“The Woke Folk” are not finished. As I said last week, they are tearing down statues of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Frederick Douglass. It is only a matter of time before they expand their attacks on other historic irritants that have gotten under their skin, say, Santa Claus or perhaps Uncle Sam — he should have been gone long ago. But now according to “The Good Times” — also known as The Washington Times — the Woke Folk want to change the names of “1,000 rivers, mountains and other places because they consider the names to be racist.” That is the way the Times reported the story last Wednesday.
Rep. Al Green, a Texas Democrat, said, “Racism, even in geography, cannot be tolerated in a country that strives for liberty and justice for all.” Racism has long been a target for Democrats, even for independents and — when reasonable — for Republicans. Remember, the Civil Rights bills of the mid-1960s had bipartisan support. Racial intolerance is hardly a controversial issue today. We are all against it, at least all civilized Americans. Yet with the arrival of the Woke Folk’s opposition to racism, it has taken a turn for the absurd. This “geographic racism” that Green talks about is a perfect example of the absurdity of which I speak.
Vegetarianism is fast becoming a desideratum with Democrats. Will the day come when having a hamburger for lunch becomes a sign of divisive intolerance? Will the day come when hamburger chains will have to self-censor their advertisements? Nowadays, virtue flaunting is a powerful force for self-promotion, at least among left-wingers. I anticipate with relish the day when virtuous Democrats will have a handful of vitamins for lunch washed down with carrot juice, and they might consume only a bowl of salad for dinner.
Legislation introduced a couple of weeks ago by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of the great state of Massachusetts and Green — aptly named — will eliminate the names of places that honor individuals who, in the words of the representative, “held racially repugnant views” or “carried out injustices against racial minorities.” Wait until the vegetarians take over the Democratic Party and target the carnivores. The Democrats could become the new McCarthyites. I can see it now. In Congress, there will be hearings asking the witness if he or she ever ate at a McDonald’s emporium or what they had for dinner last night. It has happened before in America. I shudder when I think of the dreadful McCarthy hearings.
As things stand now, we are only talking about changing the names of thousands of locales. That is not a big deal. Rivers and mountains and cities are not in themselves racist, but they can have a racial taint to their names. Apparently, Warren and Green were asked by the Times to provide names of those entities that will have to go. Both have been reluctant to assent.
Now a new pest has joined the opponents of “geographic racism.” Her name is Deb Haaland, and she is the Biden administration’s secretary of the Interior. Moreover, she is an American Indian, or at least she says she is an American Indian. That would make her the first American Indian to achieve Cabinet rank. You will remember the controversy that Warren got herself into when she made a similar claim. Think of the laughter our rude former president provoked every time he referred to her as Pocahontas. Well, I think President Joe Biden has thoroughly vetted Haaland. Now she has entered the geographic racism controversy and vowed that, “We are reviewing the options available for renaming places, including authorities that can be taken by the secretary (that would be her) to better address a number of names that do not reflect who we are as a nation.”
Have you looked at a map recently? There are indeed thousands of names that will need to be changed — perhaps millions. I was in the Chicago area a few weeks ago and stayed in the Baker Hotel right next to the Fox River. Those are two spots that will attract Haaland’s suspicions. A fox is an innocent animal and ought not to have its name exploited. The Baker Hotel is more unlikely, but nonetheless people have been prejudiced against bakers for years. Of course, there are the easy targets such as Columbus, Ohio, named after Christopher Columbus and Columbus Mountain in Colorado. In fact, while driving into Washington, D.C., yesterday, I discovered a Columbus Boulevard and a Columbia, Maryland. There must be a thousand places in this vast and unenlightened country of ours with a name drawn from the name of that offensive explorer. And then we move on to Lincoln and Washington.
This is going to be a very long crusade. Are we really confident that the country’s do-gooders are up to it?
R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. is founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator. He is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research and the author, most recently, of “The Death of Liberalism,” published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. To find out more about R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
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“Racism, even in geography, cannot be tolerated in a country that strives for liberty and justice for all.” ,,,,,So, let’s start by renaming Los Angeles as “Los Diablos”, and New York to “Old Pork”. Maybe a busy ditch like the Grand Canyon can be renamed after the Democrat Socialist “Dizzy Bltches”. Old Faithful under Democrats should be renamed “New Treachery”, and our Amber waves of grain “Black Lives ways to Gain”
Don’t forget chicago, to MURDER CENTRAL.. Seattle, to Stalingrad mark 2. Portland to Hellhole # infinate..
