, comparable to Alabama. Like I say, I grew up there, and can attest to this.
I’m sure Mr. Trump will post a tweet decrying the action…
Oh. I thought he was running away from the battle.
“Is this some type of retaliation because of the national fever over confederate monuments right now?"
Really going out on a limb there.
Because he’s retreating.
I was literally just thinking this–he could tweet it as an addendum to that tweet about NASCAR from this morning to show he’s fair and balanced when it comes to protecting monuments to our heritage.
If anyone wasn’t convinced just how deep the racism runs in this country, the last few weeks should dispel those doubts.
My hope, in the next few years, is the removal of all memorials of any kind that can be attributed to the Confederacy in any way. And let’s throw in a memorial to the Underground Railroad somewhere on the Mall, like right in the middle between the Hirshhorn and the National Gallery of Art.
I wouldn’t mess with Frederick Douglass even if he is dead.
Idiocy to be certain but this is also a bit of Good for the Goose, Good for the Gander. Of course we’re outraged, but it also highlights why protests should not go about wildcat tearing down of statues as to the people Not Already Convinced, it looks and smells like hypocrisy.
The momentum is in the right direction - capitalize on it for organized, by the books removing of statues. That makes a better case - like peaceful disciplined protests versus the dumbos who did the sporadic looting.
Discipline, keep the image and the message clean. Trump will fail against that because he’s not disciplined, he’s not clean and focused in message (except the too obvious outright racism).
If I were feeling suicidal or was packing, I’d have said “Dude, he turned tail and ran at the first sign of trouble. At least he had a good sense of direction and the sense to know when he was facing a superior foe and was whooped”. I don’t think I would have ever seen those ducks had I said that, though.
Btw, first and only time I’d been to Memphis, nearly 30 years ago, I was driving around looking for Charlie Vergo’s Rendezvous, for the famous dry rub ribs, without luck. I came upon some locals, a group of African-American men who looked like they were homeless, enjoying some liquid refreshments, and asked them if they knew what it was. To which one said “Oh, you mean the white person’s joint, yeah I know where that is”.
I hope that race relations and views have improved since our visits. I doubt it, though.
“This shows that these anarchists have no bounds!” - Trump
More probable that those anarchists wear red hats, wrap themselves in flag, mask less and took down FD’s statue upon the behest of those with the R+Thugs+CONS attached to their political names!
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1280112728850513922
Those who haven’t lived in the South don’t realize how dedication to the ‘lost cause’ and loathing of the union is encultureated but this song written just after the war gives a taste:
O I’m a good old rebel,
Now that’s just what I am.
For this “fair land of freedom”
I do not care a damn.
I’m glad I fit against it,
I only wish we’d won,
And I don’t want no pardon
For anything I done.
I hates the Constitution,
This great republic too,
I hates the Freedmans’ Buro,
In uniforms of blue.
I hates the nasty eagle,
With all his braggs and fuss,
The lyin’ thievin’ Yankees,
I hates 'em wuss and wuss.
[there’s more but you get the idea]
Supposedly, after the Napoleonic Wars the Duke of Wellington went to Paris for some official reason, and was at a social event where all the French officials snubbed him. A French woman apologized, to which he replied, “It’s quite all right, Madame. I’ve seen their backs before.”
One does not need a southern accent to be a redneck.
Many of these northern racists are big Civil War buffs. Do they wish the South had won? I doubt that, but they likely take the same tack as many southerners, that the Confederate Battle Flag symbolizes our country’s heritage, pride, etc. It’s really important to always note that the secession of the South was led by traitors, that the Confederate Battle Flag symbolizes their traitorous acts, etc. They can’t deny that being a traitor is a bad thing.
Trump is going to justify the destruction of Frederick Douglas statue on the basis that living people should not be having statues in public places…
