Sarah J. Jackson: Whenever someone random tries to downplay confederate monuments to me and I don’t have the energy to put my work hat on, I just calmly say, “I don’t know it’s kinda like if we had statues of the 9/11 hijackers, only confederates killed more Americans.” Shuts them up every time.

Whenever someone random tries to downplay confederate monuments to me and I don’t have the energy to put my work hat on, I just calmly say, “I don’t know it’s kinda like if we had statues of the 9/11 hijackers, only confederates killed more Americans.” Shuts them up every time.

bsky.app/profile/thes...

Visiting my hometown of Chicago this week and I’m reminded of a peculiar custom they had up North: they would erect statues of people who *won.*

From this angle it kinda looks like he's riding a llama.

The Surrender at Appomattox would have been so much sweeter if General Grant’s Llama spit in General Lee’s face.

I hope you’re not saying that’s a bad thing

The llamas don't like it, is all.

Llamas have plenty of firepower to express their dislike themselves, I’m not prepared to speak for them

Inevitably, I’m using this. Do you get royalties or do we need a business associate agreement?

Feel free. I think it’s really important to drive home there has never been a more dangerous, deadly or existential thread to freedom on US soil than from those assholes.

100%. I always appreciate your perspective & insight. Thank you!

There are a lot of people working hard to change that:(

...well this is brilliant and if I hadn't been forced to leave the south I'd be asking permission to steal it

There are some Californians who could use hearing it, although I hope you don’t encounter them

Probably going to be hard avoid them in any rural & inland part of the state that isn't Tahoe. :/

"But we just celebrate the military genius of general such and such." Funny. There isn't a street in all of Germany named for Rommel or Kesselring. I wonder why. Oh yeah wait it's because Nazis Bad. 🤷‍♀️

When I lived in Atlanta I used to ask people when they were going to put Bin Laden up on Stone Mountain with the rest of the anti-American terrorists.

This is the best response.

I live in Richmond and believe you me we still get these dickheads and I’m gonna use this.

Every time I think of the UDC I'm tickled when I remember that their address is on Arthur Ashe Boulevard.

HAH! Literally just passed those jerks coming home from the VMFA.

I give their building the finger every time I go to the museum. Not mature but satisfying.

Thank you. I’m borrowing this next time this comes up.

Going to have to remember this riposte. Thanks!

Brilliant

Stealing that, and will use it. Thank you.

The Post. The comment. The reply. The exchange.

YES, THANK YOU

recently read a paper for uni where they said that more people died of AIDS in America in the 80s than during 9/11 and yet only one of them is publically acknowledged and mourned for

I also sometimes wonder how people like this feel about the removal of Stalin statues around the former USSR

Thank you! I am going to start using that! 👍🏿

I'm definitely going to use this one.

💯

Stealing that, thank you. Maybe it'll work better than "I don't celebrate treason, and I especially don't celebrate FAILED treason".

Same for slavery statues in the UK e.g. in Bristol

bsky.app/profile/axme...

i see ppl praising this, but mentioning these two things in the same sentence, makes it seem as if they comparing the two is somewhat ok, when it is absolutely not. and this will of course feed more into anti-Muslim hate, which is already very normalised across the 'West'. pls don't do this y'all

I hear your critique and get your concern. I view it as a way to subvert the assumption you nod to about *who* enemies of freedom and democracy are by placing those assumptions back on white racists and insurrectionists. It’s a shortcut to a longer intervention when that intervention isn’t possible.

But that perspective for me doesn’t make yours wrong at all imo, I think we are interpreting the use value differently.

yeah i understood that that, but i implore you to use a different example, because like this will only further normalise anti-Muslim hate, especially under ppl who consider themselves progressive.

I hear you. Thanks for engaging and I will definitely think about this. IME as a Black American it’s not progressives who are out of nowhere confrontational to me about the confederacy but people already entrenched in islamophobic/racist discourse. My intent…

in these rare exchanges when there is little space for education is to say something to challenge why they feel so much disgust around 9/11 but not the actual greatest threat to america that has ever existed. And I know intent and impact are different so I appreciate your challenging me.

Not to derail further but I wonder if a statue of Timothy McVeigh works as well.

so here is someone who agreed with you under ur post and said "I live in Richmond and believe you me we still get these dickheads and I’m gonna use this." and under says this under my post: bsky.app/profile/jose...

9/11 was still bad, and I don’t think it’s anti-Muslim to say so. No more than it’s anti-white to say the Confederacy was bad, which is exactly what the people supporting the statues claim.

...or Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols...

Yes I think these are probably better analogies given some of the pushback I got on this, but, and maybe I should be embarrassed to admit this, I had to google who Terry Nichols was.

I honestly forgot about him and Michael Fortier too until I just recently watched that new HBO documentary on the topic: "An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th"

Good one. I will keep that in my pocket for future use.

Solid

saving this one