Another night, another round of ethnic cleansings via the removal of statues of dead white guys across the country. Sad to say Detroit has joined the fray, voluntarily removing the bust of Christopher Columbus which has been on display in the city of 110 years.
The charge was led by Mayor Duggan who in turn was led by political correctness, as is every politician in America with the exception of PDJT. Here is Mikey, establishing his privileged white boy bona fides:
“I've been bothered for a while by the fact that the statue is occupying such a place of prominence next to City Hall right on Jefferson, and I supported City Council, three years ago, when they voted to eliminate Columbus Day as a holiday in the city of Detroit," Duggan said Monday.
Fear no more, the offensive monument has been deep sixed
I know for a fact that Mayor Duggan has (or had) a large contingency of Italian-American backers and friends. and I don’t know if any amount of cajoling on his part will keep him in their camp (i.e. funding his campaign war chest) following this further betrayal. Just last year Mayor Duggan sold the name of Detroit’s premier conference center thus removing the name of Italian-American Mayor Albert Cobo, for whom the complex was originally named, and replaced it with the name of a bank.
I felt with Cobo Hall, which I push very hard to change, I didn’t think that our convention center, a national symbol of the city, should be named after somebody who really did a lot to make the lives of African Americans worse in the city of Detroit," Duggan said.
"And I just didn't think this was the right location of prominence. I think if you get a spot next to City Hall. That is a place that should be of civility."
Some of us think that City Hall itself should also be a place of civility but that train left the station decades ago. As for the cancellation of Columbus Day as of 2018 and replacing it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, well that was PC pandering as well:
The holiday was a result of a resolution passed by Detroit's City Council to honor indigenous leaders on the second Monday of October.
Grassroots organizers have been pushing for recognition of indigenous issues in the city since 2015, which included taking down the statue, he said.
Apparently it was the Mayor’s job, as a privileged white man, to comply.
"After Minneapolis took down their statue, there were a number of Detroit Anishnabek that thought we should respond in solidarity," said Pitawanakwat, an Anishnabek from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and law student at Detroit Mercy. "As much as I would have liked to see Columbus discover the Detroit River, (edit: Ha ha, those Native Americans DO have a sense of humor after all!) I'm glad the city did something before the people did."
I guess that makes sense as Detroit has a large majority of Anishnabek peoples…oh wait, it doesn’t. According to the 2010 Census, 0.4 percent (2,417) of Detroiters identify as Native American. Our pandering is now officially epic.
Of course Detroit is far from alone, statues come down everywhere: Confederate monuments in the US, 17th-century slave traders and Mahatma Gandhi statues in Britain, and a British naval officer in New Zealand. All around the world, history is being erased…except France: Macron says France won’t remove statues.
As Glenn Reynolds said, who knew the French would be the resolute ones? Indeed, we are living in the Crazy Years when the French are the adults in the room.
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