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| Some radicals want statues of Christopher Columbus torn down, claiming he symbolizes "European Conquest." |
We simply cannot judge figures from our history based upon today's lens of laws, regulations, and social norms.
Our past is one of vicious cruelty to our fellow man. It is ugly. History is what it was, not what we wish it might have been.
Yet we celebrate figures from our history--even the most flawed. Because all men are flawed, only God is perfect and we all know this.
Men that did horrible things by today's standards are memorialized with statues, bridges, monuments, highways, roads, airports, boats, and other honorary designations--based in most cases--on the totality of their contribution to our nation. We find these all over the country.
But a recent phenomenon is troubling.
Certain folks are DEMANDING some monuments come down. Others are vandalizing selected monuments. Statues are being taken down in the dead of night, memorial designations are being taken away.
Meanwhile--some historical figures that did horrible things escape all scrutiny. Why?
Other historical figures that did far less are being targeted by the "monument police" Why?
In Pensacola, it goes a little something like this......
Our bridge from Pensacola to Gulf Breeze is named the Philip D. Beall Sr. Memorial Bridge. Beall was the Florida Senate President who procured the funding for the bridge, and died in office before the bridge was completed in 1962. (He died in 1943 while his sons were fighting in WW II.)
Nobody paid attention--most locals just called the bridge the 3-Mile Bridge.
But the Beall family remained proud of this structure that carried their family name. For decades.
Fast forward to 2019 and a replacement structure is being built, and under existing FDOT protocol-the replacement structure will carry the Beall name--absent any legislative action that would re-name the bridge.
And, you guessed it, a group HAS come forward and asked that the legislature name this replacement structure for a very worthwhile historical figure, General Darniel R. "Chappie James." To do this, however, would mean the Beall designation would go away.
And for the Beall family--this is the rub. They prefer to keep their family name on the bridge because they are proud of their family. Understanding and valuing Chappie James' legacy--the Beall's have even offered to support the two families sharing a dual-designation on the new structure.
Sadly--this magnanimous overture by the Beall family is being met with open hostility and vitriolic attacks.
People are saying Senator Beall was a racist and a white Supremacist--even though he never owned slaves and nobody has presented anything at all that points to him being a "racist."
The haters hang their collective hats on legislation Beall sponsored in 1935 that made Democratic primaries "white only." But these primaries were going on all over the south and the Supreme Court decision in Grovey v. Townsend ruled that such primaries did not deprive citizens of their 14th or 15th Amendment rights.
Yes--with the luxury of history we know this was wrong, all of it. The poll taxes, the literacy tests,
white primaries, all of it. But it was party politics and comported with the rules of the day. Remember--this was the deep south in the 1930s Jim Crow era. This was the way it was. This does not, however, make this man a "white supremacist" as some simpletons are claiming now as they work desperately to remove his family's name from their one and only memorial.
The ironic thing--these same folks that "cannot abide" by the Beall name staying on that bridge said nothing over the last nearly 6 decades. Nope.
But all the sudden, now, that name has to go.
Meanwhile-- every historic, racist injustice committed by Andrew Jackson, FDR, Robert Byrd, and all the others that have monuments all over the south---apparently these are okay and all those guys' monuments can stay according to our local "monument police force."
Because this new "monument police" force are only concentrating on Philip Beall. He's the one that has to lose his monument even though juxtaposing his record against FDR, Byrd, or Jackson--Beall's record is the least offensive.
Allowing the monument police to frame history their way, condemn selected historical figures for targeting, and acting as judge, jury and executioner all in one--unchallenged--- is a steep and slippery slope. Nope, I'm not going to be one that supports whitewashing history by tearing down statues, taking down monuments, and stealing away families' memorial highway designations--on the orders of the mob. Nope.
Because as I said in the beginning--We simply cannot judge figures from our history based upon today's lens of laws, regulations, and social norms.
Our past is one of vicious cruelty to our fellow man. It is ugly. History is what it was, not what we wish it might have been.
And if we erase the history we are uncomfortable with, we might doom ourselves to repeating it as George Santayana stated in his famous quote.
