I know I shouldn't, but I avoid learning too much about some topics. Animals on the verge of extinction are an example. I can't do anything about it and the subject grieves me. I now realize that the fate of the Portland Five falls in the same category.
I just couldn't face one more example of Portland's gutless politicians ignoring the will of the majority of the voters in order to cater to the demands of the unelected mob of illiberal "community" activists whose circle of true influence probably doesn't extend beyond their immediate family and other folks hoping to profit from the grift.
Guess what: the "historically marginalized and underrepresented" racial and ethnic identity groups who want to lynch Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt for not living up to their radical and uninformed standards are doubtless infinitely better off today because of Teddy and Abe than if the likes of Candace Avalos had been calling the shots then.
What I did instead was send the following letter to the art czar of the moment, Dan Ryan. I might just as well have burned instead it for all the good it will do.
Subject: Release the Political Hostages (Lincoln, Roosevelt, et at.)
Dear Commissioner Ryan:
I am one of your constituents. I am a moderate Democrat. I am also a retired lawyer and a gay man. I have a long-standing interest in art and art history. A few years ago, I was among a small group of people who received a term paper of the year prize from the Portland State University art history department.
I understand that you are now the holder of Portland's art-historical hot potato, namely the fate of the beloved statues of great American presidents and others that were toppled by leftist mobs during the breakdown in law and order following the death of George Floyd in 2020. I gather that there is to be a process to decide whether statues of our nation's greatest leaders should be returned to the places of honor they enjoyed in Portland's cityscape for generations.
Have Portland's elected leaders lost their minds? The U.S. is just now waking up from the excesses of a small group of radicals and, yes, criminals, in 2020-2021 as if from a bad dream that turned out to be real. Wake up! Are you seriously going to preside over a process that will decide whether to ratify the actions of a violent mob? Do Abe, Teddy and others need to hire historians to defend them against whatever spurious charges the usual contingent of woke, illiberal and unelected activists might accuse them of?
As a politician, you are surely savvy enough to realize that most of the noisy agitators who claim to represent "the community" are not their democratically elected representatives and almost certainly do not represent or respect the views of the majority. Is it not clear by now that Portland voters are fed up with the grossly disproportionate influence our local governments have given them?
Anything short of returning Teddy and Abe to their original locations will make Portland elected leaders an object of ridicule from coast to coast. You, Dan Ryan, will look like one of the members of the San Francisco School Board who could find no better use of their time than to rename schools because their namesakes failed to live up to the radical standards of 21st century cancel culture.
History has already decided that Teddy and Abe are members in good standing of the American pantheon. All the public requires from you is an apology for the disgraceful delay in restoring them to their historic locations and an order to make it happen.
So, what to do if popular sentiment favors erecting new monuments to other individuals? It's simple: if a committee comprising a truly representative group of members of the public and nationally recognized experts in such matters decides the time has come to honor a distinguished person, by all means commission and install a suitable monument. There is no shortage of appropriate sites in Portland for new public art.
The only locations that are off-limits are the places that rightfully belong to Abe and Teddy and their peers.
Feb 20Liked by Richard Cheverton, Pamela Fitzsimmons
I have reached out to Darion, the jailer, as you suggest.
Here is our offer
Darion, or designated jailerr of the day:.
The great unwashed of Vancouver, Washington would like to see these representations of our heroes, NOW.
But recognizing this is unlikely until Portland’s consultants and processes are completed, may weI suggest an option: A long term parole to Vancouver.
We, the citizens of Vancouver, will take these unwanted and too long neglected heroes and erect them in our clean Parks, perhaps the Waterfront Park, where so many Portland citizens now visit, and guarantee that their days of red paint are over.
Please seriously consider this option. Our great unwashed – and washed – populace looks forward to hearing from you in the near future
Darion, just for the record, actually responded to my third request for information just after the piece dropped. True to form, he didn't answer my questions about who got paid and for what--for that he referred me to the city's opaque Public (hah!) Records automated request, where it (along with Ol' Abe) will no doubt moulder.
And, yes, Harvery Scott, the Oregonian's racist editor, will be restored. Bets are now open on how soon Antifa will thug it.
Excellent article Richard. Where did you get the photos of the hidden statues? I wonder how much Portland taxpayers will spend on this while all we hear is that there is not enough money to repair our streets, take care of our parks and answer 911 calls?