I’Nad as Hel#,And I’M NotGoingTo Take any Longeer! But Who knows, Tomorrow Is Another Day, Maye I’ LL Feel Better, We’ See….
“The Woke Folk” are racists, “The Woke Folk” are communists and like all liberals “The Woke Folk” are mentally ill.
What absolute ignorance. Green, Warren, and Haaland—Dumb, Dumber, and Dumber Still.
Folks, if we are living in the greatest nation on Earth, revered for its integrity and values—its pioneering spirit—its dedication to giving every individual the opportunity to be the best they can be—then we better put the skids on this BS right here, right now. This country is being turned into a total insane asylum—a laughingstock to the whole world—by the mental cases trying to run the show who have declared themselves the ultimate intelligentsia. They all need to be locked up.
This pathetic, lame excuse for for correcting some horrific wrongs that have, and supposedly are, tainting our image, makes retardation look like Mensa. This is the most asinine, idiotic, stupid, and utterly ridiculous half-brain idea that any moron could come up with—from people in government, mind you. This administration is far removed from brilliance—even common sense. This is so absurd as to make absurdity look reasonable. In all seriousness, this **** must be shut down with a thundering exclamation point.
Impeach Biden
>> In all seriousness, this **** must be shut down with a thundering exclamation point. <<
I'm going to monitor your future posts closely, as you clearly have inside connections. How else could you be so confident conservatives in Congress will grow backbones?
Seriously, I agree with your sentiments, but cannot share your confidence.
Thank you. It is more of a hope where Congress is concerned unless we get some real fighters in there in the mid-terms. It definitely needs to be a grassroot effort—you, me, and everybody else has to stand up to this. We cannot keep going down this road.
You are quite right; we must be very careful in our selections in 2022.
EVEN durnig the time under both BUSH jr and Trump, that they held BOTH THE HOUSE and senate, they continually seemed to show they LACK A SPINE…
That because the Democrats decided to close all the Mental Heath Hospitals because they felt they were not needed, years ago. Now they are living on our streets, LA, San Fran, Portland , everywhere.
AND are also running some of those cities!
At least the McCarthyites had a very real target at the outset, Communism; it was the cold war and fresh in mind were German Bunds prior to WW II. Many were sympathetic to Communism just as there are today, some accussed were guilty, some deemd innocent yet years later after they were gone the real truth came out. The ‘Woke’, however, are setting up straw targets by redefining how the language and actions of the past are perceived then putting their spin of outrage on them to discredit them. Listen to the obsurdity of what Deb Haaland espoused. Doesn’t anyone see that removing black iconic characters such as Aunt Jemima or Uncle Ben and the Indian maiden was not honoring the memory of anyone but erasing them from consciousness as if they never existed.
WE should have never STOPPED mcarthy, in trying to PURGE the scourge that IS Communism and marxism from our nation.
MAYBE HAD WE actually LET HIM FINISH what he started, we’d NOT BE IN THIS ******* mess we are in now days!
“Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”
History is not there for you to like or dislike. It is there for you to learn from it
and if it offense you the better. Because you are less likely to repeat it.
It is NOT yours to change or erase, it belongs to all of us.
Why did the taliban destroyed the bamiyan buddhas?? The 1500 year old statues were blown up and destroyed in March 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were idols. … Kinda like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln statues here in the U.S. Socialist democrat Party State.
The Traitorous socialist Democrat Party has stated their objectives. 🙁
The “Socialist Democrat Party State” political officers, Gestapo, Woke and Cancel Culture are just getting started.
You will obey, be loyal and support the “Socialist Democrat Party State” or you will be classified as
“Enemies of the State”.
24 Aug. 2020 – Monday on MSNBC’s “Live,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
referred to President Donald Trump and his Republican supporters as
“domestic enemies” and “enemies of the State”.
Let us hope they are, in fact, “enemies” of Pelosi’s definition of “the State.”