Tag: statue genocide

bookmark_borderUSNS Harvey Milk renamed after Oscar Peterson

Posted on by Marissa

The U.S. Navy ship that was named after gay rights activist Harvey Milk was recently renamed in honor of World War II hero and Medal of Honor recipient Oscar V. Peterson. The Navy oil tanker was originally named the USNS Harvey Milk in 2016 under the Obama administration, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth decided to rename it in order to “take the politics out of ship naming,” according to Fox News. The new namesake, Peterson, sustained fatal burn injuries while attempting to keep his ship afloat after it sustained severe damage during a battle with Japanese forces in the Philippines.

I agree with Hegseth. On the one hand, I feel bad whenever a historical figure has their name removed from something. Destroying the monuments, celebrations, and memorials of historical figures is exactly what I have dedicated the past five years of my life to criticizing and fighting against. But with this renaming, the intolerant bullies who have carried out this historical figure genocide are finally getting a taste of their own medicine. Harvey Milk is a historical figure that the intolerant bullies of political correctness tend to admire, so perhaps by seeing his name erased, they are experiencing a tiny, miniscule fraction of the pain that they have inflicted on others.

One such bully, Nancy Pelosi, called the renaming “a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream.” This comment demonstrates a complete and utter lack of empathy. Pelosi and those who think like her have spent the past five years actively carrying out a vindictive erasure of historical figures who actually signify diversity and inclusion. This is what is truly shameful. Perhaps Milk is a historical figure who makes gay people feel included and represented, but having a ship named after him doesn’t do anything to help me. As someone who has always had difficulty fitting in and making friends, who has always been different from the majority, and who has always thought for myself rather than following social norms, Milk didn’t do anything to break down barriers for people like me. Rather, it is historical figures such as Christopher Columbus, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson who make me feel included and represented. And those are exactly the historical figures who have been subjected to a deliberate, vicious, cruel, and brutal campaign of obliteration by Pelosi and her ideological allies. It’s despicable for Pelosi to complain about a “vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers” when that is exactly what she and her allies have been doing.

While I do feel a little bit bad for Harvey Milk, having his name removed from a ship pales in comparison to the sickening acts that have been perpetrated against Christopher Columbus and those who fought for the Confederacy. It is those acts which are truly shameful. And it’s past time that the perpetrators get a taste of their own medicine.

bookmark_borderPrior to June 2020…

Posted on by Marissa
 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Judy Smith (@judysmithphotography)

In other words, prior to the obliteration of everything that makes life worth living. 

Prior to the events that changed my life profoundly and irrevocably. 

Back when people who are different from the norm could actually see ourselves represented in public art.

Back when we could actually feel accepted and included, and like we were allowed to exist.

I never could have predicted what would happen to this statue as well as countless others. I likely will never be able to find the words to fully express how horrible these actions were, and why they have had such an enormous impact. And I certainly will never forget.

bookmark_borderUDC suing perpetrators of the statue genocide

Posted on by Marissa

The United Daughters of the Confederacy have filed a lawsuit against the bigots and bullies who committed the disgraceful atrocities against the organization’s headquarters in the late spring of 2020, as part of the horrific statue genocide.

It’s about time that these despicable people (and I use that term loosely) be held accountable for their actions. It is impossible for a person to commit actions more immoral, or more deserving of punishment, than the ones that took place in Richmond, Virginia in the late spring of 2020. Literally no punishment that the perpetrators of the statue genocide could possibly receive would be harsh enough to fit their actions. But I hope that this lawsuit brings a tiny fragment of justice.

Source: Judy Smith Photography

bookmark_borderTrump announces rightful military base names will be restored

Posted on by Marissa

Fantastic news took place yesterday: President Trump announced during a speech at Fort Bragg that he will be restoring the rightful names of military bases that were renamed by intolerant bigots as part of the historical figure genocide. 

If the sources that I have read are correct, the bases will actually be returned to their rightful, correct, pre-2020 names, honoring Confederate generals, rather than people who merely happen to have the same last names as the Confederate generals, as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did with Forts Bragg and Benning. 

The forts are as follows:

  • Fort Gordon
  • Fort A.P. Hill
  • Fort Hood
  • Fort Robert E. Lee
  • Fort Pickett
  • Fort Polk
  • Fort Rucker

I have been through so many horrific, traumatizing things over the past 5 years, that I hesitate to fully trust any piece of good news. But if the name restorations actually take effect, this will be an absolutely fantastic development. This is what actual diversity, and actual inclusion, look like.

