The Oklahoma Supreme Court’s rejection of reparations for victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre has spurred a new fight to establish a memorial at the site.
I vote against. Walking those wasted streets is a hammer blow, I don’t have words. People need to see those empty streets, foundation outlines, sidewalks. A monument will only take away from that blasted, desolate landscape.
Anyway, they’ll put something up, people will get out of their car, read some words on a plaque and say, “Gosh! That was terrible!” and drive away.
What a bizarre take. How do you expect people to learn about what happened?
Should we not have memorials to people who were lynched? Because the NAACP spent years trying to get one put up in this town for a man who was lynched in fucking 1901.
It went up in 2019. Multiple generations of George Ward’s descendants attended. Some of them spoke and spoke eloquently. People can now look out at the location of the bridge where George was hanged (it’s been replaced) and picture the horror of that night. How terrified George Ward must have been with an angry mob out for vengeance, knowing he was about to be murdered, an innocent man.
America was, is and will be a very ugly place. Especially for people of color. And everyone needs to be reminded of that as often as possible until it stops being that way. And if it never stops being that way, people still need to be reminded of that as often as possible in the hopes it won’t get worse.
Sure, some people will do what you say. Others will learn something. Still others will be connected with something that reflects the horrors of their own experience as a person of color in America. For that last group alone, monuments like these are essential. They need to show their children. We all do, but they do more than anyone.
I vote against. Walking those wasted streets is a hammer blow, I don’t have words. People need to see those empty streets, foundation outlines, sidewalks. A monument will only take away from that blasted, desolate landscape.
Anyway, they’ll put something up, people will get out of their car, read some words on a plaque and say, “Gosh! That was terrible!” and drive away.
Interesting take but directly at odds with what @[email protected] said. Also, what is stopping them from rebuilding there?
What a bizarre take. How do you expect people to learn about what happened?
Should we not have memorials to people who were lynched? Because the NAACP spent years trying to get one put up in this town for a man who was lynched in fucking 1901.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_of_George_Ward
It went up in 2019. Multiple generations of George Ward’s descendants attended. Some of them spoke and spoke eloquently. People can now look out at the location of the bridge where George was hanged (it’s been replaced) and picture the horror of that night. How terrified George Ward must have been with an angry mob out for vengeance, knowing he was about to be murdered, an innocent man.
America was, is and will be a very ugly place. Especially for people of color. And everyone needs to be reminded of that as often as possible until it stops being that way. And if it never stops being that way, people still need to be reminded of that as often as possible in the hopes it won’t get worse.
Sure, some people will do what you say. Others will learn something. Still others will be connected with something that reflects the horrors of their own experience as a person of color in America. For that last group alone, monuments like these are essential. They need to show their children. We all do, but they do more than anyone.