Cal State Long Beach retires Prospector Pete mascot amid cries of racism and genocide during California gold rush (Los Angeles: university, living)

[Exitus Acta Probat]

When I attended CSULB in the 90's I had no idea Prospector Pete was controversial, probably because I was too busy studying to get my Comp Sci degree and I didn't have time for this trivial nonsense. The closest I came to controversy was sharing the Student Union elevator with Dr. Kevin MacDonald. But anyway...

Cal State Long Beach is sending Prospector Pete packing.

The towering bronze statue that sits in the plaza outside the liberal arts building soon will be relocated to a less prominent place on campus as the university officially moves to retire the mascot that some say represents the state’s history of racism and genocide against Native Americans.

Cal State Long Beach retires Prospector Pete mascot amid cries of racism and genocide during California gold rush - Los Angeles Times

[Mr5150]

Originally Posted by Exitus Acta Probat

When I attended CSULB in the 90's I had no idea Prospector Pete was controversial, probably because I was too busy studying to get my Comp Sci degree and I didn't have time for this trivial nonsense. The closest I came to controversy was sharing the Student Union elevator with Dr. Kevin MacDonald. But anyway...



Cal State Long Beach retires Prospector Pete mascot amid cries of racism and genocide during California gold rush - Los Angeles Times

A side note worth considering is that most “native Americans” prefer to be called Indians. When we had cultural sensitivity training with two tribes one of the first things we were told was the term Native American is a term made up by liberal whites. They don’t identify.

[LuvSouthOC]

Because miner 49ers were white men who worked like dogs in search of wealth, hence they were privileged, racist, genocidal colonizers, and they caused more disgusting white settlement into California.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

Because miner 49ers were white men who worked like dogs in search of wealth, hence they were privileged, racist, genocidal colonizers, and they caused more disgusting white settlement into California.

Actually the miners were, pretty much to a man, crazed, avaricious, greedy hooligans with little to no regard for anyone. Natives or other white men / women.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Actually the miners were, pretty much to a man, crazed, avaricious, greedy hooligans with little to no regard for anyone. Natives or other white men / women.

Alright, I'll take the bait on this...

On what are you predicating those statements of yours?

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by Mr5150

A side note worth considering is that most “native Americans” prefer to be called Indians. When we had cultural sensitivity training with two tribes one of the first things we were told was the term Native American is a term made up by liberal whites. They don’t identify.

Who cares? Are they the speech police? Both terms are correct and neither is a slur.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by Exitus Acta Probat

Alright, I'll take the bait on this...

On what are you predicating those statements of yours?

History? ... read a book on the mining insanity ...

[LuvSouthOC]

So diamond miners in Sierra Leone standing in cyanide today are not mad? Oh I forgot they are "of color" and only white miners could be "insane".

The desire for quick wealth and its impact on humans is well known and is not limited to 49ers.

[JGC97]

As much as the colleges in this country would like to rewrite history, retiring a bronze statue isn't going to erase it. If proponents want to do something to truly reverse it and make things right, give back the land that the 300K plus people/prospectors took from the people already living here. i.e. the indians

[TinaTwo]

All of this trying to erase history is really out of hand. We can’t go back and change how everything was done. We can’t rewrite all of it. What happened is over and we look to the future everyday. I think it’s a mistake tearing down or defacing or moving these monuments instead of leaving them stand and allow discussion, education and debate. By using the poor logic of today every single building or monuments across the world could be considered racist and vile by some group of people for a myriad of reasons. Let’s bulldoze Louisiana and the south as most of the buildings were built by poor abused blacks. Then we can bulldoze San Francisco as most of the city was built on the backs of poor Asians. Great Wall of China of course that has to go. Next bulldoze much of the Midwest and East Coast as these were built on the backs of Irish immigrants who were treated horribly. We also need to have reparations for the families of all the women who slaved away 18 hours a day in the sweatshops of the cities dark alleys who worked for pennies while being sexually abused, no bathroom breaks, worked through miscarriages and births, burned to death in factories with locked doors, etc. Oh can’t forget the little child laborers and all their work from their starving robbed childhoods. The entire world population must be compensated for everything in history of our ancestors. Where should we start?