Stephen Foster Statue (Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg, Washington: real estate, living, rich)

[Copanut]

I recall growing up small neighborhood stores selling "hunky bread".

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

Out of curiosity, I wonder how many of the old white guys defending the Foster sculpture were outraged about the "Hunky Steelworker" statue at the Arts Festival back in the 90s:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Local, National & World News

Thanks; that article actually perfectly expresses all of these various outbursts perfectly “it stirred up a big batch of brouhaha”

Brouhaha (n): an episode involving excitement, confusion, turmoil, etc., especially a broil over a minor or ridiculous cause

[New Waver]

Originally Posted by eschaton

It's very ironic that it's a statue literally everyone ignored for generations, and now that some people have asked for it to be moved defenders are coming out of the woodwork.

Bingo. It's like "Wait, I want To be politically correct too. Yeah! Take it down!

[wpipkins2]

Black people have allowed themselves to be shamed for calling a racist a racist. The white response to black people for calling out racists and racism was the "race card". I never understood the white response to all things racial.

This controversial topic went on and on with little to no input from black people. We simply do not give a ****. This white supremacist statue is the least of our worries at this time. We do not have time for petty things that are trivial. We have lives to live and this issue is at the bottom of the barrel. Should the statue be removed? Absolutely. Will I participate in the fight to have it removed? probably not.

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

Black people have allowed themselves to be shamed for calling a racist a racist. The white response to black people for calling out racists and racism was the "race card". I never understood the white response to all things racial.

This controversial topic went on and on with little to no input from black people. We simply do not give a ****. This white supremacist statue is the least of our worries at this time. We do not have time for petty things that are trivial. We have lives to live and this issue is at the bottom of the barrel. Should the statue be removed? Absolutely. Will I participate in the fight to have it removed? probably not.

Thank you, and I appreciate your perspective. Something that irritates me about the whole argument is the idea that the "complaining and whining" has created some big issue, as if the sculpture was no problem until people spoke up. It was always a problem, but it's only now that the cultural zeitgeist has made people feel comfortable speaking truth to power.

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

Black people have allowed themselves to be shamed for calling a racist a racist. The white response to black people for calling out racists and racism was the "race card". I never understood the white response to all things racial.

Racism isn't only a white-on-black issue though.

Originally Posted by Foreign Policy magazine

Amid a rancorous debate over whether the Trump administration has downplayed the threat posed by white supremacist groups, the FBI’s counterterrorism division has declared that black identity extremists pose a growing threat of premeditated violence against law enforcement.

“The FBI assesses it is very likely Black Identity Extremist (BIE) perceptions of police brutality against African Americans spurred an increase in premeditated, retaliatory lethal violence against law enforcement and will very likely serve as justification for such violence,” reads the report, marked for official use only and obtained by Foreign Policy.

The August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, was the catalyst for widespread anger and violence, the FBI report says, concluding that continued “alleged” police abuses have fueled more violence.

“The FBI assesses it is very likely incidents of alleged police abuse against African Americans since then have continued to feed the resurgence in ideologically motivated, violent criminal activity within the BIE movement,” the report states.

The article: The FBI’s New U.S. Terrorist Threat:

The source report: https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...-Redacted.html

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

Racism isn't only a white-on-black issue though.

In the United States it is a white on black and brown issue and always has been. Where have you been? Fighting for the right to survive at the hands of racist cops is not what I would consider Black Identity Extremist. The Black Panther Party was labeled by the FBI as well. I would take this report with a grain of salt. Fear is the best deterrent.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

Black people have allowed themselves to be shamed for calling a racist a racist. The white response to black people for calling out racists and racism was the "race card". I never understood the white response to all things racial.

I think "race card" refers to someone's perspective that another is getting an advantage, or claiming victimization indirectly, blamed on race. I don't think it was a device meant to deflect attention from someone exhibiting racist or bigoted tendencies.

You are generalizing in severe fashion. 100 whites can be surveyed and interviewed on this topic, and you might get 60 or more variable perspectives on it.

[RogersParkTransplant]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

Black people have allowed themselves to be shamed for calling a racist a racist. The white response to black people for calling out racists and racism was the "race card". I never understood the white response to all things racial.

This controversial topic went on and on with little to no input from black people. We simply do not give a ****. This white supremacist statue is the least of our worries at this time. We do not have time for petty things that are trivial. We have lives to live and this issue is at the bottom of the barrel. Should the statue be removed? Absolutely. Will I participate in the fight to have it removed? probably not.

As always I respect your voice and your comments. I do wish to point out that, of the 18 people who stood up and spoke out against the statue on Wednesday, about four or five were African-American and mentioned this as part of their testimony. Two or three were recent alums from Pitt's law school, and one is an arts coordinator in Braddock. Several prominent black people who are heavily involved in the local arts community and/or members of the Pitt community were in the audience too. Only one member of the Arts Commission present at the hearing was black.

I mention all this not to detract from your point, but just to say that the hearing did have important input from African-Americans. Here's a useful write-up that I don't think has been shared here yet:

https://www.pghcitypaper.com/Blogh/a...-foster-statue

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

Thank you, and I appreciate your perspective.

As always I respect your voice and your comments


This shows an attitude of preferential treatment. Obviously, as an african-american, wpip will have a say people would be interested in hearing, but it sounds like he is held to some level of reverence or something. sniping at differing opinions shall be reserved for the (ASSUMED!) whites.