Said Paris Somerville-Cox, 35, quoted in "Protesters transformed Richmond’s Robert E. Lee memorial. Now they mourn the loss of their most powerful icon of resistance" (WaPo).
They're talking about the empty plinth. They got the statue of Robert E. Lee removed, but now they miss this meaningful space, the place where they protested.
“That space has a lot of meaning to it,” said Princess Blanding, who became an activist and third-party gubernatorial candidate after her brother, teacher Marcus David Peters, was killed by Richmond police during a mental health crisis. “By removing that pedestal,” she said, “it’s a way of completely erasing it and making it as if none of that ever happened.”...
“This was our altar space. This was where we came to be together and do the uprising, you know?” said Lil Lamberta, 40....
“I’m glad the pedestal is coming down,” said Janice Hall Nuckolls, whose home looks out at the site. “As important as the base is to people of the [Black Lives Matter] movement, it is also a lighting rod for other people that are offended by the hateful and profane graffiti. The statue is gone. The novelty has worn off. The base just looks tired and bit of an eyesore now.”.
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A teacher with a "mental health crisis?" Whoda thunk?
"The base just looks tired and bit of an eyesore now."
Bent on erasing history, leftism necessarily produces eyesores. But they are not the worst of it.
Where do they go now to get the virtuous high of perpetually marching across the Pettis Bridge?
"Protesters transformed Richmond’s Robert E. Lee memorial. Now they mourn the loss of their most powerful icon of resistance" (WaPo).
Resistance to what? Society bends over backwards to coddle these children.
Think about the sentence these people are strenuously avoiding speaking, or even thinking:
"These protests gave our lives a meaning that had been lacking. Now that we got what we wanted, our lives have no meaning any more."
That's why no amount of concessions will ever be enough, and why this protest movement will eventually eat its own. Because the object of the protests is meaning for the protestors' lives. To succeed is to lose the motivation to live.
And that's the real thing that makes them feel 'unsafe,' not some statue of Robert E. Lee.
There was never a statue of Robert E. Lee there.
The base looked disgusting. Hideous propaganda.
"it is also a lighting rod for other people that are offended by the hateful and profane graffiti."
Let it stay, as a monument to the spirit behind this movement.
It's not about righting past wrongs. It's not about sticking up for the historically oppressed. It's about hate, a hate that congratulates itself because its motives are pure.
“it’s a way of completely erasing it and making it as if none of that ever happened.”
Funny, that's exactly what I think about trying to expunge all the ugly parts of our history.
The removal of history/ Leftists cheer.
These are destroyers.
They create nothing for anyone. They do nothing but destroy and bring misery to others.
Then they occupy the things they destroyed and demand that you pay them obeisance.
They should join all of the public school administrators on a rocket to the sun.
I remember character Princess Blanding in PGWodehouse - Jeeves - Wooster books
did Princess Blanding make it on to TV show?
Unintended consequences.
Please get on with your life and stop looking backwards and blaming other people for your own problems. Robert E. Lee is not the cause of black on black crime, the drug epidemic in the black community, 70% of babies born out-of-wedlock, school drop out rate, etc. etc. The Civil War was over a long time ago and everyone connected with it is dead, black and white, north, and south. So, move on and try to get over that period in history. Immigrants come to the is country risking their lives with nothing but a change of clothes, not speaking the language, not knowing our customs. Completely, starting from scratch. This includes blacks from the Caribbean islands and Africa. However, many manage within one generation to have children graduate college go on to have successful lives and contribute to this country. The Black “Community” has got to get it’s shit together and stop looking back for scapegoats and start looking forward in order to advance themselves. Destroying statues might make give you a temporary feeling of accomplishment but what then? Enough destruction in the name of “equity.”
So many lost, empty women. Soon they can pivot to demanding new rights to have abortions.
I hope somebody burns it down. Why let Regressive progressives have ANYTHING. I hope everything they love gets burned down, so they can see how the rest of America feels about them making their feelings known. Karma is coming baby.
