What makes these students more important than Abraham Lincoln? Nothing does, and they should be reminded of that.
The College Fix reports:
UW Madison student government passes resolution supporting removal of Lincoln statueThe University of Wisconsin-Madison student government recently voted to approve a resolution that supports the removal of the school’s famous Abraham Lincoln statue, arguing it serves as a remnant “of this school’s history of white supremacy.”The Associated Students of Madison’s resolution, approved Sept. 29, calls for campus fixtures billed as racist by activists to be “reevaluated and then removed and/or replaced based on inputs from BIPOC students.”Among those items is the university’s historic 111-year-old Lincoln statue that sits atop the common passing area Bascom Hill. Another is Chamberlin Rock, a large glacial boulder that has been a campus fixture for 95 years.The resolution states their removal would “create an inclusive and safe environment for all students.” It passed unanimously.The student government vote comes on the heels of a protest in September, during which students marched across campus wearing all black, bringing attention to their unmet BIPOC demands for the school.The top demand listed on that petition is: “Remove the Abraham Lincoln monument located at the top of Bascom Hill and replace it with someone who stands for the justice of all people.”Associated Students of Madison Diverse Engagement Coordinator Chrystal Zhao explained in an email to The College Fix why the student government sided with the protestors.“First, I would like to say that not all representatives in ASM agree that [the] Abraham Lincoln Statue should be removed. With that said, Abraham Lincoln is a representation of ethnic cleansing of indigenous folks and the fact that UW-Madison stands on stolen land,” Zhao said.“Many students do not feel comfortable seeing him every day when we used to walk to classes. And his presence on Bascom shows that UW-Madison does not care about the ‘shared future’ plan we have with Ho-Chuck people and other first nations.”
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