Feb 20Liked by Richard Cheverton, Pamela Fitzsimmons
Outstanding article which tells us so much we wouldn't otherwise know about this sorry subject from our self-suppressed local media. I remember the night GW's statue went down at the old Masonic temple site on NE Sandy. In fact, I watched the start of it on one of the live feeds available online in the hot Summer of Love. KOIN-TV had a cameraman filming the screaming crowd surrounding the statue when suddenly green lasers appeared from the west on Sandy. Green lasers were a dead giveaway back then that worse things were about to follow (see also TR's demise on Columbus Day and the attack on the Oregon Historical Society). The lasers caused both the cameraman and the police to retreat lest they endanger their eyesight. Antifa then had their way with the Father of Our Country. Now, as if somehow to legitimize the crimes, the City of Portland is placing every roadblock imaginable to prevent the restoration of the statues. The Summer of Love lives on.
Good article. Also let's remember the Spanish American bronze cementary soldier recently disappeared by the anarchists. I filled out the city statue survey a few weeks ago. Perhaps not what they were expecting. During the 2020-21 riots and cultural revolution here in Portland I drafted a novel about it, including the statue toppling, based on the example of a 1950s Soviet dissident. Fragility https://a.co/d/jdSihd6
I for one am tired of the whitewashing of our history. No pun intended.
There isn’t historical perspective anymore. Yes lots of things were done to a lot of different groups of people in the past. But totally erasing it or not acknowledging it happened doesn’t change what happened. I happened to see a Bonanza show recently and was surprised to see a disclaimer that said some of what was portrayed was now considered offensive. I agree the way they talked about native Americans and Chinese was not how we view them now, but rather than ban the show they had a disclaimer. That’s a great way for people to decide if they will be offended and don’t watch it. It’s all relative to how society was when it was filmed.
I watch Perry Mason all the time. The way women are treated is horrible in many episodes. However I was born when it first aired and it is also true to life back in the late 50’s and 60’s. I can watch the show and not get my undies in a bunch because I know it’s not intended to offend.
I’m tired of everyone getting their feelings hurt over any preconceived slight.
Call me cynical, but it's unlikely any wokester is actually suffering hurt feelings because Abe Lincoln didn't oppose apartheid, let's say. One need not be a mind reader to know that what they're doing is seeking recognition and status from their peers while also gratifying the terrible human instinct for viciousness.
Excellent article Richard! Excellent! Rubio running for mayor. What a joke. She’s gonna have a hard time, because I for one will not support her. She’s done nothing, other than be part of the fascist wokeness that nearly destroyed this city. And Rene will give her a run for her money! These turds think they can shitcan any important historical pioneer because he/she was white, no matter what good they accomplished. That whole mentality shows how illiterate these nitwits really are…
I know I shouldn't, but I avoid learning too much about some topics. Animals on the verge of extinction are an example. I can't do anything about it and the subject grieves me. I now realize that the fate of the Portland Five falls in the same category.
I just couldn't face one more example of Portland's gutless politicians ignoring the will of the majority of the voters in order to cater to the demands of the unelected mob of illiberal "community" activists whose circle of true influence probably doesn't extend beyond their immediate family and other folks hoping to profit from the grift.
Guess what: the "historically marginalized and underrepresented" racial and ethnic identity groups who want to lynch Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt for not living up to their radical and uninformed standards are doubtless infinitely better off today because of Teddy and Abe than if the likes of Candace Avalos had been calling the shots then.
What I did instead was send the following letter to the art czar of the moment, Dan Ryan. I might just as well have burned instead it for all the good it will do.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Release the Political Hostages (Lincoln, Roosevelt, et at.)
Dear Commissioner Ryan:
I am one of your constituents. I am a moderate Democrat. I am also a retired lawyer and a gay man. I have a long-standing interest in art and art history. A few years ago, I was among a small group of people who received a term paper of the year prize from the Portland State University art history department.
I understand that you are now the holder of Portland's art-historical hot potato, namely the fate of the beloved statues of great American presidents and others that were toppled by leftist mobs during the breakdown in law and order following the death of George Floyd in 2020. I gather that there is to be a process to decide whether statues of our nation's greatest leaders should be returned to the places of honor they enjoyed in Portland's cityscape for generations.
Have Portland's elected leaders lost their minds? The U.S. is just now waking up from the excesses of a small group of radicals and, yes, criminals, in 2020-2021 as if from a bad dream that turned out to be real. Wake up! Are you seriously going to preside over a process that will decide whether to ratify the actions of a violent mob? Do Abe, Teddy and others need to hire historians to defend them against whatever spurious charges the usual contingent of woke, illiberal and unelected activists might accuse them of?
As a politician, you are surely savvy enough to realize that most of the noisy agitators who claim to represent "the community" are not their democratically elected representatives and almost certainly do not represent or respect the views of the majority. Is it not clear by now that Portland voters are fed up with the grossly disproportionate influence our local governments have given them?
Anything short of returning Teddy and Abe to their original locations will make Portland elected leaders an object of ridicule from coast to coast. You, Dan Ryan, will look like one of the members of the San Francisco School Board who could find no better use of their time than to rename schools because their namesakes failed to live up to the radical standards of 21st century cancel culture.
