Democrats want John Wayne's name, statue taken off airport

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — In the latest move to change place names in light of U.S. racial history, leaders of Orange County’s Democratic Party are pushing to drop film legend John Wayne’s name, statue and other likenesses from the county’s airport because of his racist and bigoted comments.

The Los Angeles Times reported that earlier this week, officials passed an emergency resolution condemning Wayne’s “racist and bigoted statements” made in a 1971 interview and are calling on the Orange County Board of Supervisors to drop his name, statue and other likenesses from the international airport.

The resolution asked the board “to restore its original name: Orange County Airport.”

“There have been past efforts to get this done and now we’re putting our name and our backing into this to make sure there is a name change,” said Ada Briceño, chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County.



FILE - In this undated photo, John Wayne appears during the filming of "The Horse Soldiers." In the latest move to change place names in light of U.S. racial history, leaders of Orange County’s Democratic Party are pushing to drop film legend Wayne’s name, statue and other likenesses from the county’s airport because of his racist and bigoted comments. (AP Photo, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/880ee2b8c9c02bd95ce902a5c3343b1f

[Turbineguy]

1. Well, Pilgrim,

First you'll havta convince all the right wing nut jobs that it's a good idea.

[yellowcanine]

43. No we don't. It can be done without the right wing nut jobs.

[BittyJenkins]

2. YES! Thank you. nt

[yaesu]

3. I knew he was a bit of a prick in his younger days but I thought he mellowed quite a bit

during his late movie years after cancer set in. I didn't know about that interview, some of the things he said in the 1971 Playboy interview"

“I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people,” he said.

Wayne also said that although he didn’t condone slavery: “I don’t feel guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago these people were slaves.”

The actor said he felt no remorse in the subjugation of Native Americans.

“I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. … (O)ur so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival,” he said. “There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.”

[Judi Lynn]

28. Stupid as well as selfish and greedy. Absolutely villainous remarks. Thanks for sharing them. n/t

[dalton99a]

4. "I believe in white supremacy"

“With a lot of Blacks, there’s quite a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly rightfully so,” Wayne said. “But we can’t all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the Blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the Blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.”

Later in the interview, Wayne said he didn’t feel “guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago (Black) people were slaves.” Wayne continued: “Now, I’m not condoning slavery. It’s just a fact of life, like the kid who gets infantile paralysis and has to wear braces so he can’t play football with the rest of us.”

Wayne also lamented “tokenism” in Hollywood and accused Native Americans of “selfishly trying to keep (North America) to themselves.” Wayne’s Western films, including “The Searchers,” were accused of perpetuating stereotypes about Native Americans.

Wayne furthermore blasted Communists for teaching in American public schools and the depiction of gay sex in “Midnight Cowboy,” the 1970 best picture Oscar winner. Wayne used a homophobic slur to describe the characters played by Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/29/trump-defends-john-wayne-in-airport-naming-controversy-star-praised-white-supremacy-in-1971-interview/

[Mike Nelson]

5. Wait...

...until after the election. We need to win, and win BIG.

[milestogo]

6. He's a paradigm of toxic masculinity.

[question everything]

7. I kinda remember that he hated that airport being named after him

[Wellstone ruled]

8. Lets add anoter Airport to that name change thinkee,

Macarran here in Vegas.

[demigoddess]

9. he just lost me as a fan. I liked his movies because women usually had

'strong women' roles. Not the usual wimps in movies. and his character usually supported the strong women. But apparently in real life he was a *&^%$#@

[C Moon]

11. Me too. I was never a huge fan, but I could sit and watch some of the films. But now....

I'd see him as a complete racist jerk the whole time.
I lost a lot of respect for Gary Cooper when I read about his political views, as well.

[LizBeth]

18. That would be when he spanked them? You know force down and hit them?

[StClone]

23. Wayne was also detested by Iowans serving in WWII

Tough guy ?Marion Mitchell Morrison got out of serving due to a health condition which appeared legit. Nevertheless, servicemen like my Father served as fellow Iowan Wayne ("THE DUKE" was born in Winterset, Iowa) stayed home. Wayne and his ilk "got the girls, bought the best farms and didn't risk anything" as my Dad would say.

[SharonClark]

25. My dad refused to watch John Wayne movies because

he was a right winger. I, on the other hand, enjoyed several of his westerns because he had some good directors and co-stars.

By the time Green Berets came out Dad was railing about “those phonies” John Wayne, Bob Hope, and Ronald Reagan. He wasn’t wrong.

[demigoddess]

34. It is possible that his stint as a stunt rider before he became an actor, damaged his

spine. Riding horses and doing stunts do damage the spine. When they moved the bodies of troops killed by Native Americans in a famous battle( I can't remember the name) they found out almost all of them had spines that were badly damaged and they were quite young and just rode horses. So his deferment may have been authentic, and he did do a lot of movies to keep up morale. So I forgive him that. But he did make money off of it.

[StClone]

36. Interesting, as I noted Wayne's injury was legit, but...

Native Americans served with the same injury then were killed in war! Wow.

But to reiterate, regardless, he was acting as a movie tough guy yet found around serving and many resented that. Audie Murphy, who my Father idolized got into WWII underweight, and under-aged (his sister helped fake his birth info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy ).

[demigoddess]

37. yes, I remember Audie Murphy. But then Audie Murphy had guts. Wayne was an actor.

