Duke University Dumps confederate Statue

Happening all over the country now – in no small part because of the Chumph’s blessing of racist neo-Nazis.

 

Charlottesville Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy Speaks Out

Charlottesville is getting ready to become a lot less tolerant of neo-confederate and racist groups.

They want to make a point, don’t move the statue, hand out some sledgehammers and let the people of the city take it down the way folks around the world, including in Germany and Iraq have taken down the monuments and artifacts of dictators…One small piece at a time.

 

Jeff Davis Goes Down (Again) In New Orleans

Taking out the trash, and putting it where it belongs…On the trash-heap of history.

Workers Take Jefferson Davis Statue Off Its Pedestal In New Orleans

More apropos would have been the rope around its neck

Workers in New Orleans dismantled the city’s Jefferson Davis monument early Thursday, removing a prominent statue of the Confederate leader that had stood for more than 100 years.

“This historic moment is an opportunity to join together as one city and redefine our future,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu said as he announced that crews had begun removing the statue, the second of four planned removals of four Confederacy-related monuments.

As workers slung a strap around the statue’s waist and lifted it off its pedestal, “at least 100 people cheered from across the street, outnumbering the few dozen protesters, some waving Confederate flags,” member station WWNO’s Laine Kaplan-Levenson reports.

“We would have preferred it to be in the daytime,” monument opponent Malcolm Suber told Kaplan-Levenson, “so everybody could see it in the light of day. But we’ll take this.”

 

Dead Confederate Memorials, and Living Bigots

The Southern Myth is rapidly imploding, with everything from Universities to Counties and States seeking to remove symbols of confederate racism and slavery…

University Removes Jefferson Davis Statue

Jefferson Davis (FINALLY) being carted off to a dustbin in a museum at UT Austin

A statue of Jefferson Davis was removed from its pedestal Sunday on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, days after a court rejected an appeal from a Confederate heritage group.

Crews were seen removing the statue of the Confederate president from its place near the university’s iconic clock tower.

Davis’ statue will eventually be displayed in the Briscoe Center history museum on campus, which university officials said is a more appropriate place for it. The Briscoe Center has one of the nation’s largest archives on slavery.

The statue has been a target of vandalism as well as criticism that it is a symbol of racism and discrimination. Confederate symbols nationwide are being re-considered following the recent mass shooting of members of a black church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Yale Has A College Named After A Racist, But That Might Change

Yale University’s leaders on Saturday urged a campus conversation about whether to change the name of a residential college named for 19th century alumnus John C. Calhoun, a U.S. vice president and senator from South Carolina who was an ardent supporter of slavery.

Debate over the name began this summer with a petition circulated after nine black worshippers were slain in a Charleston, South Carolina, church. The petition said the Calhoun name, in place since the 1930s, represents “an indifference to centuries of pain and suffering among the black population.”

President Peter Salovey and Dean Jonathan Holloway said in a letter to alumni that weren’t taking a position on the question but urging a discussion in welcoming speeches to first-year students, and “we encourage you to take part as well.”

“Any response should engage the entire community in a thoughtful, campus-wide conversation about the university’s history, the reasons why we remember or honor individuals, and whether historical narratives should be altered when they are disturbing,” the letter said.

Salovey and Holloway posted their remarks to the students on the university’s website, along with suggested scholarly readings and an internal comment site.

And -It appears there may be still a ways to go in getting the living bigots out of positions of responsibility…

Teacher Was Fired After School Found Out She Was With Black Man: Suit

A white Florida teacher claims she was discriminated against for having a black boyfriend and associating with black staff members.

A lawsuit filed by former Edgewater High School math teacher Audrey Dudek against Orange County Public Schools last week alleges that she was fired in 2013 after school administrators found out she was dating a black man, to whom she is now married.

A copy of the lawsuit obtained by WESH says that at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, principal Michelle Erickson learned that Dudek’s boyfriend was black.

“Upon encountering Dudek with her boyfriend, Principal Erickson appeared shocked and offended,” the lawsuit said. “After that encounter, Principal Erickson treated Dudek differently.”

The lawsuit also claims that on another occasion, then-vice principal Anthony Serianni berated Dudek until she cried. When Dudek confided in a black security guard after the incident, Serianni allegedly complained about the teacher being associated with “those” people, referring to black staff members.

Dudek also says that during a talent show, school staff members, including Erickson and Serianni, took part in a racist skit in which staff wore “black face,” “weave hair extensions” and gold teeth in a “pejorative display of ‘black’ culture.”

Dudek was fired in 2013 on the basis of her race, gender and who she associated with, the lawsuit alleges.

A representative for the Orange County school district could not immediately be reached for comment. But in a statement sent to the Orlando Sentinel, the district said Dudek was not discriminated against.

“The district denies all allegations of discrimination by Ms. Dudek,” spokeswoman Shari Bobinski said in an email. “The district will not comment any further due to pending litigation.”…

 

Thief Tries to Snatch Raygun Statue

Some years ago there was an effort by the Rethugs to put Raygun’s mug on the $50 bill. Even they apparently figured out that was a dumb idea.

