What would you do?

[BuyingThyme]

Poll question: What would you do?

While hiking on public land, in an off-trail, backwoods, low-traffic area, you run across a makeshift memorial perched on the bank of a river. Those of us who hike have seen things like this before – friends of the dead erect memorials in locations where loved ones spent their best days, if not their final moments. In this case, the memorial is a small boulder, perhaps four hundred pounds, with the full name of the deceased noted in paint or permanent marker, the dates of birth and passing, and a personalized rest-in-peace notation below. There’s not much more to it; less the hike, somebody invested perhaps five minutes to lovingly mark the passing of a friend or relative. Below the dates, it reads “WHITE POWER!” prominently. Being stronger than most, you, with some effort, could probably manage to roll the boulder into the river where it would never be seen again. What would you do?

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. The message has more strength

as a non-example. Very few people are going to look at it and say "right on!" They're going to say, "Geez, how inappropriate and how sad."

Leave it.

[tk2kewl]

2. return with a hammer and chisel and carve a MLK bust out of it

[mike_c]

3. while I might not agree with someone's statement...

...it is after all their statement. It's not my place to silence them, only to shake my head and disagree.

[sojourner]

4. Democratic, inclusive values...people have a right to express their

values. As TG says above - leaving the memorial says more than removing it ever could.

[porphyrian]

5. Neither.

You didn't make it clear that the people who erected the memorial were the ones who wrote "white power" on it. Unless I was absolutely sure that is was written by the original erector (in which case I might just roll it), I would probably just consider defacing that part of it, depending on the materials at hand and the difficulty in doing so. I would also consider that people who write "white power" on monuments in the woods may assume that I was responsible for defacing it should we cross paths, so I might just leave it alone, depending on how brave and/or stupid I was feeling that day.

[ktowntennesseedem]

6. If I could find another rock nearby, I'd probably add...

"Oh well, one less bigot!"

Seriously, I'd leave it as is. That feeble plea for hatred and discrimination speaks volumns for the continuing need for peace and respect.

[rkc3]

7. He probably fell off the cliff while taking a drunken piss over the edge.

Just move along.

[Clark2008]

10. LOL!!

That's the best idea. :)

[ktowntennesseedem]

13. Hey, Clark2008! Love the new signature pic!

How ya been?

[LiberalPersona]

8. That's a difficult question

because I wouldn't know the whole story.
What if the memorial is actually marking the passing of a black person and some racist just happened to desecrate the boulder?

[BuyingThyme]

9. Clarification:

The 'personalized rest-in-peace' notation and the "WHITE POWER!" notation are the same notation. It was clearly on the memorial from its inception, not added afterwards.

[Mutley]

11. Move on.

While I may not agree with the message, it is not my place to silence that message.

[drb]

12. Luckily, the urge to defecate strikes me as I ponder....

...an appropriate action.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

14. As A Progressive I Cannot Succumb To Suppressing Free Speech, as Hateful

as it sometimes can be.

[lovelaureng]

15. Keep moving along. n/t

[MojoXN]

16. Roll that shit into the river...

Why respect the memory of a white (or otherwise) supremecist? Fuck him, and fuck his boulder. Just to play Devil's Advocate, what if some impressionable young person saw that and started to think that racism was OK, or worse, a good idea. Normally, I don't endorse censorship, but in this case, I'll make an exception. After all, I assume you're not an employee of the U.S. Government, so...

MojoXN

[manic expression]

18. To be intolerant of intolerance

is not unreasonable at all, and is quite justified. I agree.

[donco6]

17. Roll it in the river without a second thought.

It wasn't their right to put it there in the first place. Public land is not for desecrating with any marking whatsoever.