"The base just looks tired and bit of an eyesore now.”
This is pretty much the signature of BLM/Antifa and any other 'progressive' takeover of once nice areas, isn't it? If this isn't the signature of Antifa, what is?
It's as if retconning the past benefits no one and hurts everyone.
All your base are not belong to us.
-Loren
When you base your life on destroying what others hold important, you get what you wanted, and then have to go back the the empty, pathetic life that made you hate in the first place. Lol. I hope these people lead the soulless, persecuted, empty lives they wished for everyone not like them. May they turn on each other one by one.
"There was never a statue of Robert E. Lee there."
Is this some kind of Zen koan?
I don't get it.
From his office in the Kremlin, Stalin could see St. Stephen's Cathedral. Stalin's religious feelings were directed more towards Lenin and the Bolshevik state than towards God. He ordered the cathedral torn down. The original plan was to erect a six hundred foot tall statue of Lenin on the site, but WWII interfered with the project....The Cathedral had been constructed to celebrate Russia's victory over Napoleon so perhaps this was God's way of putting it to Stalin. Anyway, the site remained a vacant hole for a number of years. After the war they made it into the world's largest outdoor swimming pool. When God gives you negative space, then make a swimming pool out of it. After the fall of the Soviet union, they finally reconstructed the Cathedral on the site......Maybe some day, they can put up another statue of Robert E. Lee. In such a way would we know that the Civil War is finally over. Til then, perhaps they can use the plinth as part of a handball court.
It is hard to protest a statue that is no longer there. No one will know what brave and wonderful people they were to stand up to a curved piece of stone. Oh how the stone must have trembled at their power, but that's all gone now. It's like it never happened. Perhaps they should erect another statue to commemorate the tearing down the original one.
My alter is in my church (or Kirk as my Scots grandmother called it). While some of my church's teachings might be somewhat controversial (ELCA) including to me, it is not performative theatre. Our public outreach is community movie nights, Wednesday community dinners, and food and rent assistance to local families. Which surprisingly doesn't bring news crews or loss of our having a purpose. I live in a red county, though, so that might be part of it.
Boo-hoo. Poor little peoples got the sads.
Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.
Lee helped to pacify the Confederacy and reunite the nation. There are lessons to be learned from the reconciliation of North and South.
"There was never a statue of Robert E. Lee there."
Ann Althouse: "Is this some kind of Zen koan?
I don't get it."
Probably a "turnabout is fair play" thing.
You know, antifa doesn't exist and is only a myth, there were no riots in 2020, crime is not increasing in Soros-DA land, there is no inflation, no Americans who wanted to leave were left behind in Afghanistan, HUnter's laptop is russian disinformation, the wuhan lab virus didn't originate at the Wuhan viral lab, biden is perfectly fine, why do you ask?, etc etc etc
Can Of Cheese for Hunter: "The removal of history/ Leftists cheer."
Leftists are all about Year Zero's.
But only everywhere.
Can't they put up a statue of George Floyd? Or a black fist of rage?
Kevin: "There was never a statue of Robert E. Lee there."
Althouse: "Is this some kind of Zen koan?
I don't get it."
I can't speak for Kevin, but "there was never a statue of Robert E. Lee there" sounds like what Orwell described in 1984. Once a statue or any record was gone, it was never there to begin with. You must forget the act of forgetting, until there's nothing left.
Having said that, a base/pedestal with empty space above it reminds me of John Cafe's 4'33". And Cage was a Buddhist, if I recall.
"There was never a statue of REL there."
I take that as a prediction of the next stage of historical hygienics. Our hometown hero-villain Forrest's statue was removed a few years ago, and this summer the remains were removed and the base demolished. A fool made a public spectacle of himself during the process, and got 15 minutes of local notice--he was a 'volunteer' on the wrecking crew and should have been nowhere near. (The fool was a redneck fool.)
