Augusta has a couple of no name golfers you can replace it with.
COLUMBIA --- A statue of "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman should be removed from Statehouse grounds unless it includes the truth about the former governor's role in South Carolina's racist history, a legislator told a House panel Thursday.
Rep. Todd Rutherford said he is worried that school children visiting the Statehouse will get a "whitewashed" view of the former governor whose white supremacy policies, written into South Carolina's 1895 Constitution, created the Jim Crow-era South.
"He was not a guy who should be beloved by most South Carolinians," the Columbia Democrat said of the state's governor from 1890 to 1894.
History would become a lot more interesting to students if they were told the truth, Mr. Rutherford said.
But Mr. Rutherford's bill is likely dead for the year. The subcommittee did not vote on it and the panel's chairman said he doesn't support it or plan to have another meeting on it.
Tillman moved on to the U.S. Senate in 1895, unapologetically defending until his death in 1918 his post-Reconstruction tactics to restore white rule in the then-majority-black state.
"The purpose of our visit was to strike terror," he said in the Senate in 1900 about the so-called Hamburg Massacre of 1876, where his militia killed black Republicans, and which boosted his political career. "And the next morning when the Negroes who had fled to the swamp returned to the town the ghastly sight which met their gaze of seven dead Negroes lying stark and stiff certainly had its effect."
A group of schoolchildren reading the plaques on Tillman's statue Thursday learned he founded Winthrop and Clemson universities.
"He was the friend and leader of the common people," they read aloud, while taking his picture and marking him off their educational "scavenger hunt" list. Parents said they knew nothing of Tillman's racist side.
Kim Gamble of Gilbert, who home schools her second- and third-graders, said she wasn't surprised there was more to Tillman's tale and wants her children to learn the full history.
"If it represents something we don't agree in, we should take it down, and put somebody more respectable in his place," she said.
After Thursday's meeting, subcommittee chairman Rep. Greg Delleney said he doesn't plan to discuss the Tillman statue again because he sees no benefit in rehashing the past.
"He was honored by the people of his time," the Chester Republican said. "I'm not going to go back and rewrite history."
But Mr. Rutherford plans to reintroduce the bill next year and hopes it sparks positive discussions on race in this state.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Harrison said his colleague sponsored the bill "for all the right reasons." But he also questioned where it would lead.
Comments
Augusta has a couple of no name golfers you can replace it with.
Gimme a break
Rewriting history is a great idea. Every time congress changes hands, all of the history books can be adjusted to reveal the truth....what ever it may be du jour. Karl Marx would be proud of such an idea.
Wow. Just like the James Brown statue!
Yes Patriciathomas, let's just leave out the fact he was a racist murderer. Such minor details. I believe this approach is more closely aligned with Stalinist communism.
I believe the history of Gov. Tillman is readily available. That's how Mr Rutherford learned of it. It's the statue that he wishes to change. Remember how the stars and bars are treated? My point is in reference to the endless rewriting of history every time a socialist Democrat (as opposed to an American Democrat) gets in office. PC over truth.
iletuknow??????????????????? JUNEBUG, When someone find out that James Brown wanted to kill people instead of seeing them treated like human beings, then get back to us. I knew as soon as I saw this on television, what some of the posters would be saying.
" HE was a friend and leader of the common people ". Yeah, that is a true representation of history and fact. Well., if you belonged to that group of " Common people " that is.
That's right Hypo, also you have to take the era into consideration. Just like James Brown, Tillman had good points and bad points. His statue references his good points.
Instead of removing the existing statue, why not cast another statue that shows Tillman making a really mean face and holding up a noose? It can have a plaque that reads, "Keeping the black man in his place". Then both sides of the man will be represented in bronze.
Hey Hypo, just tell the whole story. Here's one
The sad part about this whole situation is how some of you find ways to bring others in this. What James Brown got to do with this.Yes James had his legal troubles but not murder there is no comparison.There are many stories about about people we look up too that are not good but the truth is the truth.
double standard, James Brown had his trouble with the laws and still he was a fine, cutting edge musician. An icon in his field. Many object to his statue because it only refers to the high points of his life. THAT'S the common link. Not "who did what". According to justus4s pov, the Brown statue represents drug abuse, infidelity, drunk driving and firing a weapon randomly in the city limits. Intelligent and honest people will admit that the only thing the Brown statue represents is the recognition he deserves because of his long and excellent career. By the same token, the only thing the Tillman statue represents is his positive traits. Trying to make anything else out of it would be a ... double standard.
PT, what was his ' Positive traits". I missed that part of the article. lol. They named him " Pitchfork" for a reason and I am willing to bet, it was not because he pitched hay.
Tiresome really tiresome...there are plenty of statues I would like to see trampled... So if I protest enough they will be destroyed....do not doubt people that it will be taken down because a group of folks that have nothing better to do with their time and expense would destroy anything historical if it is white.....not enough words to express the irritation I am feeling at this moment....
Christian, I am really shocked at your response.
Patriciathomas you still don't answer what he had to do with this article.Nowhere did the author name James Brown. In Stone Mountain they got a monument of 3 confederate soldiers we didn't bring that up.
again double standard, the comparison was made because the Tillman statue didn't represent every aspect of Tillmans life and people are now whining about it. The same thing has happened and is happening concerning the Brown statue. The AP didn't mention the comparison, an Augusta resident did. Are you intentionally being dense just to make some kind of point? (6:48am post)(I guess a sculpture can be like a statue)
Hypo, didn't the article mention the founding of Clemson and Winthrop?
Okay, but was it a founding that allowed ALL to attend?
Hey and good morning hypo to you too......Your response was right on target....:-)
Apparently, have you seen Clemsons football and basketball teams?
Are you talking about today, or when he was in office? In that case, have you seen the NAACP? LOL
First a flag, now a statue.....when we taking down the Strom Thurmond Dam?
PT dense I think not. Yes they are black players on both of those teams, baseball as well. But whenever something is posted in the AC someone always has to play the race card and not stick to the facts and article at hand.
Love the way many of you just gloss over the evil this governor promoted and just want to see this swept under the proverbial rug. As a line in a movie says, some of you folks just can't handle the truth.
As Tillman proudly proclaimed in 1900, "We have done our level best [to prevent blacks from voting]...we have scratched our heads to find out how we could eliminate the last one of them. We stuffed ballot boxes. We shot them. We are not ashamed of it."
Another quote of Tillman's is "We of the South have never recognized the right of the negro to govern white men, and we never will. We have never believed him to be the equal of the white man, and we will not submit to his gratifying his lust on our wives and daughters without lynching him."
i say we eliminate the strom thurmond dam; close clemson & winthrop; fill in lake thurmond; and have the plaques for strom thurmond's & ben tillman's statues changed to, "racist and segregationist - never did anything good for anyone." then we should erect statues for every civil rights pioneer and proclaim, "never did anything wrong to anyone - their legacy speaks for itself." i feel so much better adopting a non-Stalinist / communist approach as advocated by shivas. while we're at it, let's make sure to begin tearing down anything that positively references George Washington or Thomas Jefferson.
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