"Retracting My Raves About Ras, the Racist"

A few weeks ago, I actually praised Ras Baraka, the Democrat Mayor of Newark NJ, the city of my birth, for his decision to remove the Christopher Columbus statue from Washington Park in Newark.  Here is that blog which explains WHY I thought his action, and the way he did what he did, were praiseworthy...

http://chetitorial.blogspot.com/2020/09/newark-mayor-ras-baraka-example-of-good.html

At the time I wrote that blog, there was NO mention of renaming the entire PARK, mind you...just removing the statue. But now there is, and this changes things......

https://www.nj.com/essex/2020/10/newark-to-rename-washington-park-to-honor-harriet-tubman-replace-columbus-statue-with-hers.html

This new info forces me to RETRACT MY RAVES ABOUT RAS and wonder if I should call him "Ras the Racist" now??  You see, his rationale (which now appears to be a lie) for removing the statue was to protect it against vandalism......but why did he remove Washington's NAME??  Hey, I love Harriet Tubman and think it's GREAT that her statue will replace Columbus.  She's someone who most people from Newark will appreciate more than Columbus.  But there was NO NEED to rename the entire PARK after Tubman.  No one can desecrate or topple the NAME  of the park, so Mayor Baraka can't spin this like he spun his reason for removing the Columbus statue.

By removing all traces of the two white men, one who "discovered" America and one who is our nation's "Father," Mayor Baraka has gone TOO far now. I see no contradiction with a TUBMAN statue in a WASHINGTON Park, frankly!! It MIGHT actually be a UNIFYING REMINDER of our nation's history....but, sobeit.  Ras is doing what HE wants to do and I am now doing what I am FORCED to do....to UNdo my earlier blog of commendation. 

One more thing...the info in that second link I posted says that Ras believes Columbus Day (today) should be "Indigenous People's Day." I certainly didn't know THAT when I praised him previously!! And so, Ras....in closing, I dedicate this meme I created to YOU.

HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY, MAYOR BARAKA!!