A local politician/undertaker of historical bent supervised, with the county historian, family, and SCV members there, the whole thing filmed.
The Forrests were reinterred at the SCV Museum--there was some media coverage but it was a pretty low-key affair FOR.
Let the forgetting commence!
The city should put up a parking lot.
Maybe they can dig a hole to China to get rid of the ground beneath it...
'Is this some kind of Zen koan?
I don't get it.'
These are not the droids you're looking for...
Well, of course he’s right. There was never a statue of REL there.
I'm not sure how black folks survived that Lee statue for 100 years. It sure took them a long time to care about. Guess they're slow to anger. Next up: Destroying the Jefferson memorial and then on to the Washington memorial.
The Black “Community” has got to get it’s shit together and stop looking back for scapegoats
This is not black people... people of black (i.e. diversity class) is a political myth. This is activists for hire, advocates of a handmade tales, non-profits for profit, corporations with a plank, and Democrats for leverage. This is white on white, black on black, and gray violence.
That said, religion (i.e. [voluntary] behavioral protocol) for people capable of self-moderation, competing interests to mitigate progress of others running amuck. People... persons will need to choose.
"Its 40-foot stone pedestal was transformed by graffiti into an icon of protest and resistance, recognized around the world."
Recognized around the world by whom? WaPo and NYT readers flying on business or on vacations?
I have a feeling that if WaPo were interested in pursuing a more representative conversation with people in the neighborhood, rather than focusing on activists and artists, it might discover that many, if not most, of the people actually in the neighborhood would talk about how the pedestal was "transformed" into an icon of public disorder, declining safety, and neighborhood decay.
Activists and artists come into the neighborhood, perform for the cameras, and leave. The activists and artists are sad to lose a media-friendly stage. The locals may be happy to get their neighborhood back.
There was never a statue of Robert E. Lee there.
That's right. When activists parade, there is only a mallet, a machete, a guillotine, a scalpel to clear a "burden".
Lee helped to pacify the Confederacy and reunite the nation. There are lessons to be learned from the reconciliation of North and South.
Yes, while in retrospect, he backed a community divided between taking one step forward and two steps backward, to his credit, his acceptance of defeat signaled the mitigation of a progressive conflict.
a statue of George Floyd? Or a black fist of rage?
A Fentanyl pill, a PP logo, a Rainbow, perhaps a necklace, or a scalpel. Some, Select [Black] Lives Matter.
Nikolai Yezhov,
Narayanan said
I remember character Princess Blanding in PGWodehouse - Jeeves - Wooster books.
No, that was the Empress of Blandings, Lord Emmsworth's prize pig.
On another note, I have concluded that women named Princess and Precious always seem to never live up to their names.
Lesson From History:
People who tear down statues are never the good guys.
I understand the Taliban feels the same way about those huge Buddha statues they demolished..
"Barbarian's Remorse", I think it's called.
What might they do to images of Joe Biden, who was "mentored"< (Joe's own words), by the KKK's Exalted Cyclops?
Ann: you need a "Human IQ Getting Lower" tag.
"There was never a statue of Robert E. Lee there."
Is this some kind of Zen koan?
I don't get it.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute.
“History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
-- Orwell, 1984
Salt the soil left behind, put up a razor-wire topped 12' high fence around the area, and keep it forever as a testament to the accomplishments of the leftist mob and local government useful idiots. In a decade or three, put up a statue to whoever leads the winners in the next Civil War.
Ann Althouse said...
"Is this some kind of Zen koan?
I don't get it."
Narr was close.
We have always been at war with Eastasia.
You,
You did not hear,
No young girl cryin'.
You did not hear no young girl cryin'
At all.
"The base just looks tired and bit of an eyesore now."
And an empty plinth is the least of it. When you get a political movement that's determined to destroy everything that's not perfect (which is everything), and if it's at all successful, before long there's nothing left but rubble.
That, and an intolerant hagiocracy that was pretty good at destroying all with its purifying fire, but not so good at building anything.