10 comments:
The ones that stirred this up are sitting back laughing and taking screen shots. You can tell by the laugh emoticon who is also involved..let it go.
This is what is going on nationally.
It's not identity politics it's anti white politics. But if you say that, people will say, "you're a racist" "you're a white supremacist" lessons from post apartheid South Africa:
Whiteness-- the original sin
https://www.wnd.com/2019/02/its-not-identity-politics-its-anti-white-politics/
"Every time a manifestly racist, anti-white event goes down, which is frequently, conservative media call it “identity politics.” “The left is playing identity politics.”
Whatever is convulsing the country, it’s not identity politics. For, blacks are not being pitted against Hispanics. Hispanics are not being sicced on Asians, and Ameri-Indians aren’t being urged to attack the groups just mentioned. Rather, they’re all piling on honky. Hence, anti-white politics or animus.
The ire of the multicultural multitudes is directed exclusively at whites and their putative privilege. Anti-whitism is becoming endemic and systemic.
Take “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett. Smollett deceived the country and the Chicago Police Department about having fallen prey to a hate crime, which, it transpired, he had crudely orchestrated.
The Chicago Police Department superintendent expressed the requisite righteous indignation that a black man (Smollett) would desecrate symbols of black oppression in the process of framing innocent Others. (A noose had been purchased at Smollett’s behest.)
Nobody, Superintendent Eddie Johnson included, said sorry to the accused group, whose reputation had been sullied: “Trump supporters or white persons.”
“Trump supporters” is indeed a proxy for “white persons.” The conflation of “white” and “Trump supporter” was made, for one, by an anti-white, anti-Trump, professional agitator: Trevor Noah of the “Daily Show.” Noah is neither funny nor very bright, but he is right in this instance.
Conservatives, for their part, persist in skirting the white-animus issue. The Smollett libel fit the “progressive narrative,” they intoned. (Overuse has made the “narrative” noun a bad cliché.)
It was a right vs. left matter, insisted others."
No it is antiwhite, history denier, push legislation and eventually tear the country a part to demand money.
It is a revolution and what you are seeing used as push back just with this local bridge naming is indicative of a larger movement nationwide.
Some ran Mrs Brazelle off facebook. I hope she sues the pants off them.
It's time to fight back.
She attempted to explain things, I don't know what happened but her comments are erased. She tried to use reason but one can't reason with crazy or argue with stupid.
The Republicans were using the blacks and their votes for their own agenda. She stated Negroes mostly had less than a fifth grade education as well as the poor whites basically.
Some were uneducated and certainly not worldly-- black or white in Pensacola in 1935.
People can't face the facts that as a recently free people they were not immediately fit to deal with the complexities of what was going on in the world. On the world stage USA was between World war I and world war II in 1935. The Nazi were seizing power and the Treaty of Versailles was being disregarded. Darn tooting the 1935 Pensacolians were particular who went to senate and congress.
Most all the shallow minded people could say was "that's racists"..well so what. If that's called white supremacy then big deal. If they don't think racism and classism exists and will bite them in the butt than be stupid.
Maybe they need to learn the Democratic party is using them still now. So does the working class black or white or skittle, whatever..really want to be taxed to pay for good for nothings? An age old agenda is being stirred. How can some of the policies the Democrats spew possibly be funded by all of us? People don't realize the government IS us. They take a "I don't know they'll figure it out" when they IS us and them.
The immaturity and ignorance is on utter display. The adults are going to have to take the reins.
The self appointed monument police are racists and prejudiced.
If they tear memorials down or vandalize them are bigots.
They are fascists.
They are bad for the community.
I don't know what will happen going forward with this naming committee or how much the discussion will go off the rails but the one's screaming white supremacist and racist to the Beall family have rutted up a discussion and thought process as well a need for history lesson.
People now, especially immature, ignorant or agenda drivers actually perpetuate the race and class hierarchy by stirring up division. So maybe the record does need to be set straight going forward. True history in Black and white.
https://www.cdapress.com/archive/article-f2468660-efc2-11e5-9b74-ef2b7eee8454.html
Republicans Freed the Slaves, so now why do many African Americans vote Democrat? why is there a monolithic voting block, that they will find will be much to their own detriment in the long run?
