Removing Historical Symbols That Remind Us of Racism and Oppression

The swastika, borrowed by Hitler's Germany from the Hindus, the Buddhists, even the Aztecs and noted as an early form of the cross, is nonetheless a distasteful symbol to many Americans, particularly those whose predecessors were victims of the holocaust.

Can symbols, emblems, flags, statues, even street names bring back painful memories, make certain groups in our society feel less welcome?  No doubt.

Antonio Castillo

Brownsville resident Antonio Castillo's open letter to the City Commission requesting the removal of the Jefferson Davis Monument from Washington Park was published in El Rrun Rrun December 21, 2015.  Mr. Castillo has since reached out to us as to support of the statue's removal. 

Here is part of Mr. Castillo's argument in his letter to the City Commission asking the statue be removed:  

What do you think the monument tells families when they are enjoying the park? My wife is African-American, so my children are of mixed heritage. We have a growing population of African-Americans in this community. This monument does not welcome the descendants of those who've been enslaved and oppressed in the past. Our nation fought to unify our country during the Civil War. Sadly, many people did not obtain full rights until the 1960s. We don't need reminders of a bygone era in a space that should be welcoming. We need to stop kissing up to the Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy! They claim that it is heritage. Well, their heritage thought that it was a God-given right to own people. This is not right.

Mr. Castillo then suggests a replacement statue for Washington Park:

I urge you to remove this monument. Move it to a museum, replace the plaque with a respectable historical figure, or even add an Abraham Lincoln plaque to it. We can honor history without being racist. Let's welcome all Americans to Brownsville.

It's interesting that Castillo suggests an Abraham Lincoln plaque to replace the Jefferson Davis statue.  While Lincoln is generally viewed as fighting slavery, as we reported in a June 29, 2015 blog article, that was not his real motivation:

"The President was referring to the abhorrent practice of slavery,

common in the United States since colonial days, wrongfully assumed to be the principal issue of the Civil War. Then President Abraham Lincoln, in an 1862 letter to New York Tribune Editor Horace Greely, explained the real reason for that war:

If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views."

Charles Stillman Ranch House, Shortly After
Transport to Linear Park

Speaking of historical relics that offend, bringing back memories of an era when the civil rights of a minority were not protected, think the Stillman House, now situated in Linear Park. Many in our town are repulsed by the perception of this shack as a shelter used in forced sexual liaisons between Stillman, his ranch hands and Mexican female servants.  With all due respect, historian/general contractor Larry Lof has now, with his over the top "restoration," submerged the original ranch house inside what looks like a suburban Peoria, IL three bedroom house.  Perhaps Lof overreacted to Attorney John Shergold's complaints of the public danger and unsightliness of the structure.

Below are pictured other offensive symbols.  Some have been removed, others remain:

Decapitated Head of Joseph Stalin Statue During Hungarian Revolution of 1956

Sadam Hussein Statue About to Tumble in Baghdad in 2003

Statue of President Barack Obama Eating Watermelon in Front Yard of Kentucky Resident

Mexican Restaurant Statue Considered Racist

Unauthorized $2,500 Portraits of Aurora de la Garza and Joe Rivera