About a week ago, a non-profit which exists to put Raygun’s name on everything from baby wipes to tollway outhouses unveiled two new 10′ bronze statues, one in Newport Beach California, and the other disgracing our National Airport.

After the theft of a bronze church bell in San Francisco a few weeks ago, with the price or bronze scrap today – this ought to be fun!

Next Time might I suggest borrowing one of those tow trucks… And, not that I’m suggesting anything but… I just happen to know where there is an even bigger statute…

A Leaning Raygun - After an Unsucessful Attempt by a Thief to Make off With the Statue worth $60,000 Melted down

Ronald Reagan statue in Calif. park vandalized

A bronze statue of former President Ronald Reagan was vandalized early Sunday, according to officials.

 

National Disgrace

Back in the late 1990’s when Republicans were on their first disastrous campaign controlling Congress and setting the foundation for economic collapse, they bastardized the name of our National Airport between orgasms sniffing every little blue dress in town.

The so called Captains of returning authority to the States and local authorities used the very same Federal Government authority they constantly bemoan,  to jam the name of their hero, Ronald Raygun down the collective throats of the local citizenry and governments and affix it to our National Airport.

Many locals still refuse to use Raygun’s name when referring to the airport, preferring instead to use it’s real name – National Airport. You want to go to Reagan Airport – then you are on your way to Orange County, California.

Well, with the unveiling of yet another affront to the local citizenry – if you are flying with Fido, at least he has a better place to relieve himself than one of the local hydrants before being packed away for the long flight.

The New Doggie Pit Stop at National Airport

Reagan Statue Unveiled at Namesake Airport Near DC

The 18 million passengers who travel in and out of the nation’s capital through Reagan National Airport each year will now be greeted by a 9-foot tall, nearly $1 million bronze statue of the former president that was unveiled Tuesday.

The statue is the fourth dedicated this year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, which operates his presidential library. Tuesday’s unveiling also gave travelers an opportunity to revisit the dormant debate over whether Reagan was worthy of having his name put on the airport that had long been known simply as “National.”

Many D.C.-area residents resented the change when it was approved by Congress in 1998, and it seems the passage of 13 years has done little to soften people’s opinions.

“I’ve never understood the people who feel he’s such a beloved figure,” said Kathleen Meehan of Madison, Wis., as she waited for her flight. “My daughter refuses to call it ‘Reagan.'” The only thing Meehan gave Reagan credit for was “the destruction of the middle class.”

Jessica Denson of Washington said she continues to refer to it as “National.” Her travel partner, New Orleans resident Terry Scott, agreed.

“It’s crazy that they salivate over this guy like he was an angel. What’s next, canonization?” Scott asked. “It’s like John Wayne airport (in California). I won’t use John Wayne.”

But Carol Ole, who was headed back to Atlanta after watching her nephew run the Marine Corps Marathon, was thrilled to see the statue being unveiled.

“I love it. I’m a real conservative,” she said…

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority also spent about $80,000 on site preparations.

 

Some Issues With Martin Luther King Memorial Surface

Taking a few words at their meaning, out of context with the events, or in some cases hundreds of words surrounding them is a recipe for disaster. In particular, the Rev. Martin Luther King, whose speeches and collective will driven by the righteousness of our cause shook our national psyche to it’s very foundations, left us with a number or speeches and written words left us with a number of “quotable moments” which cannot be distilled without context.

My parents, being educators collected a number of King’s Speeches and much of his oratory on old 33 1/3 RPM records allowing us to go back and review and rehear his speeches, discussions, and debates again and again. I would guess that well North of several thousand published works document the Civil Rights period, making it, WWII, and the Great Depression the most documented and detailed events of the past century.

So it is a little distressing when they get it wrong on the Memorial…

At King ceremony, a chance to bend toward justice

 

The arc of a mistake is long, and it now stretches from the Oval Office over to the Mall.

An error has been etched in marble on the grand Martin Luther King Jr. memorial that was to be dedicated Sunday, on the 48th anniversary of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Some of King’s speeches and writings have been inscribed in the memorial. But one of the sayings on the wall by the Tidal Basin is incorrect — or incomplete — in its attribution.

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

According to David Remnick’s biography of Obama, that is the president’s “favorite quotation.” Obama brought the idea back into present-day parlance and even had it sewn into the rug in the Oval Office when he redecorated last year. But as I wrote on this page last September, King is not the source of that quote.

 

St. Louis Erects Statue Honoring Chuck Berry

He Could Play a Guitar Like Ringing a Bell….

Hail! Hail! Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry in his signature cap and tie.

The image is timeless Americana: Chuck Berry hunched over, ready to launch into his famous Duck Walk, picking his Gibson guitar and wailing a song.

It’s the image captured in the statue of the man considered by many to be the father of rock and roll, dedicated Friday in the University City Loop area of suburban St. Louis.

Mr. Berry, now 84, still performs monthly at Blueberry Hill, a club and restaurant across the street from the new statue. He spoke only briefly at the dedication ceremony on a sweltering day as hundreds paid tribute to the St. Louis native.

“I don’t know how to speak – I can sing a little bit,” Mr. Berry, wearing his signature captain’s hat and bolo tie, said after thanking people for braving the heat to come out. “I’m going to say thank you again, and I love you all.”