2aguy
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- Jul 19, 2014
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- #21
The tearing down of the statue to Frederick Douglass in Rochester recently was undoubtedly the work of white racists. It wouldn’t be the first time the statue was vandalized — ignorant white students were caught, confessed and apologized for doing so in the past.
Crime in Rochester is serious, but this historic city also has a high-tech economy and fine educational and cultural institutions. Today it’s around 40% African American, with large and vibrant immigrant communities as well. I lived in “snow belt” Rochester for some time many years ago and found it a great little city. It is on the old Erie Canal / Great Lakes, had an early railroad, and was the country’s earliest agriculture trans-shipment “boom town.” But times change.
When old Frederick Douglass published his abolitionist newspaper, the North Star in Rochester in the 1840s and 1850s it was already a major, if dangerous, stop on the Underground Railroad. I’m familiar with Douglass’s life and writings. Here is a recent OP I did on one of his famous post-Civil War speeches: https://www.usmessageboard.com/search/115477/?q=Frederick+Douglass&c[title_only]=1&c[users]=Tom+Paine+1949&o=relevance
A great book I’ve been reading recently deals with Douglass and with upstate New York abolitionism. It is actually a serious history of Douglass’ friend, the famous Harriet Tubman, who as a young woman was enslaved on an “Old Dutch” plantation further south near the Hudson River Valley. I highly recommend it for those who want to get a deep perspective on the remarkable Northern & Western abolitionist movements, the religious and agricultural life in those times, and on all the changes of that period. It is called Sojourner Truth’s America. Just as much of the “Second Great Awakening” religious revival movement centered in the “Burnt Over” N.Y. region, so too did Abolitionism and early struggles for Women's Rights.
Rochester has a rich history which makes sadly poignant the recent destruction of Douglass’ statue, and the senseless shootings during the July 4th weekend.
The people tearing down statues are not "white racists." They are black lives matter and antifa.......terrorizing democrat party cities where they have free reign to burn, loot and kill.........in order to hurt Trump during an election year...that is how far the democrats will go to win....dead Black children are no matter to them.