Protesters are mounting a widening movement against statues to historical figures across the country. What began with protests of confederate statues after the Charlottesville protests has expanded to include Supreme Court justices, presidents, founders, and now explorer Christopher Columbus. In Detroit, protesters gathered around the Columbus statue to demand removal as a symbol of “white supremacy.” In Baltimore, the Columbus statue was vandalized.
Demonstrators in Detroit told media that there were no confederate statues so they chose an image that they views as “tied to a white supremacy mind-set.”
Organizers said they were unaware of any Confederate monuments in the city, so were focusing on memorials to other historical figures tied to a white supremacy mind-set.
The protesters are members of the Detroit chapter of BYP100, formerly known as the Black Youth Project 100.
The Columbus statue was erected by the Italian-American community of Detroit in 1910.
Protester Antonio Cosme is quoted as saying “He’s a central central narrative to white nationalism. He’s one of the key figures in this whole Western identity.” Yet, Columbus is also the symbol of humanity’s unbounded desire for exploration and the courage it took to transverse an unknown ocean in a wooden ship to discover new lands. That courage was magnified by the fact that many thought Columbus and his crew would simply fall off the end of the Earth.
The monument in Baltimore was vandalized, a criminal act posted on posted to YouTube on Monday by a user named “Popular Resistance.” It shows a man taking a sledgehammer to the base of the monument near Herring Run Park near a sign reading: “The future is racial and economic justice.”
The video feature the voice of a man named Ty calling Christopher Columbus a “genocidal terrorist.”
As I have discussed in the media, this ever-widening movement to destroy historical monuments is occurring without any real debate or discussion. History is really neat. Historical figures are often deeply flawed individuals who lived in violent and oppressive times. We learn from history not by destroying its images but placing them into context. These are markers that represent the evolution of our society — not just our triumphs but failures.
There is no denying Columbus’ historical significance. Millersville University professor Thomas Tirado wrote in 2000 that “It is nearly impossible to over-exaggerate the historical significance of Christopher Columbus. The ultimate expression of the Columbian Legacy has been nothing less than global in its impact.”
He is also a great pride for Italian-Americans (including my family). I remember when an old-time Italian alderman was asked in the 70s by a reporter why Chicago was still celebrating Columbus Day when it appeared that Vikings may have come to the shores before Columbus. Vito Marzullo seemed stumped and then smiled and said “When Columbus discovered American, it stayed discovered.”
What do you think?
Checking 2 sources, about 2% of arrivees at Ellis Island were turned back.
You better check a bit more broadly to understand how our immigration laws functioned in the past. First one gets permission and a visa. Then they ended up at the various places like Ellis Island. Check McCarren-Walter act.
Reblogged this on The Insomniac Libertarian.
My brother lives in a town called Middleburgh. They recently brought bake the “h” in their name. It was stripped after WWII to just Middleburg. They must be just a bunch of white supremacists.
Just read that some network has removed an Asian sports caster named Robert Lee because his name won’t offend some viewers. This is a country of whack jobs. Just go find a safe place and leave the rest of us alone.
Send them to Pullman Washington where David Benson lives. Pullman needs the diversity.
About 1 in 10 here is of Asian ancestry already.
Not good enough whitebread. They are not considered a minority class when it comes to education and other things. You live in a whitebread community and don’t know sh-t. You need diversity training.
Plenty of Latinos here.
Population excluding Hispanics and African American 93%.+
You are almost pure whitebread.
There is nothing wrong with Latinos or African Americans, but it seems you chose a place where they almost don’t exist. What is wrong with you? Are you exclusionist or white supremacist?
I hear the Statue of Liberty has gone into hiding
Yes, we certainly don’t want to take in any more huddled masses, yearning to be free…
/sarc
Wait. Who said that? Which article of the Constitution is that? Seems like the Founders limited naturalization to “…free white person(s)…” in three acts.
And how about that Alexander Hamilton, who said:
“…whatever tends to a discordant intermixture must have an injurious tendency.”
____________________________________________________________________________________
“The influx of foreigners must, therefore, tend to produce a heterogeneous compound; to change and corrupt the national spirit; to complicate and confound public opinion; to introduce foreign propensities. In the composition of society, the harmony of the ingredients is all-important, and whatever tends to a discordant intermixture must have an injurious tendency.”
– Alexander Hamilton
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How do you ever imagine America able to “…secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,…”
Isn’t it clear that those “discordant intermixture(s)” fully intend to “fundamentally transform” Americans and their history out of America…doesn’t sound at all like “assimilation” to me.
It sounds most like invasion, annihilation and conquest.
Wait. You’re kidding, right?
Here in Pullman, Washington, there are citizens from South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia as well as Europe. Not to mention the Amerindians.
We all get along fine.
David, “We all get along fine.” seems not to be true or have you not noted the behavior of Antifa and BLM? Perhaps you think of your city as seperate from the rest of the nation and a peaceful enclave kept that way….
The demographics of your wonderful place could be the demographics of a “white supremecist town” with less than 3% African American. How come there are so few African Americans in your small city? Except for that fact (perhaps the town is racist) you compare similarly to Charlottesville Va. in a livability comparison http://www.areavibes.com/compare-results/?place1=Pullman%2C%20WA&place2=Charlottesville%2C%20VA#dem . This comment has nothing to do with African Americans most of whom are good Americans, rather why you chose to live in an area that was so “white” or “non-black”.
This question is asked of you in particular because of your snark and aloofness to the problems America faces.
A lot of these Liberals seem to live removed from the realities of life with a large number of Blacks. Maybe David should move to Memphis, or New Orleans, or Baltimore, or Detroit and learn the facts of life.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Maybe David moved to the nearly non black non hispanic area because he is prejudiced and doesn’t know it. I’ve always lived in racially mixed areas and have no problems except with Liberal anarchists and people that don’t understand how to live among different people.
Great! Can we get rid of “AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PRIVILEGE” now?
And every other form of redistribution of wealth and social engineering?
Not “be free”, but breathe free. It was a poetic work, not the policy of the US. The huddled masses referred to the immigrants enterring the nation through Ellis Island and other entry points, …LEGALLY! Ellis Island officials would return those want-to-be immigrants if they did not meet the needs of the United States.
Never heard of any turnaways. Not even Mafia types…
“Never heard of any turnaways.”
Who would expect you to hear much of anything. You come from whitebread Pullman Wa.
No, I live here. I didn’t come from here.
You are n=1. That isn’t a very large sample, but you concluded from that no one is turned away. Another n=1 is turned away and concludes everyone is turned away. Who do we believe?
earl hickey – I hear they are draping it because it is triggering immigrants.