Monuments Which Need Added Clarification On-Site

Off-topic
1

Got any monuments in your town or nation which could benefit from clairification? Here’s one example: In the middle of the Colfax, Louisianna cemetery stands a 12-foot-high obelisk, built as a tribute to 3 local White men, “the heroes,” according to the inscription, “who fell in the Colfax riot fighting for White supremacy” on April 13, 1873–Easter Sunday.

The on-Site clarification I suggest includes a mention of the estimated 81 Black people who were murdered that day. And that those 3 “heroes” assured the triumph of White supremacy across the USA.

The book–The Colfax Massacre by L. Keith–tells the story of the event: “more than 150 members of an all-black Republican militia, defending the town’s courthouse, were slain by an armed force of rampaging white supremacists. The most deadly incident of racial violence of the Reconstruction era, the Colfax Massacre unleashed a reign of terror that all but extinguished the campaign for racial equality.
LeeAnna Keith’s The Colfax Massacre is the first full-length book to tell the history of this decisive event. Drawing on a huge body of documents, including eyewitness accounts of the massacre, as well as newly discovered evidence from the site itself, Keith explores the racial tensions that led to the fateful encounter, during which surrendering blacks were mercilessly slaughtered, and the reverberations this message of terror sent throughout the South. Keith also recounts the heroic attempts by U.S. Attorney J.R. Beckwith to bring the killers to justice and the many legal issues raised by the massacre. In 1875, disregarding the poignant testimony of 300 witnesses, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in U.S. v. Cruikshank to overturn a lower court conviction of eight conspirators. This decision virtually nullified the Ku Klux Klan Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871–which had made federal offenses of a variety of acts to intimidate voters and officeholders–and cleared the way for the Jim Crow era.
If there was a single historical moment that effectively killed Reconstruction and erased the gains blacks had made since the civil war, it was the day of the Colfax Massacre. LeeAnna Keith gives readers both a gripping narrative account of that portentous day and a nuanced historical analysis of its far-reaching repercussions.”

2

Leamington Spa has a bronze of Randolph Turpin, world heavyweight boxing champion. The plaque failed to mention that he lost the title a month or two later to the guy he’d won it off, who absoloutely hammered him in the rematch.

3

There is a large uniquely-shaped rock surrounded by three smaller rocks, all sitting in a prominent place by the main highway into town just on the outskirts. It has absolutely no meaning whatsoever.

4

My town (Carmichael, CA) has a 100’ wide mural in Carmichael Park, telling some of the history of the region. The bridge depicted on the mural is part of my former unicycle commute and the way the 32-mile American River Bikeway crosses the river in Carmichael (bikes only). It’s pretty self-explanatory, so I don’t think it needs more explanation, other than how it was made, which is pretty interesting (I just learned this in my link search). See the video link.

Photo link
Video link

5

The great monuments to consumerism “Wal-Mart,” “Target,” et. al. need some clarification… which should remind shoppers that they’re widening our trade deficit and supporting communism while spending their dollars within.

The smaller monuments to consumerism “Safeway,” “Lucky’s,” “Albertson’s,” et. al. also need clarification… which explain how local farmers and the environment are hurt from “factory farms” and excessive shipping and packaging.

Come to think of it, just about every monument needs clarification.

6

well there was a monument in a small town just outside of my town. it was for this old guy who was randomly stopped in his truck and murdered by a hammer to the head from some teenage girls a few years back…they came back and hammered the monument aswell. now its not there anymore.