ALL human leaders in the past failed morally in many ways, as do we now!
But some human leaders, despite their moral failures, we still honor with statues because of their GOOD actions they did!
The statue of Gaspar de Portola, the Spanish explorer, at Pacifica was just torn down by Cal Trans!! https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/statue-removed-in-pacifica-gaspar-de-portola-18615209.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&fbclid=IwAR2DP0oVMDGKvggnZz9vp0C7505BTfqxebngy-VFXstKC73_6htJiBn4j1k
The statue of Spanish military officer Gaspar de Portola, which stood near the Pacifica Community Center for more than 30 years, started drawing attention in the summer of 2020, as discussions about racial justice and the legacies of colonization reached a boiling point across the nation.
In the late 1760s, Portola led a Spanish fleet along the California coast, including by the San Francisco Bay, and is credited with sparking settlements in the area that ultimately displaced Indigenous inhabitants.
Bob n' Renee via Wiki Commons; Illustration via SFGATE
In mid-2020, a petition calling for the statue’s removal — which read, in part, that the “colonialism, racism and patriarchy this statue represents has no place in the City of Pacifica” — gained nearly 5,000 signatures. Meanwhile, other statues of historical figures, including Christopher Columbus, Ulysses S. Grant and Junipero Serra, were being toppled across the Bay Area, either officially or by protesters.
And, even William Penn's statue was to be removed by the National Park Service from Philadelphia this month, but enough people objected so that is uncertain now.
YET William Penn paid the Native Americans for his landgrant of Pennsylvania (granted to him by the King). And he and his followers defended innocent Native Americans from racist-invaders such as the Scotch-Irish who masssacred innocent Native civilians!
Portola's statue’s "confiscation, done without ceremony a little after 9 a.m. on Thursday, was first reported by the Pacifica Tribune."
January 18, 2024
In the Light of the Good, the Just, the Kind,
and the actual facts of history, not the ideological distortions!
Dan Wilcox
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