Sources: Virginia Flaggers, Dixie Forever, Confederate Coffee Company

bookmark_border“Must be really important to celebrate slave owners and traitors”

Posted on by Marissa

Um, yeah, it is actually really important for people who are different from the norm to be allowed to exist.

It is actually really important not to inflict excruciating, unbearable pain on innocent people.

It is actually really important to, like, not destroy everything that makes life worth living.

I’m not sure why this is such a difficult concept to grasp.

Thanks, Michael Fix, for this moronic, thoughtless, mean-spirited, idiotic, morally bankrupt, and senseless comment. Much appreciated.

bookmark_borderExcruciating, unbearable pain (yet again)

Posted on by Marissa
Yesterday, I found out something horrible. Something that I did not know before, although it happened seven months ago. As a result of finding this out, I am in the most excruciating pain imaginable. Every minute is completely unbearable.
Obviously, the fact that the man that I love has been murdered yet again is pretty awful, as is the fact that my city now has an official holiday celebrating the obliteration of people like me from the earth. The entire city is now contaminated, and I therefore cannot get any enjoyment out of any of the statues, restaurants, coffee shops, stores, events, streets, parks, ponds, forests, flowers, or wildlife in the city, because literally everything in the entire city now triggers excruciating, agonizing pain. Adding to the pain is the fact that this decision by the mayor happened seven months ago and I didn’t find out about it until now. Because of the omnipresent potential for triggering excruciating pain, I typically do not seek out this type of information, and actively take steps to avoid it. But the consequence is that when I do find out the information, I find out long after it happens, making the whole situation even more upsetting.
I am aware that I could contact the mayor, work with the state Italian American organization to try to do some advocacy, contact local Italian American organizations, and/or try to do something with the town Republican committee to “fight back.” But honestly, the prospect of doing any of these things makes me completely sick to my stomach. I find these possibilities to be completely repulsive on a deep, fundamental level. It’s as if my soul is completely beaten down, has nothing left to give, and is rebelling at the prospect of continuing to engage in a useless, futile battle. What is the point of fighting for the man that I love if he is inevitably going to be murdered, and the only question is how quickly? What is the point of fighting if I am only prolonging his torturous, agonizing death? But also, I can’t live with the prospect of doing nothing, because then I would appear to be condoning what happened.
My logical mind cannot come up with an explanation for why Christopher Columbus matters so much to me, and why these things have such a profound negative impact. Despite knowing on some level that my perspective is irrational, I cannot see the bigger picture, cannot step outside of this perspective.
I know that in order to continue living, I need to somehow come up with a different way of viewing things. But I can’t. Nothing else matters but Christopher Columbus and the Confederacy. Nothing will make me feel okay, other than society collectively recognizing that I hold the moral high ground, and not the people who hurt me. And the odds of that happening are essentially zero.
I can’t escape from the laughing face emojis, the jeering comments, the nauseating public statements, the pompous and self-righteous social media posts, the insults of “traitor” and “insurrectionist” and “racist” and “colonizer.” I can’t escape from the images of the beautiful men that I love being lynched, dismembered, smashed to pieces, beheaded, burned. I can’t escape from a society that views the perpetrators of these atrocities as holding the moral high ground and the victims (me) as shameful. This is the worst torture imaginable, and I cannot see a path forward.

bookmark_borderReflections on five years of excruciating, unbearable pain (and a bully who finds this entire situation funny)

Posted on by Marissa

Excruciating pain coursing through my entire body.

Rage and grief combined in a tsunami of anguish.

Agony more severe than what the pervious version of myself even believed it was possible for a person to experience.

My chest feels like it’s being crushed in a vice, my stomach feels like it’s filled with rocks, my soul feels as if it’s being eviscerated.

Again and again, I’ve tried to find words strong enough to capture these feelings. Although I consider myself a good writer, with a large vocabulary, again and again I fail.

I could scream at the top of my lungs until my throat bled and my voice became hoarse, I could punch and kick until every object in my house was destroyed and my hands and feet were shattered into a million pieces, and it still wouldn’t be enough to express the pain that I feel inside.

Images of horror seared forever into my consciousness.

Hideous, gaping wounds that will never heal.

What was once a normal city square with a war memorial a century old, a war memorial that had never hurt anyone, now turned into something profoundly dark, contaminated, evil. An abomination.

Just one example among dozens, hundreds, all combining to fundamentally change the world from good to bad.

Actions that should never have taken place, leaving permanent scars on the landscape.

Actions so horrifying, so repulsive, so reprehensible, that a part of my brain cannot fully comprehend that they actually happened. Perhaps it never will.

