Remember last year when the left became obsessed with the removal of Confederate statues? Critics warned that it was a slippery slope and were assured that it was just about Confederate monuments.
Today, a battle is brewing over a statue of Thomas Jefferson at Hofstra University. It doesn’t matter to campus activists that Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence or the third president of the United States. All that matters is that he was a slave owner.
Caleb Parke reports for FOX News:
Hofstra activists want to remove Thomas Jefferson statueStudent activists at Hofstra University are demanding the removal of a statue of Thomas Jefferson from campus.Ja’Loni Owens, a Hofstra student and Black Lives Matter activist, started a change.org petition that warns it will discuss “slavery, rape, eugenics, anti-black racism” and claims the Founding Father’s statue belongs in a museum with proper context, “not displayed on a college campus, especially not in front of a hub of student life.”Owens specifically addressed “white allies” in their Facebook event for the Friday protest “Jefferson Has Gotta Go!” to be held at the statue in front of the student center.“Please understand that this is a protest against white supremacy and that you as white people – even though you’re allies – benefit from white supremacy!” Owens wrote. “Your obligation is to fight that! Come prepared to step up if racial slurs or otherwise offensive things are said to organizers of color or poc attending. If you’re able, come prepared to hold posters and like….PROTEST.”
Here is part of the official petition:
Removal of the Thomas Jefferson Sculpture at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New YorkThe Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center is one of the central points for on-campus life and student activities.The Student Center houses several important offices and resources, including Intercultural Engagement and Inclusion, Student Access Services, the Office of Student Advocacy and Prevention Awareness, and the Dean of Students Office. Students daily walk through the Student Center for a quick cup of coffee or to cross the Unispan to get to class.For prospective students, this is one of the first buildings that they walk into when touring the university. At almost every single Admitted Students Day, families pose in front of the Student Center to take photos and share hugs and smiles after successful college visits.It is unfortunate then that a bronze sculpture of a 71-year-old Thomas Jefferson, gifted to the university by Hofstra Trustee David Mack, is right in front of the Student Center.
The petition goes into great detail about Jefferson’s connections to slavery. There is no denying history, but that’s just the point. This is part of American history. Should we erase every aspect of history which offends?
There is a memorial to Jefferson in Washington, DC. Should it be razed to the ground? Jefferson’s face is on Mount Rushmore. Will the left demand it be blasted off with a cannon?
A Hofstra student named Malcolm McCoy who opposes the removal of the statue recently appeared on the FOX Business Network and made some excellent points. Watch below:
Another opponent of removing the statue is an expert on Jefferson named Peter Onuf who was quoted in Newsday:
Peter Onuf — an author who has written extensively about the third U.S. president, who also was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence — said he is “deeply conflicted” about Jefferson’s legacy, but he argued it’s dangerous to try an erase a nation’s past by “burying our head in the sand.”Onuf, the distinguished scholar in residence at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts, added: “If we forget Jefferson, we forget ourselves.”
At the risk of being branded a conspiracy theorist, I would suggest that forgetting ourselves is the whole point. Far left progressives believe that America is flawed and has been tainted since its founding. By invalidating America’s foundations, the constitution is rendered meaningless.
Featured image via YouTube.
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