[StClone]

41. Thanks for that, lol in my Father's name.

[C Moon]

10. This isn't a new, it's been going on for some time.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/30/john-wayne-california-airport-racism-homophobia

[MarcA]

12. Image over Reality. He made a lot of his supporters feel "supreme". n/t

[truthisfreedom]

13. That's a really tall statue.

It's gonna take a semi trailer to haul it away.

[Midnightwalk]

14. Who remembers John Wayne?

He was a has been for my lifetime. First I was too young to care and by the 70s he was some guy grown ups would talk about once in a while.

Those quotes from 71 are enough. The country is polarized, but that makes it more important to say that racist beliefs, statements or actions cannot be tolerated.

I don’t think it will change many minds in the election. People who defend his racism have probably made up their mind.

I won’t say I don’t sometimes worry that this feeds into fears pushed by white supremacists that “we’re losing our heritage”. The right answer to that is “good. It’s about time to stop being proud of racism in the past and the present”

Personally I’d change the name of National airport first. I have a long standing hatred of Reagan.

[SharonClark]

26. It will always be National Airport to me.

[forgotmylogin]

15. I sometimes wonder if they'd have more success with name changes...

Instead of saying "we're doing this because of past things this person did..." if they just said "We're updating the name to honor a new person."

It happened a lot with Broadway theaters. A lot of houses were named for people in bygone days and weren't recognizable anymore. The Uris became the Gershwin. Stephen Sondheim and Neil Simon got theaters renamed after them because they are more currently recognizable.

Maybe instead of opening the cancel-culture can of worms it should just be "We're changing the name to move into the future and honoring the achievements of someone new who can be currently appreciated."

[flibbitygiblets]

16. I've been to this airport dozens of times, never noticed his statue

until this February. It's in a weird, low-traffic area off to one side.

I wholeheartedly support just changing it back to Orange County/Santa Ana.

[LizBeth]

17. I can remember watching his movies at 5, 6, 7 and being so offended he felt he had the right to grab

a woman and roughly hold her down to hit her.

When I saw that it blew up my little world in outrage.

I didn't get it, I couldn't see it being done, it offended me so bad. And I have not watched him, or liked him since. I can even remembering turning to parents and having a conversation about how wrong it was. Now, I was also lucky to have a mom that was not only beat by her dad, but was very vocally a feminist in the 60's. She always had a look that she would give me to tell me how right on I was and proud she was I could see.

Yup. John Wayne had a major effect on me and my life views. It has also had a major effect on a lot of males lives. So differently from what I see. It is interesting.

[Evolve Dammit]

19. Another racist. Take 'em down (Dropkick Murphies). I did like True Grit though...

[Beacool]

20. Good!!!

I don't watch John Wayne movies. During the 1950s he volunteered to testify on McCarthy's House Committee on Un-American Activities. He offered to testify, he hadn't been subpoenaed. He ratted out several fellow performers and others in the business who were subsequently blackballed from working in Hollywood. He even belonged for a while to the John Birch Society. He was against civil and women's rights. When he was dying of cancer he converted to Catholicism and asked forgiveness.

[Mendocino]

21. Dalton Trumbo and John Wayne

[link:

|

[Omaha Steve]

24. Fantastic movie

[pwb]

22. John Wayne is just like pukes today.

All talk no action.

[Woodwizard]

27. Never liked his movies

As a kid I loved westerns but not ones he was in I always felt he was like a caricature of exaggerated machismo. I used to read Louis L'amour, boy those books were bad picking them up as an adult

[WhoWoodaKnew]

29. His real name is Marion Morrison.

[Wolf Frankula]

33. Call it the Marion Morrison Airport?

And put a brown stain on the seat of his pants because he always walked like he had a pants full of shit.

Wolf

[Steelrolled]

30. I guess we're making a lot of progress

Maybe we need one of those thermometer posters showing how close we are getting to ... something.

[Dave Starsky]

31. Michelle Pfeiffer Airport has a nice ring to it.

She's an entertainment hero who is non-racist and who--unlike "The Duke"--is actually FROM Orange County. (Marion was originally from Iowa.)

[TheFourthMind]

32. If Chuck D don't like you, I don't like you. n/t

[Wolf Frankula]

35. Let's Rename it Jimmy Stewart Airport

Stewart fought in WW2 and finished out a brigadier general.

Wolf

[ProfessorGAC]

38. It's Not That Great A Statue Either

Not hideous, but it's "Meh!"
They could lose it.
I've flown in & out of there many times.
I've never even seen anyone stop to look at it.
Doesn't seem like it would be missed, even in Orange County.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

39. Can we add the fact that Wayne was a shitty actor?

Seriously, I don't get the appeal. He was hardly talented at what he did compared to a lot of his colleagues.

[Yeehah]

40. And I want Reagan's taken off of Washington DC's airport

George Washington wasn't good enough for imbecile republicans.

[jeffreyi]

42. I never, ever want to fly into anyplace named after that jerk.

Racist, homophobe, abusive, alcoholic asshole.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

44. Renaming needs to continue.

Everything is named after right wing old white men. Very few things are named after women or minorities besides the MLK Boulevards in numerous cities. Women and minorities are erased from the collective memory, when there are not statues or buildings named after them. This is why I keep reading Angela Davis.