We believe it was June when there were statues being torn down or vandalized every day: Some, like Thomas Jefferson and Ulysses S. Grant, were toppled by vandals, while others were taken down by cities, such as the Christopher Columbus statue in Philadelphia.
One target that managed to escape toppling despite the best efforts of activists was the Emancipation Memorial in Washington, D.C., showing a freed slave rising up from bondage in front of Abraham Lincoln — too many thought it looked like the slave was kneeling before Lincoln, so it had to go. That led to screaming from young white activists who didn’t understand why some blacks didn’t want their “help” in toppling a memorial paid for by freed slaves.
As we said, that memorial managed to stay up, but Boston is removing its copy of the Emancipation Memorial that has been in the city since 1879, making residents and visitors alike “uncomfortable.”
Statue of slave kneeling before Lincoln is removed in Boston https://t.co/3CFR9lAoQO pic.twitter.com/28Q3kBa5hp
— New York Post (@nypost) December 29, 2020
The New York Post reports:
More than 12,000 people had signed a petition demanding the statue’s removal and Boston’s public arts commission voted unanimously to take it down. The statue was to be placed in storage until the city decides whether to display it in a museum.
“The decision for removal acknowledged the statue’s role in perpetuating harmful prejudices and obscuring the role of Black Americans in shaping the nation’s freedoms,” the commission said in a statement posted on its website.
The memorial had been on Boston’s radar at least since 2018, when it launched a comprehensive review of whether public sculptures, monuments and other artworks reflected the city’s diversity and didn’t offend communities of color. The arts commission said it was paying extra attention to works with “problematic histories.”
As Twitchy has reported, a committee has already made its recommendations for statues and memorials in Washington, D.C., that need to be removed, relocated, or “contextualized.” (That is, if the Washington Monument is too big to relocate, they can at least put up a plaque acknowledging that he owned slaves.)
For what it’s worth, Joe Biden said in June that statues of Washington and Columbus were OK.
Look at the statue. Really look at it.
The position of the ex-slave, the expression on his face…there is nothing in this that suggests he's kneeling to Lincoln.
That you think he is says a lot about you, none of it flattering.
— Lady ????????? Purrl (@AmericanPurrl) December 29, 2020
The slave wasn't kneeling, he was rising up out of oppression you ridiculous, pathetic wastes of oxygen.
— Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) December 29, 2020
He's rising, you ignorant jackanapes.
— Brian Guy (@ItsThatBriGuy) December 30, 2020
The statue was created and was paid by those that were once slaves because they wanted to represent the historic moment in which they were emancipated, freed to live their own lives in this amazing country. It’s never bad to open a history book.
— Finn (@F_inn_t) December 29, 2020
He isn’t kneeling, he’s RISING UP!
God, this country has gone insane.
— Karma-lized Onions (@ygogdbop) December 29, 2020
He is rising from being enslaved. His chains are broken. You are broken.
— Rob from Jersey (@Robsgymnasium) December 29, 2020
He is rising from his chains to being free but yes, let’s remove it.
— Sue M. LaShomb (@Lavendar77) December 29, 2020
Once it's declared that some people "perceive" him to be kneeling before Lincoln, that's all that matters. Their hurt feelings are more important than the facts.
— “Dr.” The Monster (@SumErgoMonstro) December 29, 2020
The statue of a slave breaking his chains and becoming a free man is removed in Boston.
— CB ? (@rittermitfahrer) December 29, 2020
Somebody felt sad. Now they don’t. On to the next statue.
— Treppenwitz (@ribbitz_croak) December 30, 2020
History is cancelled. It will be re-written then repeated.
— jhow4now (@JHow505) December 30, 2020
We’d thought the toppling statues fad had faded, but it looks like Boston’s keeping it alive.
Related:
‘Who paid for it?’ Here’s another young hysterical white woman screaming at a black man who doesn’t appreciate her ‘help’ with the Emancipation Monument https://t.co/BT23bACzYq
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 27, 2020
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