By Michael Hernandez
Insanity Alert: DC Faces seeks to remove, relocate, contextualize national monuments as the “cancel culture” wants to rewrite U.S. history in light of the District of Columbia 1977 Human Rights Act and not by the standards in place during the time of our founding fathers.
The leftist campaign to destroy American monuments in our Nation’s Capital was presented in a 24-page executive summary issued by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. The District of Columbia Facilities and Commemorative Expressions Working Group report released Sept. 1 would change U.S. historical monuments to “reflect oppression of African Americans, and/or other communities of color” which has contributed to the “nation’s history of systemic racism and other biases.”
This report seeks to make every American ashamed of their nation and have everyone accept that the core nature of the United States is “racism” which was instilled upon us by our founders.
“A vast majority of the people we heard from agreed that the District should take action on public namesakes that are inconsistent with our D.C. values,” said Executive Director Richard Reyes-Gavilan.
My response: The working group report was written by a group of 33 anti-Americans based on a Virtual Town Hall meeting and a survey of 2,300 District residents who don’t reflect the values of our country. The D.C. monuments are not just for the residents of D.C. but for all our nation’s citizens.
“DC residents consider being the namesake of public assets a high honor that should be reserved for esteemed persons with legacies that make DC proud” said Reyes-Gavilan.
The report identified 3,050 total assets (1,330 named properties and 153 persons of concern). Who are some of the offenders that bothered those who authored this report?
- Christopher Columbus (Italian explorer)
- Benjamin Franklin (Scientist, Inventor, Statesman, Diplomat)
- President William Henry Harrison (9th President)
- President Andrew Jackson (7th President)
- President Thomas Jefferson (3rd President)
- Francis Scott Key (Wrote lyrics for “The Star Spangled Banner”)
- George Mason (Champion of the Bill of Rights)
- President James Monroe (5th President)
- President Zachary Taylor (12th President)
- President John Tyler (10th President)
- President George Washington (1st President)
- President Woodrow Wilson (28th President)
The factors that disqualified these individuals included:
- Participation in slavery (it took a Civil War of 1861-65 to remove slavery)
- Involvement in systemic racism (based on what evidence?)
- Support for oppression (according to whom?)
- Involvement in supremacist agenda (as defined by leftists?)
- Violation of District human rights laws (enacted in 1977).
“No matter your race, your faith, your sexual orientation, your gender identity, your background–you should be able to live work and play in Washington DC without fear of violence or discrimination,” wrote Mayor Bowser in the report.
The DC Faces report (which includes recommendations for public schools; residential buildings and campuses; parks, fields and playgrounds; government buildings; along with statues and memorials) acknowledges that eight offensive statues and memorials are on federal property and issued a recommendation that “the Federal government remove, relocate, or contextualize” these monuments.
Comments made during a Sept. 2 American Center for Law and Justice podcast:
- Andy Ekonomou: “We’re trying to rewrite the past…We need to appreciate and understand history. History is the story of the human past. You don’t destroy it. You live with it. Most importantly, you learn from it…History is the story of change through time. History is (about) the intervention of God in human life and the incarnation of Christ. All these things are events that occurred–one cannot deny.”
- Harry Hutchison: “This is the first step of a long desired process in abolishing history…The Democrats conveniently forget their own racist past…We have succumbed to identity culture or identity politics which is tearing the nation apart. Much of the impetus is grounded in the notion of grievance and victimhood. Many of these advocates from BLM or Antifa or from left-wing members of the Democrat party believe that the United States founding was wrong and (America was) founded on slavery.”
- Than Bennett: “The ‘cancel culture’ is impacting Congress.”
Meanwhile, adoption of the DC Faces recommendation for removal of federal monuments would take approval from the National Park Service and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt who tweeted: “Not on my watch” as well as from the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources chaired by Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska and Senator Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia.
Insanity Alert: Americans do not support the “cancel culture.” Americans do not want to remove monuments to our founders. Americans do not want to rewrite our history or judge our heroes by 20th century shifting standards.
There are more Americans who love this nation than those who hate this nation as evidenced by viewers who watched the Republican National Convention vs. those who paid attention to the Democrat National Convention.
(Editor’s Note: To view the Executive Summary of DC Faces go to this link:
https://www.scribd.com/document/474542291/DC-FACES-Executive-Summary.)
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal
Michael Hernandez, Co-Founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service; editor of the History Makers Report and founder of History Makers International—a community nonprofit serving youth and families in Ventura County, is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor. He worked 25 years as a middle school teacher in Monrovia and Los Angeles Unified School Districts. Mr. Hernandez can be contacted by email at [email protected].
Get CitizensJournal.us Headlines free SUBSCRIPTION. Keep us publishing. – DONATE
