"citizens of foreign birth take no second place”
A quote asserting that naturalized citizens (specifically Irish-Americans!) are not second class citizens is too woke for the Bunker Hill Memorial.
National parks order removal of ‘woke’ display at Bunker Hill memorial in Boston
Three quotes about slavery, immigrants and memorializing death have been slated for removal from the historic site, according to reports
One of the quotes slated for removal comes from a 1971 editorial by a group of Vietnam War veterans.
It reads: “We find, upon reflection, that our duty to our country has not ended…We as Vietnam Veterans, strongly feel that the United States should cease to build memorials to death and begin to glorify life.”
A second quote set to be taken down was penned by G.B. Stebbins in 1846 in a letter to William Lloyd Garrison, a journalist and abolitionist, The Boston Globe reported.
“As we drew near to Boston, there stood Bunker Monument, towering up towards the heavens, as if in silent, bitter mockery of the millions of slaves guarded by the professed lovers of Liberty, who reared its lofty column,” Stebbins wrote.
The third excerpt deemed inappropriate by the Trump administration comes from an 1875 letter addressed “To Our Irish Societies.”
“Now that a public orator has declared that foreign-born men have no association with the men of the Revolution, it is our duty to show that in love of freedom and loyalty to the republic, the citizens of foreign birth take no second place,” the quote reads, per the Globe.
More context for the last quote (
at least for now on the NPS website)
On April 19, 1875, George William Curtis gave an oration at the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. ... Curtis still held anti-immigrant beliefs, which he highlighted in his speech.
Think, for instance, of the change wrought by foreign immigration, with all its necessary consequences. In the State of Massachusetts to-day, the number of citizens of foreign birth who have no traditional association with the story of Concord and Lexington is larger than the entire population of the State on the day of the battle… This enormous influx of foreigners has added an immense ignorance, and entire unfamiliarity with republican ideas and habits, to the voting-class."
[That sure sounds familiar.]
Boston's Irish Catholic newspaper,
The Pilot, called out the hypocrisy of these claims.
Unworthy descendant—if he be one—of those brave citizens, is the man who earns his bread by sowing discord and brewing religious hate—even at such a moment.
[Hmmm, sowing discord and hate at the time of a centenary celebration. Familiar again.]
