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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPortland protesters knock down Roosevelt, Lincoln statues in 'rage' toward Columbus Day
Protesters overturned statues of former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday night in a declaration of rage toward Columbus Day.
Protest organizers dubbed the event Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage, in response to Mondays federal holiday named after 15th-century Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, a polarizing figure who Native American advocates have said spurred centuries of genocide against indigenous populations in the Americas.
The group threw chains around Roosevelts statue, officially titled Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider. They threw red paint on the monument and began using a blowtorch on the statues base, news outlets reported.
The crowd pulled down the statue just before 9 p.m. The group later turned their attention toward Lincolns statue, pulling it down about eight minutes later.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/10/12/columbus-day-protest-roosevelt-lincoln-statues-portland-toppled/5965214002/
Are these steps towards achieving equality and providing some remedy for oppression or are they diversions which are making arrival at the goal more distant and arduous?
PTWB
(4,131 posts)Walleye
(31,017 posts)Hekate
(90,674 posts)Whoever is doing this doesnt want Biden to win.
DonaldsRump
(7,715 posts)Who knows who actually did it.
I don't know that many people of color raging at Abraham Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt. In fact, come to think of it, I know zero.
maxsolomon
(33,327 posts)1. it's necessary for Covid safety. when I marched in the BLM protests, I masked 100% of the time.
2. masking protects you against Doxxing. RWNJ harass anyone who dares speak up against Crypto-Fascism, or any number of topics, threatening them at their home, making their lives living hell. Review what happened to the Newtown parents who took on Alex Jones' flying monkeys asserting that their children's deaths were faked.
3. look what happened to Michael Reinoehl. 50 bullets pumped in him the day after he identifies himself and claims self-defense against a known Proud Boy brawler. Summary execution by US Marshals (actually local police). Never got the chance to make his case in court, never got to become a martyr for the cause like Kyle Rittenhouse has, not many on DU even know his name, let alone mourn his fate.
DonaldsRump
(7,715 posts)The point of my post was that no one knows who these "protesters" were because of the masks.
maxsolomon
(33,327 posts)I note that protestors who get arrested become known.
DonaldsRump
(7,715 posts)bigtree
(85,996 posts)...it's some idiots knocking down statues, not a political platform.
It was more than likely white supremacists trying to associate legitimate BLM protests with their boogoloo boy prank to bring to the internet and pretend it's a thing.
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)"as protesters topple statues, break windows in downtown Portland
A social media post announcing the event called for an end of colonialism and the abolishment of police."
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)The two words have wholly separate meanings. Especially in this context.
Response to sarisataka (Original post)
Grasswire2 This message was self-deleted by its author.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)The Mouth
(3,149 posts)Probably Proud Boys or some other agitators. Fucking scum.
JHB
(37,159 posts)Not anybody who's actually making a political statement.
maxsolomon
(33,327 posts)Both TR & Lincoln did great things. They also did not-very-great things that make their memorialization problematic. As old white Bourgeoise, we see the gray areas in some of our sacred cows. Others don't want to tolerate those gray areas any longer - Roosevelt's profligate trophy hunting, for instance.
The protests in Portland have morphed and left most of us nice Liberals far behind. Without a spokesperson, their message and intent is unclear, but any spokesperson would instantly become a magnet for the police, the RWNM and paramilitary terror that is a real threat in Portland.
It's this last one that has pushed the protestors towards anonymity and ever-more-extreme judgements on how White Power has immortalized itself.
dustyscamp
(2,224 posts)maxsolomon
(33,327 posts)It's EXTREMELY localized: one smallish city in one state in one region.
If there was an end to qualified immunity for police and actual consequences for killing people unnecessarily, these protests would dissipate.
They'll probably dissipate under a President Biden, regardless. They have everywhere else.
Crunchy Frog
(26,579 posts)These people are no friends to our side.
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)They hate the system. Democrats and Republicans.
And most are young white folks.
They should be tried for any crimes they commit.
And this is not new in the Pacific NW. They will be just happy to pull this shit when we have a president Biden.
This.
Calculating
(2,955 posts)They're basically just violent anarchists who want to see the world burn. The progressive movement needs to stay as far away as possible from them.