Activists want a rock removed because of a NICKNAME??!!??

[Archae]

I talked to a few people who actually went to or go to this college, and the "remove Lincoln statue" went over like a lead balloon.

It's looking more and more like these groups just want to grandstand for publicity.

Black UW students want school to remove 70-ton boulder

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Black students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison want the school to remove a 70-ton boulder from campus because its nickname is a racial slur.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports the rock has sat on campus since 1925.

It’s officially known as Chamberlin Rock after Thomas Crowder Chamberlain, a 19th-century geologist and university president.

But at the time of its discovery some referred to the boulder colloquially as a racial slur that was commonly used at the time to describe any large dark rock.

Black students at UW-Madison also have called for the removal of the campus’ Abraham Lincoln statue.

https://www.wbay.com/2020/08/22/black-uw-students-want-school-to-remove-70-ton-boulder/

[bigtree]

1. college students generate a lot of causes and movements

...most of them aren't nationally scrutinized.

[Archae]

2. Yes they do, but sometimes they go too far.

I know a guy who was a radical at UW during the 60's, and he calls those his "lost years."

He was a dedicated Mao supporter, and swung completely over to George W. Bush in 2000.

He's now a Republican never Trumper.

[JI7]

22. So it seems to be mostly about self serving bs rather than any belief in something

[Archae]

23. Exactly. A guy in Madison during the protests there...

Was shaking down bars and restaurants, demanding free stuff and money.

He latched on to the cause, just to enrich himself and his cronies.

Like those "build the wall" crooked "activists."

[Nexus2]

3. Why do they want the Lincoln Statue removed?

[bigtree]

4. it's a rock

...hardly a 'Lincoln Statue.'

[Archae]

5. It is looking more and more like Melania's Rose Garden "makeover..."

"I don't like it, and it has to go!"

I can see removing Confederate statues, because they celebrate those who were treasonous and racist.

But this is just a large rock. That's all, it was not used to sell slaves on, or promote white supremacy.

[bigtree]

9. the rock was referred to at the time of discovery, because it was blackish

...as N-word-head rock.

described here: https://wtmj.com/homepage-showcase/2020/08/22/uw-madison-black-students-calling-on-school-to-remove-chamberlain-rock-and-lincoln-statue/

It’s officially known as Chamberlin Rock after Thomas Crowder Chamberlain, a 19th-century geologist and university president.

But at the time of its discovery, some referred to it colloquially as “N*****head rock,” a commonly used expression at the time to describe any large dark rock.

[Archae]

11. Back when I was a kid, when we would pile on each other...

We didn't say "dog pile," we would yell " (n-word) pile!"

We grew out of using the term, and most kids nowadays no longer yell what we would yell.

To demand the rock be removed because a bad nickname was use back in 1925, is just plain going too far.

[Amishman]

27. yup, some things should just be outgrown and forgotten organically

In cases like this the streisand effect kicks in and the nickname is given new life.

I hear ya on the 'dog pile'. I'm still trying to break the habit of using the OK hand gesture. It was innocent for 95% of my life, and its ingrained pretty deep.

[Archae]

29. I still use the OK hand gesture, screw the white supremacists.

It means "OK" to me, always has, always will. Not this asinine "white power" meme.

In fact, to nearly everyone it means, "OK."

Only the asshole white supremacists claim it means "white power."

[TreasonousBastard]

13. I found the same link, and it's ridiculous to demand the removal of an innocent boulder...

because of what some people called it.

Still haven't found what the problem with Lincoln is, but I tend to assume it's the same kind of non-problem.

[bigtree]

16. I'll support these young folks ideals over a boulder

...and most things folks agitate about are usually 'non-problems' to those who aren't directly affected.

The aim, of course is to get others to see it their way. That's what I'd characterize as a non-problem, their activism, not what they're advocating for.

[TreasonousBastard]

18. But here nobody is affected by what someone called a big rock years ago.

[bigtree]

19. I don't think those folks brought the cause to DU

...the op did, expressing deep concern.

[Nexus2]

7. Yes that is.

Black students at UW-Madison also have called for the removal of the campus’ Abraham Lincoln statue.

But I was referring to what the OP was talking about when they made the above statement.

