Clueless Protesters Demonstrate Horrible Grasp on History by Defacing Statue of Abolitionist
Maybe we can blame the education system, or perhaps we can blame the prevalence of misinformation in American popular culture and entertainment.
Perhaps the problem starts at home, where parents aren’t teaching their children.
In either event, many of the country’s young people are filled with a sense of entitlement, pent-up rage and willful ignorance during the so-called information age.
As a result, the country is now engaged in a culture war, and no idea, institution or monument is safe.
In Philadelphia, activists defaced the statue of anti-slavery icon Matthias Baldwin by painting the face of the statue in red and writing the words “colonizer” and “murderer” on the monument.
The vandalism occurred nearly two weeks ago, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, but the action against the iconic statue, which was installed in 1906, is only now beginning to circulate on social media.
Ok, so why was the statue of Matthias Baldwin defaced like this? He was an abolitionist who funded schools for black children out of pocket. No genocide there. pic.twitter.com/ACqq1iSS16
— Eric Ernerstedt (@ericernerstedt) June 11, 2020
Baldwin was an abolitionist who dedicated much of his life before, during and after the Civil War to helping black Americans and championing racial equality.
He was a thoughtful man who made contributions in the 19th century to the rail industry by designing improved steam locomotives.
He was also active in the movement to abolish slavery, and later founded a school for black children and also helped to found the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
Baldwin was actually so committed to racial equality, his locomotive engines were boycotted in the South. Now, his legacy is under assault by the American left.
A man named Joe Walsh, a member of the Friends of Matthias Baldwin Park, commented on the vandalism in an email to National Review.
“The irony of vandalizing a monument to those who died to end slavery is lost on the morons who don’t know their history,” the man said.
Walsh further noted that Baldwin was “[Black Lives Matter] before there was a slogan.”
During the same unruly protest, demonstrators also attacked the city’s Civil War Soldiers and Sailors monument, which is inscribed, “All who have labored today in behalf of the Union have wrought for the best interests of the country and the world not only for the present but for all future ages.”
The attack on the abolitionist and Union soldiers in Philadelphia came days before rioters assaulted a monument in Boston that honored black soldiers who fought against slavery during the Civil War.
WBUR-FM reported that the Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial in the city was defaced with graffiti, including four-letter words and phrases in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
While angry hordes of protestors have been attacking Civil War and other monuments with increased frequency in recent weeks, since the death of George Floyd and the ensuing civil unrest, the leftists are not simply targeting symbols that represent perceived racial injustice.
They are going after everything that represents the principles upon which the country was founded.
No symbol is apparently being spared as they attempt to erase history in their quest to spread anti-American and anti-law enforcement sentiment.
It is unclear if any organized group, such as antifa, was responsible for the defacing of the Philadelphia monuments, or of the 54th Regiment Memorial in Boston.
One thing is clear: The far left is indiscriminately coming after everything American, and no institution is safe from its Orwellian fury.
There are two conclusions that can be drawn from the attacks on American life, culture and history, including the attack on the statue of Baldwin and the black soldiers.
The vandals are either only looking to destroy property, or they’re idiots who don’t care who the people they are disrespecting were, or what they fought for.
The two conclusions are not mutually exclusive.
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