Confederate statue in Hemming Park defaced

[Tacachale]

Confederate statue in Hemming Park defaced

Wednesday, Sep. 6, 2017

by: Monty Zickuhr  Managing Editor


Workers early Wednesday were covering and power washing the statue of a confederate soldier in Hemming Park.

"KKK" written in spray paint could be seen on the moat that surrounds the statue and on the base.

City Hall faces the park, where debate about Confederate monuments has been increasing.

City Council President Anna Lopez Brosche said last month she wants to begin the process of relocating Confederate monuments away from public property.

The topic also has come up during the public comment period at recent council meetings as supporters and opponents of Confederate monuments voiced their opinions.

The statue was donated to the city more than 100 years ago as a memorial to Florida's military veterans by Charles Hemming, whose name was placed by the city on the public space in recognition of the donation.

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/photo-gallery/confederate-statue-in-hemming-park-defaced

[Gunnar]

Good.

Vandalism is good ? I would understand it if this were a statue of Forrest

[Tacachale]

Nothing good about this. It's vandalism, and counterproductive.

Looks like the vandals also hit the Confederate Park monument.

[MEGATRON]

Good.

Cool bro.  So edgy.

[KenFSU]

Good.

I take no offense to your comment.

A bit reductive - I'd much rather see it taken down, put in a museum, and framed in proper historical context - but it's still a confederate statue, in front of our City Hall, in an area with a tense racial history, bearing the phrase "our heroes."

In light of what's happening in the country right now, the statue will continue to be a powderkeg until it is removed.

If these actions force the city's hand sooner than later, then I'll happily jump aboard the "blessing in disguise" train for the recent vandalism.

[Steve]

Nothing good about this. It's vandalism, and counterproductive.

Looks like the vandals also hit the Confederate Park monument.

Agreed-not cool. Totally cool with the community conversation on it and going through a process. Condoning this is condoning taking the law into your own hands. That I'm not okay with.

[Adam White]

Sounds like 'street art' to me.

[KenFSU]

Condoning this is condoning taking the law into your own hands. That I'm not okay with.

Rosa Parks took the law into her own hands by refusing to surrender her seat to a white passenger.

You wouldn't condone that?

[Steve]

Condoning this is condoning taking the law into your own hands. That I'm not okay with.

Rosa Parks took the law into her own hands by refusing to surrender her seat to a white passenger.

You wouldn't condone that?

If we're really going to compare a person being actively descriminated against versus defacing property, then we should have an entirely different discussion. One is an act against a person, one is an act against property.

[Tacachale]

Not sure how a vandal with spraypaint is remotely comparable to Rosa Parks.

[DeathByPensions]

Black people's tax dollars will now have to be spent restoring the monument to it's former condition so that you don't have a statue of Klansman in the middle of a family park. Well done.

[acme54321]

Is the figure on the monument a known klansman?

[DeathByPensions]

Is the figure on the monument a known klansman?

No idea, but once you spray paint "KKK" on a public statue of an old white dude you've got yourself a bonafide Klansman for all intents and purposes whether you want one or not.

[bill]

Is the figure on the monument a known klansman?

No idea, but once you spray paint "KKK" on a public statue of an old white dude you've got yourself a bonafide Klansman for all intents and purposes whether you want one or not.

Old white dude? KKK? like Byrd, Gore, Thurmond et al?

[KenFSU]

If we're really going to compare a person being actively descriminated against versus defacing property, then we should have an entirely different discussion. One is an act against a person, one is an act against property.

Maybe I just don't draw as much distinction as the next guy between explicit and implicit racism.

To me, forcing black Americans to give up their bus seats to white passengers ain't that much different than requiring black Americans to live in a metro where their City Hall, Federal Courthouse, Main Library, and transit station all surround and open up to an overtly racist 60-foot statue of a Confederate soldier - a soldier who fought a bloody war in hopes of maintaining the forced enslavement, abuse, and often rape of their entire race - with a plaque dedicated to the Confederacy calling the soldiers "our heroes." What black family wants to walk under that on their way to the library, or as they're going to court, or on the way to City Hall?

Personally, I don't see a major distinction between Rosa Parks saying no when someone tried to take her seat and someone else saying no and attacking a statue that - regardless of intent or history or whatever "heritage" nonsense anyone wants to throw out there - is rooted in human enslavement and has become a symbol of organized, institutional racism throughout the country, particularly here in the South.

Reducing the argument to a "vandal" spray-painting "property" as if it's just some random teenager tagging a highway underpass is equivalent to saying that Ax Handle Saturday was simply about a hot dog and a Coke, and totally ignores the underlying reason it was defaced - namely the long history of institutional oppression that has taken place in Jacksonville.

It ignores the fact that 60% of the children in Jacksonville living below the poverty line are black; that blacks make up 23% of the elementary school population, yet receive 69% of the referrals; that 30% of our local population is black, yet 65% of those shot by our local police are black. It ignores the fact that 86% of those sentenced to death in Duval County are black. It ignores the fact that, because of our state laws, 25% of black citizens cannot vote, serve on a jury or hold public office. It ignores the fact that one of our city judges just had to step down for saying "black people should go back to Africa." Not to be confused with Chief Judge John Santora of the same circuit, who had to step down 20 years ago for racist remarks against blacks. It ignores the highways built through Jacksonville's proudest black neighborhoods. It ignores 50 years of post-consolidation policy that has funneled tax dollars out of minority neighborhoods, made it very difficult for minorities to access our major job centers, and perpetuated this vicious cycle where poverty leads to poor education leads to crime leads to prison leads to legal disenfranchisement. Rinse, repeat.

God forbid some discourteous minority take a stand during a time of intensifying racial insanity in our country and spraypaints "Free Slaves" and "KKK" across a statue that - for better or worse, due to its size, history, and location - perfectly personifies their grievances.

Would I do it? Probably not.

Am I, as a white, educated, advantaged member of Jacksonville society is any position to pass judgement on a black citizen for choosing to deface a Confederate monument, particularly amidst today's horrifying political climate.

Probably not.

Only sane solution:

If you don't want to deal with vandals, don't keep a giant racist statue in the center of your city.

Society is progressing, and hopefully 10 years from now, we'll consider the removal of confederate statutes to be as much of a "do the right thing" no-brainer as the passage of HROs, or the legalizing of same-sex marriage, or the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act, or the passage of the Civil Rights Act, or whatever.