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Portland Succumbs to Chaos as Elk Statue Burns


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They assured us all they wanted to come for was Confederate statues.

According to Black Lives Matter, these were slave owners and racists that needed to be wiped from public view.

Thus began the great purge of American history.

Radical protesters around the country have denigrated and defaced statue after statue.

But they’re not just coming after Confederate statues.

The Oregonian details how protesters set fire to an elk statue in Portland:

A 120-year-old statue of an elk has been removed from downtown Portland after protesters lit a fire that damaged its base Wednesday night.

The statue, which sits atop the David P. Thompson Fountain, has been the target of graffiti and fires during the weeks of protests against systemic racism, police brutality and the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

“The fire did not seem to harm the elk,” said Keith Lachowicz, the Public Art Collections Manager with Regional Arts and Culture Council.

A fire was also set under the statue Tuesday night.

The elk and fountain were donated to the city by one-time mayor David P. Thompson in 1900 to honor elk that once roamed the Willamette Valley. The statue sits between Chapman and Lownsdale squares, across from the Justice Center, the focal point of nightly protests.

It had been in the same place for 120 years and was originally designed to water horses, Lachowicz said.

Usually, it functions as a fountain in the summer, he said, though this year it wasn’t turned on because of concerns over spreading COVID-19.

The Regional Arts and Culture Council and the city decided the damage to the granite base of the statue was so severe the piece needed to be removed for public safety reasons, Lachowicz said.

They were concerned the statue would fall over and injure someone, he added.

Police said they are investigating the damage.

Did the elk own slaves?

Was it a white supremacist?

These radicals are burning and destroying simply because they want to cause so much chaos that we submit to their will.

Here’s the latest on Twitter over the poor elk in Portland:

While it's sad to see any monument face so much disrespect, it's even worse when it's a monument for someone so important to our nation's history.

Like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson.

Dr. Ben Carson submitted a well-written article to NBC as to why we should celebrate our nation's statues:

Throughout our history, Independence Day has been an important occasion of remembrance for Americans. We reflect on the founding principles of our great nation, we celebrate those who helped fight for the freedoms we defend today, and we honor the heroic sacrifice it took to launch the greatest experiment the world has ever seen.

Sadly, the present day feels different. The news is regularly filled with stories of anarchists and angry mobs showing blatant disregard for America's artifacts and historical sites, desecrating these tributes to our long journey toward liberty and justice for all.

In Portland, Oregon, we saw a statue of George Washington torn down. In Washington, D.C., we saw the World War II Memorial vandalized. In Madison, Wisconsin, protestors pulled down a statue of Hans Christian Heg, a fierce abolitionist and someone who made the ultimate sacrifice to free slaves.

This raises the question: What are these people fighting for? Or better yet, what are they fighting against?

Each of these monuments represents a moment in time, an important place or an influential figure who sacrificed for the good of their country. How have we reached a point in our nation's history in which these figures are not celebrated, but villainized and shamed?

America continues to hold certain truths — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — to be self-evident, and we should work each and every day democratically, as our Founding Fathers intended, to improve and ensure these rights for all.


To do so, mayors and governors must immediately condemn the vandalization of statues and dismantle autonomous zones. Destroying our history, wrecking our communities and inhibiting our law enforcement officers will only result in more tyranny, not more freedom. In fact, what we have seen these past few weeks is chaos, lawlessness, even murder.

It is up to leaders in this country to emulate our Founding Fathers and stand up to this retraction from law and order, which in no way reflects our morals, let alone our democratic values.

Watch the anarchists trash the elk monument right here:



 

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