History has already decided that Teddy and Abe are members in good standing of the American pantheon. All the public requires from you is an apology for the disgraceful delay in restoring them to their historic locations and an order to make it happen.
So, what to do if popular sentiment favors erecting new monuments to other individuals? It's simple: if a committee comprising a truly representative group of members of the public and nationally recognized experts in such matters decides the time has come to honor a distinguished person, by all means commission and install a suitable monument. There is no shortage of appropriate sites in Portland for new public art.
The only locations that are off-limits are the places that rightfully belong to Abe and Teddy and their peers.
Free the political hostages NOW.
I have reached out to Darion, the jailer, as you suggest.
Here is our offer
Darion, or designated jailerr of the day:.
The great unwashed of Vancouver, Washington would like to see these representations of our heroes, NOW.
But recognizing this is unlikely until Portland’s consultants and processes are completed, may weI suggest an option: A long term parole to Vancouver.
We, the citizens of Vancouver, will take these unwanted and too long neglected heroes and erect them in our clean Parks, perhaps the Waterfront Park, where so many Portland citizens now visit, and guarantee that their days of red paint are over.
Please seriously consider this option. Our great unwashed – and washed – populace looks forward to hearing from you in the near future
Darion, just for the record, actually responded to my third request for information just after the piece dropped. True to form, he didn't answer my questions about who got paid and for what--for that he referred me to the city's opaque Public (hah!) Records automated request, where it (along with Ol' Abe) will no doubt moulder.
And, yes, Harvery Scott, the Oregonian's racist editor, will be restored. Bets are now open on how soon Antifa will thug it.
And we wonder why - "us" consider "government action" an oxymoron and a joke?
Excellent article Richard. Where did you get the photos of the hidden statues? I wonder how much Portland taxpayers will spend on this while all we hear is that there is not enough money to repair our streets, take care of our parks and answer 911 calls?
Outstanding article which tells us so much we wouldn't otherwise know about this sorry subject from our self-suppressed local media. I remember the night GW's statue went down at the old Masonic temple site on NE Sandy. In fact, I watched the start of it on one of the live feeds available online in the hot Summer of Love. KOIN-TV had a cameraman filming the screaming crowd surrounding the statue when suddenly green lasers appeared from the west on Sandy. Green lasers were a dead giveaway back then that worse things were about to follow (see also TR's demise on Columbus Day and the attack on the Oregon Historical Society). The lasers caused both the cameraman and the police to retreat lest they endanger their eyesight. Antifa then had their way with the Father of Our Country. Now, as if somehow to legitimize the crimes, the City of Portland is placing every roadblock imaginable to prevent the restoration of the statues. The Summer of Love lives on.
Portland should just rename itself Zedongland or Little Stalingrad.
Good article. Also let's remember the Spanish American bronze cementary soldier recently disappeared by the anarchists. I filled out the city statue survey a few weeks ago. Perhaps not what they were expecting. During the 2020-21 riots and cultural revolution here in Portland I drafted a novel about it, including the statue toppling, based on the example of a 1950s Soviet dissident. Fragility https://a.co/d/jdSihd6
I for one am tired of the whitewashing of our history. No pun intended.
There isn’t historical perspective anymore. Yes lots of things were done to a lot of different groups of people in the past. But totally erasing it or not acknowledging it happened doesn’t change what happened. I happened to see a Bonanza show recently and was surprised to see a disclaimer that said some of what was portrayed was now considered offensive. I agree the way they talked about native Americans and Chinese was not how we view them now, but rather than ban the show they had a disclaimer. That’s a great way for people to decide if they will be offended and don’t watch it. It’s all relative to how society was when it was filmed.
I watch Perry Mason all the time. The way women are treated is horrible in many episodes. However I was born when it first aired and it is also true to life back in the late 50’s and 60’s. I can watch the show and not get my undies in a bunch because I know it’s not intended to offend.
I’m tired of everyone getting their feelings hurt over any preconceived slight.
Call me cynical, but it's unlikely any wokester is actually suffering hurt feelings because Abe Lincoln didn't oppose apartheid, let's say. One need not be a mind reader to know that what they're doing is seeking recognition and status from their peers while also gratifying the terrible human instinct for viciousness.
Excellent article Richard! Excellent! Rubio running for mayor. What a joke. She’s gonna have a hard time, because I for one will not support her. She’s done nothing, other than be part of the fascist wokeness that nearly destroyed this city. And Rene will give her a run for her money! These turds think they can shitcan any important historical pioneer because he/she was white, no matter what good they accomplished. That whole mentality shows how illiterate these nitwits really are…