Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass hacked from its base in NY and damaged beyond repair on the 168th anniversary of his Fourth of July

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The statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, which was ripped from its base in Rochester, New York state, is believed to have been the first monument in the nation erected to honor a black American (Daily Mail)

It was hacked from its plinth by Maplewood Park on Sunday, the 168th anniversary of one of Douglass’ famous Independence Day speeches – delivered on July 5 in Rochester in 1852.

  • Statue of Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester, New York
  • The statue was found at brink of the Genesee River gorge about 50 feet away
  • Statue hit on anniversary of his speech, delivered in that city in 1852 on July 5
  • President Trump tweeted that the vandalism proves ‘anarchists have no bounds!’

An obscene assault on Frederick Douglass

By Post Editorial Board, July 6, 2020 |

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An obscene assault on Frederick Douglass

A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester on the anniversary of one of his most famous speeches. AP

Even after toppling monuments to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, the statue-smashers managed to reach a new height of insanity: Upstate vandals destroyed a statue of Frederick Douglass on the 168th anniversary of his best-known anti-slavery speech.

Maybe that was the point: Douglass’ speech extolled the promise of America outlined in the Declaration of Independence, making him a ripe target for radicals who believe the nation was founded with a stain of racism it can never remove.

Rochester police on Sunday found the shattered statue at the Genesee River gorge, 50 feet from its empty pedestal at Kelsey’s Landing — a stopping-point on the Underground Railroad where Douglass and Harriet Tubman, both former slaves, helped others gain their freedom.
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Frederick Douglass statue vandalized in upstate NY park

It was one of many Douglass monuments erected in the city two years ago, in remembrance of his 200th birthday. Douglass is buried in Rochester, where he gave one of his most eloquent speeches, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” on July 5, 1852.

We saw quite a few social-media posts citing that speech over the weekend — but how many posters read beyond its title or the famous lines “This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn”?

Douglass, who in 1838 bravely escaped the slavery into which he’d been born in Maryland, had come to change his mind about the country’s founding documents, eventually arguing — against some fellow abolitionists — that they were vital fodder for the cause.

The Declaration contained “great principles of political freedom and of natural justice,” he noted. Its signers were “brave” and “great” men whose work carried the seeds of slavery’s destruction.
More, he declared, “the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT.”

Those are fighting words to the warriors of the 1619 Project, the New York Times series that falsely claims the United States was founded primarily to promote slavery — lies that clearly animate today’s statue-smashers.

“Knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom,” Douglass once said. Those who claim to share his fight might want to learn a little about the man himself — and why he was a passionate defender of so much that they seek to destroy.

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Liatris Spicata
Liatris Spicata
3 years ago

Those who destroy statues- tributes to distinguished people of their times- almost certainly have no understanding or appreciation of the complex, nuanced intellect of a man like Frederick Douglas, who I suspect had little regard for ideas simply because they were in vogue at a particular time.

This snippet from his most famous speech (Ref 1), which I encourage all Americans to read, is illustrative:

Fellow-citizens! there is no matter in respect to which, the people of the North have allowed themselves to be so ruinously imposed upon, as that of the pro-slavery character of the Constitution. In that instrument I hold there is neither warrant, license, nor sanction of the hateful thing; but, interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Is slavery among them? Is it at the gateway? or is it in the temple? It is neither. While I do not intend to argue this question on the present occasion, let me ask, if it be not somewhat singular that, if the Constitution were intended to be, by its framers and adopters, a slave-holding instrument, why neither slavery, slaveholding, nor slave can anywhere be found in it.

People have much to learn from the likes of Frederick Douglas. Those who seek to destroy knowledge and awareness of the past truly qualify as goons.

1. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july/

Sewer Maintenance
Sewer Maintenance
3 years ago

Listen.

This mindless act of vandalism is exactly the kind of thing we would expect from some Middle Eastern country right?

And statues are forbidden in Islam. The fact that they decided to start tearing them *all* down is just an unpleasant coincidence, they decided to do it for vanity reasons, BUT, nonetheless it is still something they’re doing,

so basically aren’t we seeing the left starting to converge with radical Islam and integrate into it, whether they realise they’re doing it or not is irrelevant, that is what is happening. Along with their old man Joe – just like Islam defenders refuse to address Mohammed’s marriage to a 9 year old girl, they lefties are totally unbothered by Joe’s behaviour around children, which was on camera and in public. The left and radical Islam are becoming parallel or convergent, whichever one.

Cauc-Asian Patriot
Cauc-Asian Patriot
3 years ago

AMEN! GREAT POINT! WE ARE SEEING A CONVERGENCE OF THE LEFTIE ZOMBIES OF BARRICADE LOOT MAYHEM AKA BLACK LIVES MATTER, ANTIFA WITH ISLAM! GROPER VP DEMENTIA DADDY JOE BRIBE’M/BIDEN AND MUHAMMAD DO HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON!
SUPER SUMMER, RIGHTISTS!

Jeanne Ballard
Jeanne Ballard
3 years ago

Is this why they are getting everyone used to masks? islam?

Cauc-Asian Patriot
Cauc-Asian Patriot
3 years ago

WILL SAY THIS FOR FREDERICK DOUGLASS, THE LEFTISTS OF ANTIFA SHOULD HAVE TO ENCOUNTER HIM AND HIS FELLOW, ESCAPED SLAVES IN THE NEXT LIFE AND HAVE THEIR SOULS KICKED INTO HELL BY THEM! WHERE WERE THE PROTESTS BY THE BLACK COMMUNITY OF NY, THOUGH AGAINST BLM FOR THEIR ACTS OF ANTI-BLACK VANDALISM? TRULY, FREDERICK DOUGLASS WAS A GREAT MAN AND IF HE HAD WANTED TO, COULD HAVE ENDED UP BEING PROMINENT IN LIBERIA IF HE HAD SUPPORTED REPATRIATION. GUARANTEE IF HE AND MORE FORMER SLAVES HAD SETTLED LIBERIA, HE WOULD HAVE A GREAT STATUE THERE AND NOBODY WOULD MESS WITH IT! REAL SHAME! SHAME ON NY! SUPER SUMMER, RIGHTISTS!

JeromefromLayton
JeromefromLayton
3 years ago

What did you expect? These are Democrats, the party of slavery and servitude.

Bikinis not Burkas
Bikinis not Burkas
3 years ago

Why isn’t the MOB tearing down all the Mosques?
Islam is based on Slavery!
Quran 24:32
Sahih International
And marry the unmarried among you and the righteous among your male slaves and female slaves. If they should be poor, Allah will enrich them from His bounty, and Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.

LittleRoot_48
LittleRoot_48
3 years ago

These thugs know no history other than the lies spewed by Howard Zinn.

BuzzyBeeInYourEar
BuzzyBeeInYourEar
3 years ago

Sick people hate and they are incapable of understanding basic history that was important for the development of America. Kids today are fools who know nothing of value…only hatred.
Well I hate them back.

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