Last edited Fri Sep 8, 2017, 03:51 AM - Edit history (1)
as a native dallasite who's been to the park in the past (~1990?), I don't want to see the statue torn down but I learned a lot from your post and won't dispute any of it. sigh museum I would likely never go but I guess I hope they build it near dallas.
now who would be a good alternative to replace the statue? so far I've heard outkast and missy Elliott i think we're being trolled. i would suggest a black statesman, activist, or scientist but I have not had time to re-read my US history book.
edit: leaving the name as Lee Park - along with a revised statue - might be some option.
edit #2: leaving the park as-is would allow an opportunity to engage with whites that felt disenfranchised by Obama. after reading commentary from some atlantic article posted here recently about the first white president which outlines the percentage of white trump voters earning less than $70k/yr, I don't believe all of these people are racist. some of them are just misinformed and can't be trusted to read honest news sources critically. what's worse is that some may be reacting out in general to the perception of the C 16 bill in Canada regarding alternative pronoun use (some student groups pushed to use zhe/zir in college schoolwork), which they perceive as govt legislation of social behavior, and not simply based on black vs white.
furthermore if you move all of these items to a museum, only one group of people would go to see it - racists who would turn it into a theme park. that's insignificant wrt your post above but I don't see moving the statues to a museum as helping. even though they are clearly offensive statues, what purpose would removing the statues serve? to prevent people from being offended?
speaking as a Mexican i'm sure that blacks don't need a statue to be reminded of racist behavior. what happened to them is cruel but a similar injustice happened to the native americans so (please forgive me) it's nothing personal. if we want an honest effort at defeating racism and prejudice, we will need a dialogue of some type, in some situation, with some observers, having an honest talk about why blacks have higher incarceration rates or lower standardized test scores.
please don't alert or hide this post from the outset - I am on the side of justice but I see the perspective of the other side (despite disagreement) and this is my honest opinion.
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