Petition to replace Portsmouth Confederate Monument with Missy Elliot Statue (Norfolk: 2013, taxes)

[wildworld99]

https://www.change.org/p/portsmouth-..._starters_page

I really think we should just leave history alone.

[VA Yankee]

I can understand relegating the confederate statue to a museum but replacing it with the proposed statue... are they series?

[Statz2k10]

This would make race relations even worse. It's one thing to remove something like a Confederate statue but to put up a statue honoring a black person (or any non white person) seems like it's trying to throw it back in white peoples face.

[TN Lily]

Missy is not "all of us." I agree Statz2k10, much of the rhetoric about the removal of Confederate statues is about throwing it back in white peoples' faces.

I have moved from Hampton Roads to the Roanoke area. This op-ed ran in the local paper:
Lambert: We're still punishing the South | Opinion | roanoke.com
Fort Monroe is referenced in this piece.

Slavery was wrong. But had slavery not occurred, many (perhaps most) of the African Americans in the U.S. would have been born in Africa. I was surprised when a friend said she was glad her ancestors had been slaves because otherwise she would have been born in Africa.

[The Dissenter]

I think the Confederate statues belong in museums and not on publix display. If Portsmouth is going to replace it with a music star, NOTE I'm not that serious, it should be Timbaland and Pharrell since they are in my opinion two of the greatest producers in music history whose body of work far outdoes Missy, who isn't exactly a scrub when it comes to musical accomplishment.

[Spazkat9696]

Originally Posted by The Dissenter

I think the Confederate statues belong in museums and not on publix display. If Portsmouth is going to replace it with a music star, NOTE I'm not that serious, it should be Timbaland and Pharrell since they are in my opinion two of the greatest producers in music history whose body of work far outdoes Missy, who isn't exactly a scrub when it comes to musical accomplishment.

But shouldn't it be someone from P-town? A quick Google search turns up Ruth Brown who is sometimes known as the queen of R&B.

Timbaland is from Norfolk and Pharrell is from VA Beach.

[Diff1]

@TN Lily that's ashame that your friend feels that way because Africa is more than what we see on TV and I advise your friend to learn more about Mother African and her heritage before shaming it.

[Serenity2019]

They should leave the statues up. Here in South Carolina, we have a legislative ACT that prevents any monument from being taken down. History is history it's passed. We need to look to the future, learn from past mistakes, one day at a time.

[pretty in black]

Place the statue in the museum but don't replace it with Missy Elliott. WTF? I hope that petition is a joke.

[tysonsengineer]

Originally Posted by Silver-Fox

They should leave the statues up. Here in South Carolina, we have a legislative ACT that prevents any monument from being taken down. History is history it's passed. We need to look to the future, learn from past mistakes, one day at a time.

Most of those statues were put up decades after the civil war. It has nothing to do with history. A confederate statue was put up in Montana... IN 2013... if you think that has something to do with history, you are very confused. Stop worshiping traitors and slavers. If you want to see history, go read a book or go to a museum. They don't deserve to be exalted in bronze in public streets and public parks that ALL people of ALL color pay taxes to maintain.

It's not about erasing history. Trust me, as a person of color, I hope the names of all those traitors continue to live on in infamy for eternity.