The empty space will remain as the most eloquent form of expression of their intellectual and moral vacuity.
It is required that our understanding of every dead human being be reduced only to his or her flaws as understood through the lens of the moment. This is essential because it makes us feel better about ourselves. Murdering the memory of our ancestors is such wonderful sport.
Oh, the poor darlings, they don't get a monument to their triumph. Well, la dee da.
Althouse said:
" 'There was never a statue of Robert E. Lee there.'
"Is this some kind of Zen koan?
"I don't get it."
We have always been at war with EastAsia.
Blogger rcocean said...
"I'm not sure how black folks survived that Lee statue for 100 years. It sure took them a long time to care about. Guess they're slow to anger. Next up: Destroying the Jefferson memorial and then on to the Washington memorial."
And then the Lincoln memorial. Racist muthafuckah finally get what's comin' to him.
This may the first case of pedestal appropriation on record.
Holy cannoli.
The empty space is a metaphor for the empty lives of these garbage people.
Chamberlin rock is looking for a plinth.
That pedastal served as a corporal in the Army of Northern Virginia, so its gotta go.
Howard can explain.
And yes, the left absolutely is coming for Washington and Jefferson and Madison and all the northern founding fathers as well....including the Quakers.
I say, by all means leave the space blank and the plinth covered in graffiti. The uglier the better. This is what they wanted, yes? Then let them have it; let them live with it! But don't on any account allow them to put new artwork where the old once stood. If they try, the other side will have every right in the world to remove it just as they removed Lee.
This movement has been vicious and vacuous at once, and I for one hope the evidence is left alone long enough for everyone to realize this. I see that the Charlottesville statue of Lee isn't just being relocated or put in storage, but actually melted down to be made into some other (doubtless hideous) new artwork -- likely a nice big effigy of George Floyd. This is vile, IMO. A nice blank space on top of layers of graffiti sprawls is much more appropriate.
Liberals are never ever happy. Ever.
Maybe they could replace it with a statue of St. George and the Pregnant Lady?
The ghetto mob complains about the loss of their precious grafitti, while white folks do all the work of dismantling and preserving the historical remains.
We really aren't like them.
The Lee statue was the last Confederate statue to be taken down from Monument Avenue in Richmond. For those who never saw Monument Avenue, it was the closest thing in the United States to those beautiful European boulevards dotted with incredible sculptures. Now all that is left is a pitiful statue of Arthur Ashe. He looks as if he is beating children with a tennis racket. It’s a garbage statue. Eventually, they will fill up the rest of the Avenue with more statues. Instead of one of the loveliest streets in America, it’s going to end up as garbage. How did our Society lose the ability to make beautiful public art?
Some folks are never happy no matter what you do for them. So you might as well do nothing for them.
>>"Seeing it go is kind of sad for me."
I'll repeat my suggestion: Mount the statue on a giant spring.
If you like your statue, you can keep your statue.
But the protestors can pull it down every night, and thus their lives will have meaning.
Everybody wins.
Yancey, that's perfect.
These 35- and 40-year-old being quoted ... Do they have jobs, if do they I've in their parents' basements?
awww, the widdle babies lost their plinth. awww
ptewy
awww, the widdle babies lost their plinth. awww
ptewy
Governor Coonman is removing the pedestal in his last month in office because he is afraid that his republican successor would return the statue to the top of the pedestal.
If they had thought this through >>> Plinth could have been repurposed as Triumphal Arch
Here’s a very thoughtful article arguing that we shouldn’t make statues to honor individuals. I think Althouse would like it without necessarily agreeing.
“ Every historical figure is complicated, and some of their flaws compel people to topple monuments to them. If we stop honoring individuals, we can save ourselves such consternation. We should memorialize the principles we cherish, not the people we think we do.”
https://bitterrootmag.com/2021/03/10/building-better-monuments-albuquerque-onate-pueblo-new-mexico/
Why whine, Princess? It's on your iPhone.
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