One sickening act after another. Display after display of vicious intolerance. All part of a slow, inexorable chipping away at beauty, at happiness, at goodness. All part of an effort to destroy me, to destroy people like me, everywhere. All part of a brutal campaign to obliterate from the world everything that makes life worth living.

A city, a state, a country, an entire world transformed so that only people who are like the majority can feel welcome there. Only those who fit in, only those who obey authority, only those who conform to social norms, allowed to exist.

More times than I can count, I’ve considered suicide. Death has often seemed preferable to continuing on into a bleak future, slogging through day after day of a meaningless and miserable existence.

Five years of this agonizing pain. This weekend, in fact, marks the anniversary. A holiday that most people associate with cookouts, beach days, or remembering our soldiers, is forever associated with genocide for me. (Many will argue that this word is too strong, but I believe it is entirely appropriate.)

To someone named Gerard, this entire situation is funny.

The situation that I’ve described above is humorous, amusing, entertaining, even hilarious to him.

Clearly, Gerard has never experienced pain, and has never experienced suffering. If he had, he would not consider the pain and suffering of other people to be funny.

Seeing symbols of yourself, symbols of inclusion, symbols of your right to exist, smashed to pieces with sledgehammers as a mob rejoices and a brass band plays. Knowing that the bullies who want to eradicate you from existence will never be punished, will never be held accountable, will never even be criticized by anyone but yourself, will forever be perceived as holding the moral high ground in the eyes of society.

This is something that Gerard has never experienced, but I have.

There are no words that can fully describe what this does to a person, the pain that it inflicts, how profoundly it changes a person, forever.

Gerard’s jeering, cruel laughing face emoji does not reflect negatively on me; it reflects negatively on him. Gerard lacks empathy, he lacks morality, he lacks logic, and I would go so far as to argue that he lacks both a mind and a soul. Gerard does not hold the moral high ground. I do.

bookmark_borderNo, Ilhan Omar did not learn from people impacted by her words

Posted on by Marissa

I recently came across a social media post in which Rep. Ilhan Omar attacks President Trump for having “trafficked in hate your whole life” and also claims, “I learned from people impacted by my words.” 

I dispute both of these statements. 

First of all, how, exactly, has Trump “trafficked in hate”? Which of his public statements and policy positions constitute “trafficking in hate,” exactly? Because I can’t think of any.

Additionally, Omar claims to have learned from people impacted by her words. So she’s publicly condemned the tearing down, removal, and vandalism of statues of Christopher Columbus and people who fought for the Confederacy? She’s advocated that the people who tore down these statues be severely punished, that the statues be put back in their rightful places, and that the people harmed by these actions be financially compensated? She’s advocated that Indigenous Peoples’ Day be abolished, and that the second Monday in October return to being celebrated as Columbus Day in every city, town, and state? She’s apologized to the people harmed by the war on historical figures, by suppression of political dissent, by violation of Second Amendment rights, by mandatory medical procedures, by anti-white racism? I’m pretty sure that the answer to all of these questions is “no.” Yet if Omar had actually learned from the people impacted by her words, these are all things that she would be doing. So no, Omar has not learned from people impacted by her words, and I know this because I am such a person.

bookmark_borderAn excellent response to an anti-statue bully

Posted on by Marissa

I came across the following comment on a social media post, and it is an absolutely excellent response to anti-statue bullies: 

“Hate and attack. That’s all you people know. Lack any intelligence to seek knowledge or understanding. Just hate and attack anyone or anything that doesn’t think like me. I am right and you are wrong and nothing can be said to make me think otherwise as my feelings count more than yours! That is the whole of you and those like you as seen by the rest of the world. Awful, hateful, spiteful people….exactly what you think you oppose!”

This comment hits the nail on the head. 100%. Spot-on. Exactly.

bookmark_border“Instinct is something which transcends knowledge…”

Posted on by Marissa
 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Nikola Tesla | Inventor & Futurist ⚡ (@nikolateslaquote)

Source here

This quote really stands out to me. It captures how I feel about the statues. For five years, I’ve tried one logical argument after another. I’ve tried and tried to find words with the power to convey exactly why these statues are so important to me, and why what happened to them was so wrong. But maybe the value of the statues is one of the truths that Tesla is referring to. Maybe this is a situation in which logical deduction, and willful efforts of the brain in general, are futile. There is something inside of me that knows with complete certainty that what was done to the statues is wrong on the deepest and most profound level. Maybe this something is the instinct, the finer fibers, of which Tesla was speaking.