If You Must Destroy Statues, Consider These Four

I’m a hard-liner on free speech and think that these people running around tearing down statues are foolish in the extreme. However, if they absolutely must tilt at windmills statues, here are five that I would like to submit for their consideration:

1. This statue of Che Guevara in New York City
   Located in Central Park, “El Che” is a sculpture by artist Christian Jankowski. Apparently, it’s not supposed to depict Che himself, but rather a Che impersonator who idolized the actual guy (what?). We’re dealing with people who defaced an Abraham Lincoln statue when going after confederates, so one would think a statue of a person who looks exactly like Che Guevara that says “Viva La Re-Evolucion,” might be a target of people who actually cared about injustice.
   Let’s remember that Che actually wanted to take out New York, home to this statue, saying “If the missiles had remained (in Cuba),We would have used them against the very heart of the U.S., including New York City. The victory of Socialism is well worth millions of atomic victims.”
   In the final analysis, Che Guevara killed thousands of people, and said that he didn’t really have time for pesky things like trials to see if people were guilty. He was known to really enjoy killing, too, with some commenting that it made him smile. He forced more into slavery, and thousands into exile. So, if you have to protest a statue, maybe this would be a good place to start. Even if it’s just somebody who idolizes the real Che, he’s a pretty creepy person to be excited about.
2. This statue of hard-core racist Margaret Sanger
   The main argument, obviously, against confederate statues is that they hearken back to a time in history when racism was accepted. That argument rings somewhat hollow, however, while Margaret Sanger’s statue is allowed to stand. Even if you agree with what her organization has become today, there is no question that she was a eugenicist. In fact, one of her more popular tracts was called The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda, in which she said such things as “Eugenics is … the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political and social problems.” African-American groups have tried legal means to have the statue removed to no avail, but I guess this hugely racist person isn’t on the “racist statue” radar somehow.
3. This statue of former KKK Leader Robert Byrd
   
   Robert Byrd was was not only a member of the Ku Klux Klan, he was leader of his chapter, winning the title of Exalted Cyclops (no, seriously) unanimously. In 1944, he wrote to Mississippi Senator Bilbo “I shall never fight in the armed forces with a negro by my side … Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.”He later renounced his ties to the KKK, in part because he felt they were anti-communist (for more information on communists and human rights, read number 4 on this list), and said it was a mistake to join. Many confederates weren’t actively pro-slavery or renounced that viewpoint, however, and that doesn’t seem to matter, and Byrd is hardly a product of another time, having only passed away in 2010.So, what makes his story so different, and why does he have a statue anyway? Because, in 1952, fewer than 10 years after writing that letter, he was elected a senator in the Democrat party. He ran on a platform of opposing desegregation and civil rights, arguing that it was for states to decide (almost an identical argument to the confederates) and was re-elected time and again, holding that seat until his death.
4. This statue of Vladimir Lenin in Seattle
   
   Another left-wing murderer!
   There is literally a 16 foot high statue of Vladimir Lenin in Seattle. By Bulgarian artist Emil Venkov, it was actually already torn down once, in Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution of 1989. It was then bought by an American for some insane reason and brought here, where it still stands while people take down and deface statues of peace signs.
   Is he getting a pass because he’s a liberal? He was certainly as violent and deadly as any confederate, using executions, hostage taking, concentration camps to force obedience or punish his enemies. He also allowed mas starvation to occur among peasants to keep his own people fed. In all, his death toll is counted at around 4 million, yet his statue stands.

Note: Don’t actually destroy property. It’s wrong and dumb.

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