Portland protesters knock down Roosevelt, Lincoln statues in 'rage' toward Columbus Day

[sarisataka]

Portland protesters knock down Roosevelt, Lincoln statues in 'rage' toward Columbus Day

Protesters overturned statues of former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday night in a declaration of “rage” toward Columbus Day.

Protest organizers dubbed the event “Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage,” in response to Monday’s federal holiday named after 15th-century Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, a polarizing figure who Native American advocates have said spurred centuries of genocide against indigenous populations in the Americas.

The group threw chains around Roosevelt’s statue, officially titled “Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider.” They threw red paint on the monument and began using a blowtorch on the statue’s base, news outlets reported.

The crowd pulled down the statue just before 9 p.m. The group later turned their attention toward Lincoln’s statue, pulling it down about eight minutes later. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/10/12/columbus-day-protest-roosevelt-lincoln-statues-portland-toppled/5965214002/

Are these steps towards achieving equality and providing some remedy for oppression or are they diversions which are making arrival at the goal more distant and arduous?

[PTWB]

1. Is it any wonder that the idolization of white men is a sore subject?

[Walleye]

2. Who the fuck are these people

[Hekate]

3. This is wrong

[cwydro]

10. Agree.

Whoever is doing this doesn’t want Biden to win.

[DonaldsRump]

4. The "protesters" are all masked

Who knows who actually did it.

I don't know that many people of color raging at Abraham Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt. In fact, come to think of it, I know zero.

[maxsolomon]

17. Do you blame them for masking?

1. it's necessary for Covid safety. when I marched in the BLM protests, I masked 100% of the time.

2. masking protects you against Doxxing. RWNJ harass anyone who dares speak up against Crypto-Fascism, or any number of topics, threatening them at their home, making their lives living hell. Review what happened to the Newtown parents who took on Alex Jones' flying monkeys asserting that their children's deaths were faked.

3. look what happened to Michael Reinoehl. 50 bullets pumped in him the day after he identifies himself and claims self-defense against a known Proud Boy brawler. Summary execution by US Marshals (actually local police). Never got the chance to make his case in court, never got to become a martyr for the cause like Kyle Rittenhouse has, not many on DU even know his name, let alone mourn his fate.

[DonaldsRump]

18. Who said I blamed them for masking?

The point of my post was that no one knows who these "protesters" were because of the masks.

[maxsolomon]

19. I was asking if you did. It appears you don't.

I note that protestors who get arrested become known.

[DonaldsRump]

20. Assuming they get arrested.

[bigtree]

5. who cares? It has nothing to do with anything you wrote.

...it's some idiots knocking down statues, not a political platform.

It was more than likely white supremacists trying to associate legitimate BLM protests with their boogoloo boy prank to bring to the internet and pretend it's a thing.

[CentralMass]

7. The precedent in Portland would suggest otherwise.

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/protesters-meet-under-burnside-bridge/283-977d7710-a41a-4fde-9f9a-86a5b2e85bc6
"as protesters topple statues, break windows in downtown Portland
A social media post announcing the event called for an end of colonialism and the abolishment of police."

[LanternWaste]

21. You inaccurately conflate 'suggest' and 'infer'

The two words have wholly separate meanings. Especially in this context.

[lunasun]

8. It depends on what history is wanted .Lincoln hung38 Dakota . The arguement is always he could

have hung more so that’s not bad

Anyway here is music from the event

Link to tweet

?s=21

[The Mouth]

9. Assholes

Probably Proud Boys or some other agitators. Fucking scum.

[JHB]

11. This smacks of groups that mainly want an excuse to tear stuff up...

Not anybody who's actually making a political statement.

[maxsolomon]

12. Iconoclastic Portland. It's not the Proud Boys.

Both TR & Lincoln did great things. They also did not-very-great things that make their memorialization problematic. As old white Bourgeoise, we see the gray areas in some of our sacred cows. Others don't want to tolerate those gray areas any longer - Roosevelt's profligate trophy hunting, for instance.

The protests in Portland have morphed and left most of us nice Liberals far behind. Without a spokesperson, their message and intent is unclear, but any spokesperson would instantly become a magnet for the police, the RWNM and paramilitary terror that is a real threat in Portland.

It's this last one that has pushed the protestors towards anonymity and ever-more-extreme judgements on how White Power has immortalized itself.

[dustyscamp]

13. President Biden is going to have to deal with these guys some day

[maxsolomon]

16. Meh, probably not.

It's EXTREMELY localized: one smallish city in one state in one region.

If there was an end to qualified immunity for police and actual consequences for killing people unnecessarily, these protests would dissipate.

They'll probably dissipate under a President Biden, regardless. They have everywhere else.

[Crunchy Frog]

14. Time to throw the book at them.

These people are no friends to our side.

[GulfCoast66]

15. We need to realize Anarchists are not our friends.

They hate the system. Democrats and Republicans.

And most are young white folks.

They should be tried for any crimes they commit.

And this is not new in the Pacific NW. They will be just happy to pull this shit when we have a president Biden.

[cwydro]

23. Yup.

This.

[Calculating]

22. These guys aren't progressives

They're basically just violent anarchists who want to see the world burn. The progressive movement needs to stay as far away as possible from them.

[tman]

24. Trumps sends his thanks to these clowns.