Today’s blacklisted American: Judge orders Philadelphia to stop blacklisting Christopher Columbus
How Philadelphia wants Christopher Columbus honored
The modern dark age: A state judge has now ordered the city of Philadelphia to remove the plywood box that has covered its statue of Christopher Columbus for the past two years.
In her ruling, Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt said that if the city disagrees with the “message” the statue sends, it can add its own plaque with what it wants to convey. “More to the point, the City accepted the donation of the Columbus statue in 1876. It has a fiduciary duty to preserve that statue, which it designated an historic object in 2017. The Columbus statue is not City property as is, for example, a City snowblower,” the judge wrote.
On orders by the city’s Democratic Party mayor, Jim Kenny, the statue had been covered during the worst of the riots in 2020, with Kenny’s stated intention to remove it entirely at some point.
Kenney has said Columbus was venerated for centuries as an explorer but had a “much more infamous” history, enslaving Indigenous people and imposing punishments such as severing limbs or even death.
The absurdity of the left’s hatred of Columbus is illustrated in Kenney’s statement. No human is perfect, and Columbus was a man of his time. His specific wrongs (enslaving captured Indians) were far dwarfed by his great achievement of crossing the Atlantic fearlessly when everyone said it could not be done, thus inaugurating five hundred years of human exploration and renewal. Moreover, it is entirely wrong to assign many of the bad policies the Spanish and Portuguese instituted in the New World on Columbus, as he in the end had absolutely nothing to do with establishing those policies. He was first and foremost and explorer, and a truly great one at that.
The box was finally removed late last night.
I predict that the city will do little to protect the statue now that it is uncovered, and will enthusiastically look the other way when (not if) leftist terrorists move in to damage or topple it. You see, to the left, only one opinion or idea or history is allowed in a “free” society, the opinion or idea or history it agrees with.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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How Philadelphia wants Christopher Columbus honored
The modern dark age: A state judge has now ordered the city of Philadelphia to remove the plywood box that has covered its statue of Christopher Columbus for the past two years.
In her ruling, Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt said that if the city disagrees with the “message” the statue sends, it can add its own plaque with what it wants to convey. “More to the point, the City accepted the donation of the Columbus statue in 1876. It has a fiduciary duty to preserve that statue, which it designated an historic object in 2017. The Columbus statue is not City property as is, for example, a City snowblower,” the judge wrote.
On orders by the city’s Democratic Party mayor, Jim Kenny, the statue had been covered during the worst of the riots in 2020, with Kenny’s stated intention to remove it entirely at some point.
Kenney has said Columbus was venerated for centuries as an explorer but had a “much more infamous” history, enslaving Indigenous people and imposing punishments such as severing limbs or even death.
The absurdity of the left’s hatred of Columbus is illustrated in Kenney’s statement. No human is perfect, and Columbus was a man of his time. His specific wrongs (enslaving captured Indians) were far dwarfed by his great achievement of crossing the Atlantic fearlessly when everyone said it could not be done, thus inaugurating five hundred years of human exploration and renewal. Moreover, it is entirely wrong to assign many of the bad policies the Spanish and Portuguese instituted in the New World on Columbus, as he in the end had absolutely nothing to do with establishing those policies. He was first and foremost and explorer, and a truly great one at that.
The box was finally removed late last night.
I predict that the city will do little to protect the statue now that it is uncovered, and will enthusiastically look the other way when (not if) leftist terrorists move in to damage or topple it. You see, to the left, only one opinion or idea or history is allowed in a “free” society, the opinion or idea or history it agrees with.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Also if anyone reads what Columbus actually did, he enslaved Caribs … for the international war crimes and genocides they were committing against the Arawaks. Up to and including cannibalism.
Let’s just say that if they take the statue down and put up a trendy new Caribbean restaurant, I’ll not hurry to eat there.
Considering the democrat-party is, was, and always has been, the party of slavery, maybe democrat mayor Jim Kenny should [action verb] himself, to atone for the sins of his ancestors.
It would save us the hassle of rendering him offshore.