On the same weekend in which famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass 168 years ago delivered one of his most historically resonant speeches, a statue of Douglass was toppled from its base and left near the Genesee River gorge.
Located in Maplewood Park, the statue "had been placed over the fence to the gorge and was leaning against the fence" on the river side, according to a statement from Rochester police. The statue was left about 50 feet from its pedestal.
The base and lower part of the statue was damaged, as was a finger on the statue's left hand.
I am confused; the elk clearly had it coming. When will the national news media speak out against this increasingly irrational vandalism?
At this point what we know is that the statue was broken off its pedestal and thrown over a fence, and that it is non-repairable.
ReplyDeleteWe don't know who did it nor why.
I've seen a report that "the last time" this happened it was drunken college students from St. John Fisher college who had no reason to damage that version of the statue other than that they were drunk and rowdy:
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/rochester/public-safety/2019/04/03/frederick-douglass-statue-vandals-rochester-new-york-fine-essay-sentenced-former-st-john-fisher-students
A local former NAACP chapter president is convinced it is a 'revenge' attack by those upset at the tearing down of slave-owner monuments:
https://twitter.com/CornellWBrooks/status/1280125023798386689
I think that before we assume or ascribe a motive, it may be worth seeing if any evidence turns up about who did the destruction.
this increasingly irrational vandalism
ReplyDeleteIt's not irrational. BLM and antifa want to destroy the legitimacy of the American regime itself, which is why they destroy statues of abolitionists and black patriots like Douglass that implicitly endorse that legitimacy. The left doesn't want a rapprochement between America and its black citizens, and it intends to erase any reminder that black people every desired that.
Ah, but because he didn't continue fighting against Whitey, he became a "sell-out". That's as bad as a white supremacist. Maybe worse.
ReplyDeleteMaybe unrelated to BLM, but no sillier than the other acts of vandalism against other abolitionists.
ReplyDelete