[bigtree]

12. crossed signals, I see it now. Found the reason

...it's mostly about Lincoln's signing of the Homestead Act, and the execution of Indians.

here: https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/university/uw-madison-students-call-for-removal-of-abraham-lincoln-statue-on-bascom-hill/article_b12c83c9-38a1-5e68-9964-beabe4046d02.html

Two student organizations, the Black Student Union and the Student Inclusion Coalition, pushed for the statue’s removal in early June, days after George Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody and protests erupted nationally over racial injustice.

The students’ efforts gained newfound attention after protesters tore down two other statues at the state Capitol earlier this week — one of Civil War abolitionist Hans Christian Heg and another of a female figure that represents the state’s “Forward” motto...

Lincoln ordered the largest mass execution in U.S. history, condemning 38 Dakota men to death by hanging in Minnesota in 1862. He signed the Homestead Act, which provided settlers with land taken away from Native Americans who were pushed onto reservations. During a debate speech, he argued that there is a physical difference between black and white races and that he favored the “superior” position assigned to the white race, according to a Chicago Tribune report. Lincoln also signed the Morrill Act, which established the nation’s land grant universities, including UW-Madison, by seizing land from Native Americans.

“For him to be at the top of Bascom as a powerful placement on our campus, it’s a single-handed symbol of white supremacy,” Black Student Union president Nalah McWhorter said in an interview with the Wisconsin State Journal.

[TreasonousBastard]

15. Oh. Now I see what their problem with Lincoln is. But it's "their" problem.

[bigtree]

17. correct

...until they can get others to adopt ther pov.

I love student activism.

[PTWB]

32. Lincoln did good works but he was still a man of his times.

“I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races … I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races from living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be a position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.” - Abraham Lincoln

It is no wonder people are uncomfortable with statues memorializing someone with such views.

[cwydro]

26. If you read the OP completely, the rock AND a Lincoln statue are at issue for some reason.

Stupid.

[bigtree]

28. I not only read the concern in the OP, I took a look behind the article posted

...and provided excerpts for clarification of questions raised.

You're stating there's 'some reason' when the answer is contained within my posts on this thread.

'Stupid,' indeed. If you read the thread completely...

[PTWB]

34. Lincoln was a white supremacist.

He did well as President obviously but his personal views were abhorrent.

“I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races … I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races from living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be a position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.” - Abraham Lincoln

[bigtree]

6. now I see what you're asking, and I have no clue.

...I'll look a little further,

[Archae]

8. These are the people who right-wingers use as "examples."

To paint all activists as "radicals" and "leftists."

[bigtree]

14. again, you can't take most college protests too far

...and right wingers will do most any ignorant thing.

[Croney]

10. So, get a few sledgehammers, break it up, haul it away,

put the plaque somewhere else it can be viewed. No big deal. It's just a rock. But the nickname is hurtful, and shouldn't have to come to mind.

[samnsara]

20. im perplexed

[denem]

21. University of Wisconsin-Madison has a Serious Problem with Racism

Fan At Wisconsin Game Dressed In Obama Mask With Noose
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2016/10/29/fan-at-wisconsin-game-dressed-in-obama-mask-with-noose/

[Archae]

24. Notice nearly all the other fans are ignoring him?

The guy showed up with that "Obama" just to get attention.

I'd be willing to bet money that nearly all the other fans there were thinking about the guy, "What an asshole."

[denem]

25. If he showed up like that at LA, NYC or Chicago

Last edited Mon Aug 24, 2020, 08:11 AM - Edit history (1)

the fans would not be ignoring him.

[StarfishSaver]

30. Or they didn't mind and didn't find it offensive

It's a pretty big stretch to assume that because no one is reacting in this one particular snapshot it means that everyone in the picture is ostracizing the guy in the Obama mask. It looks to me like he's fitting right in with them and they're ok with it.

[StarfishSaver]

31. With all of the things going on, why are you amplifying this particular obscure situation?

What's your purpose? And please don't say anything along the lines of "this is making it harder for real grievances to be taken seriously" since pointing to these kinds of situations is the right wing's favorite tools to try to distract people from taking "real" grievances seriously. Why help them do it?

And, FYI, a landmark commonly known as "Niggerhead Rock" can be deeply painful, whether the name is official or not.

[abqtommy]

33. The rock in question has refused all media requests to provide comment... and this is the most

sensible position I've seen yet...

[stillcool]

35. "A racial slur that was commonly used"...

Hate begets hate, and here I have my first dose of the day.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

36. What would this site do without you?