A happy 4th of July weekend to everyone, and I hope you are all with family in this holiday and staying healthy.
The news keeps on coming faster than I can keep up with it.
The city of Richmond, I am sorry to say, has removed the statue of General Stonewall Jackson. At least it was properly removed and not torn down and desecrated. Like New Orleans, Richmond seems hell-bent to rid itself of its history, one of the chief reasons why people visit.
Up North the city of Boston will be removing the Emancipation Statue of Lincoln and a freed slave, a copy of the one in Washington. Fortunately the Washington statue is Federal property and the president has pledged to defend it and other National statues, and prosecute anyone attempting to deface or destroy them. True to his word the “ringleader” of the attack on the Andrew Jackson statue has been arrested. Jason Charter has been accused of masterminding the attacks on the statues of both Jackson and Confederate General Albert Pike. At present Trump seems to be the only one who is willing to stand up to the mob.
Meanwhile in the far West a mob has torched an elk statue—obviously a Confederate spy—in downtown Portland. Seriously, it just shows that once you permit this sort of mindless destruction, there is no end to it.
So far as I am aware no Democratic congressional figure has issued any kind of outright condemnation of this kind of behavior. Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has allowed that statues of Washington, Jefferson, and even Columbus should be “protected” although he doesn’t say what measures the government should use. Too often we’ve seen politicians issue tepid statements like this, then let the mob do their dirty work.
Speaking of Columbus, last night a mob pulled down a statue of him in Baltimore and threw it into the harbor while the cops stood by and watched.
Democratic Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young said:
“We understand the dynamics that are playing out in Baltimore are part of a national narrative. We understand the frustrations. What the city wants to do is serve as a national model, particularly with how we’ve done with protesting. We’ve seen people who have taken to the streets, we have supported them. We are going to continue to support it. That’s a full stop.”
Apparently their national model includes outright vandalism. Protesters have demanded “removal of all statues honoring white supremacists, owners of enslaved people, perpetrators of genocide, and colonizers.” The Confederates? They left long ago.
Even Frederick Douglass isn’t safe.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I’d really rather be writing about something else.
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