"Not all blacks support the African-American political agenda. Critics like black church leader C.L. Bryant, a former NAACP chapter president, and self-proclaimed liberal who once supported Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson now believes Democrats today have kept African-Americans in bondage by encouraging dependency on government handouts — welfare, food stamps and other “safety net” programs — and have fanned the flames of discontent by blaming black community woes on whites and “extremist” Republicans.
He calls for a new “Underground Railroad” to liberate blacks from government entitlement programs that he says keep them perpetually dependent, and urges them to take advantage of freedoms and opportunities already won, and stop believing they are victims of oppression and injustice.
He says blacks “have not realized that we as a people have evolved, like every other ethnic group that came to this country. Even though ours was very much involuntary, we still were brought to these shores and we have been emancipated here in America. And we now have the same opportunities as anyone else.”
Taking the memorial name down to Beall certainly is the same as removing a monument. In the whole scheme of things some must be starting to align with the far left agenda to pit the races against each other, and pave the way for socialism. The excuses like Clinton is using actually sets the civil rights era back 100 years. It foments the hierarchy I thought the USA was trying to move away from. Keep memorials. Don't blackwash history. It's a ploy to pave the way for reparations and socialism to allow the censorship and rewriting the history. Perhaps the ones pushing the name change here didn't realize that, that why they should not have pushed a plan in a vacuum. Have the committee ask is that what Pensacola wants to message? Do they want to play into that agenda or be a first city like they are doing with the Bay View Cross. Stop the destructive assault on our history. It is what it is. Tell the true story.
I hope the historian you are appointing will explain how after Lincoln assassination the radical punitive Republican came and completely derailed Lincoln's initial plan to readmit the defeated states back into the union and set about trying to completely oust the past southern delegates in Washington. Some try to rewrite that it was all about the slaves. Of course it was in part but not totally.
With the Democratic hate speech resolution passed 3/7/2019..you better believe there is a revolution coming. If you are white, christian and don't bow down to the intolerant left..they may try to put you in jail, fire you, fine you.. they are heading for socialism.
what a completely hypocritical move.
They don't know history
Many don't know anything.
Note on Ricks blog he let us know S. Myers in trying to introduce an assine motion to remove the Chiply Monument. Please let the city know that we know Studer is behind some of this and that many in the county appreciate that Pensacola 1559 is now the oldest European settlement and appreciate the historical context. It is what it is.
We are proud of the heritage that Five Flags have flown over the city. We know that the Freedom Road socialists and others are pushing these ridiculous claims to erase history to set up the notion White man bad vs Black communism good.
We have a constitutional republic because it works. Let's hold on to it.
Chipley set up railroads, sure he murdered a Radical Republican. Reconstruction was tough. Learn the entire history and not go along with the guilt trip propaganda.
You all meet May 17. Don't just sit there and hope it ends quickly.
They need to honor the fact there is a restraining order on the Confederate Veterans Monument , the man with his hat in his hand. It is moving forward in the courts. Removing these monuments is asinine. Hopefully they have figured out BLM was/is a communist movement by now.
History tells us there was tremendous political upheaval after the civil war. It wasn't until after the 1900 that it became vogue, to not discuss politics at the dinner table and in polite company. A period called the great quieting.
So should we push to remove MLK bust because he was a communist and a womanizer.
No.
People are flawed human beings.. So what.
I had already told the City, the Party for Socialism and Liberation had a call to action to next go for the Chipley Monument. I told them before they took the vote to remove the Confederate Veteran memorial. I told S Myers this, she wrote back and sounded senile. Like she didn't get it. But here we are today.
one can look up PSL Florida yourself for yourself on facebook. The dream defenders and ones on the citizen committee for BLM are also socialist. They advertise it. They are also supportive of Palestine and against " Colonialism" maybe a coincidence with the infrastructure attack on fuel?
The open letters from the retired generals and admirals that can be found on scribe is spot on.
Some were right though-- the communist boot will be on their throats and they still can't see it.
Changing the Police badge does what exactly?
I see the agenda is for homelessness but how can you remain silent in the face of this?
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