Historians hope to free the work of the freedmen from the mob’s anger
The progressive mob’s game of whack-a-monument allegedly carried out in the memory of the late George Floyd, has taken some strange turns — with attacks on Union Army heroes, abolitionists, and even Gandhi and 18th-century Catholic saints.
One such twist came in Boston, where the wokesters want to remove “Emancipation,” a century-old monument dedicated to the end of slavery. The memorial, modeled after one in Washington, D.C., depicts President Abraham Lincoln standing above a newly freed slave, whose broken manacles illustrate his liberation from Southern masters.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has declared racism a public health problem in his city — who knew so many white Boston liberals held minorities in contempt? — and is now open to demands to remove the statue.
Left-wing agitators in D.C. now want to go after the original.
Yet less than a week after Juneteenth, which commemorates June 19, 1865, the day a Union general announced the end of slavery in Texas, the last rebel holdout of the Civil War, some Black historians are coming to the defense of the Washington “Emancipation,” Breitbart News reported.
They maintain that ridding the nation’s capital of the statue would betray those who built it: freed slaves.
According to Breitbart, a former slave named Charlotte Scott wanted to commemorate Lincoln after his assassination, and she used the first $5 she made as a free woman to kickstart the fundraising campaign. All of the money collected to erect it came from former slaves.
“Emancipation” was dedicated on April 14, 1876, the 11th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination. Frederick Douglass spoke at the ceremony.
In his remarks, Douglass called Lincoln’s murder “the crowning crime” of slavery, and noted that by “dying as he did,” Lincoln was “doubly dear to us, and his memory will be precious forever.”
Douglass closed by saying, “In doing honor to the memory of our friend and liberator, we have been doing highest honors to ourselves and those who come after us. … When now it shall be said that the colored man is soulless, that he has no appreciation of benefits or benefactors; when the foul reproach of ingratitude is hurled at us, and it is attempted to scourge us beyond the range of human brotherhood, we may calmly point to the monument we have this day erected to the memory of Abraham Lincoln.”
And that is what current fans of the monument want to preserve.
Marcia Cole, a member of the Female RE-Enactors of Distinction, or FREED, which is an auxiliary of the African American Civil War Museum, told a local news station she rejected the call to topple or remove the statute.
“I say ‘no’ on behalf of Ms. Charlotte,” said Cole, referring to Charlotte Scott, whom Cole portrays as a re-enactor.
“People tend to think of that figure as being servile but on second look you will see something different, perhaps,” she added.
“That man is not kneeling on two knees with his head bowed. He is in the act of getting up. And his head is up, not bowed, because he’s looking forward to a future of freedom.”
Let’s hope more will see “Emancipation” through Cole’s eyes.
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The democrat officials along with thugs need to be prosecuted. We best remember those democrats are the ones who should have stopped all this from happening. I disagree this has nothing to do with Floyd’s death. Democrats are declaring war on America for their New Normal. Socialism. When Pelosi and Schumer can’t even remember his name what does that tell you. Democrats are wanting to defund cops when they need more money for job they do and not have to take any abuse from thugs. Democrats are now holding Americans hostage again by playing their games with reform bill presented by Scott. That just shows me democrats don’t care about anyone but themselves. Democrats are to blame for slavery yet they have congress seats held with black members who are now demanding we owe them and demanding everyone needs to pay blacks back. Answer me this then black democrat seat holders, who owned you as a slave? I find it a little puzzling that these people have been in office how long now and there was even a black President yet none of them did anything to help the black Americans ever. How funny they all jump on bandwagon now. What is their real agenda here. Think about it? Yet Your suppose to give them your vote so they get richer and you get poorer. Funny how many Americans of all races are not raciest yet black privileged people are making the biggest fuss over this. Why now?