For the past couple of years, as we sailed into October, I noticed the city put out a notice that City Hall would be closed on the second Monday, for “a holiday.”
It did not mention the name of the holiday.
Sssssh. Columbus Day.
Mayor Kenney now has abandoned flying under the radar in favor of a full frontal executive order renaming the holiday Indigenous Peoples Day. But it is not just renaming it — he’s cancelling Columbus. Making it disappear. How’s that for exercising his privilege?
“What do I care?” he did not say. “I don’t live in South Philly any more. If it pisses off the Italians, who cares? They’re European.”
One reason given for the change was Columbus’ record of killing and enslaving indigenous people. It’s a fact.
You know who else killed and enslaved indigenous people?
Other indigenous people. It’s a fact.
But inconvenient facts don’t matter when your arm is aching from all the waving of the virtue flag.
Nothing against indigenous people. In America, every national, racial, ethnic, religious, gender, etc., group should have its own holiday (if there are enough days in the year). Maybe united we stand, but by identity we divide. Maybe that’s the real plan.
Going maximum progressive, Kenney also has elevated “Juneteenth” to celebrated status. “Juneteenth” marks the day (June 19, 1865) that Union troops (and news of emancipation) supposedly reached the last people in the deepest parts of the former Confederacy in Galveston, Texas. Slavery didn’t “end” on that day, it was more like it was the last stop on the pony express.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to celebrate the date of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation? That would be January 1 (1863), but that would interfere with celebrating college bowl games, and the Mummers Parade, if Kenney isn’t able to kill it. And he’d love to.
The January 1 date also would bring too much attention to Abraham Lincoln who is rapidly losing luster among the Lefty Loonies. San Francisco has just stripped his name off schools. You’d have to ask those Froot Loops why.
So what had been the Christopher Columbus legal holiday will be swapped for Indigenous Peoples Day, which celebrates, to repeat, a culture of rape, torture, murder and enslavement by what we used to call Indians. Is it possible our genius mayor didn’t know that? Or was he just so submerged with some cockamamie constituency he didn’t bother to fact check?
In our too-woke mayor making “Juneteenth” a legal city holiday, it’s another day our city workers have off (because they are so incredibly efficient right now). Alas, his executive order lasts only as long as he is in office.
Deputy Mayor Cynthia Figueroa, who co-chairs the Reform, Transformation and Reconciliation Committee created in the aftermath of last summer’s protests, said the administration hopes to make the holiday permanent as part of bargaining with city worker unions this year.
City holidays, according to the City Council web site, are: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, President’s Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day.
I’m sure city unions won’t object to another paid holiday, but taxpayers might.
Adding another paid holiday is irresponsible.
To fulfill Kenney’s wet dream, we should eliminate one.
I suggest Independence Day, July 4th.
You can guess why, can’t you?
It was “independence” for white males, but not for women, and African-Americans in a wide swath of the 13 colonies.
If we can’t celebrate Christopher Columbus (and George Washington, Ulysses Grant, Frank Rizzo, Kate Smith and countless others) how can we keep July 4th?
Unless and until the rest of us, rational Americans, get in the face of the Loony Left, they will continue to cancel our heroes, erode our traditions, rewrite our history and destroy the faith that we have always had in ourselves, our culture, and our country.
It’s time to stop the insanity.
HAPPY THURSDAY !!!
Stu, my little snow bunny,
When you make a point, you make sure that the dart is sharp ! It’s oh so true that the far left doesn’t know “why ” they want things. They just want them their way . Maybe, if we all took the name, Minerva, then life would be a bit easier for these people.
On a lighter note. Columbus. Pick the book ( and the facts ) that you like. He either was a good guy or a bad guy. Until the 21st century, he was a honored man, doing good for Spain.
The “Real” people. To you that are not part of the Native American tribes. In all of the tribes and culture and folklore of the Indian, we were the real people of the earth. The animals, birds and all creations were our brothers and sisters. A tribe consisted of all blood. The Europeans did the same with their villages. The woman were the head of the tribe. Think about that ! If men were in charge, there wouldn’t be anybody . You married into a tribe. The male went to the wife’s tribe. Consequently, teibes near each other were safe and united. War was made on those tribes that came into your territory. Be it for food or horses or “slaves”. True. We did all of those things, except rape. That’s a white man thing. When a war party raided a tribe, they would keep those of value. The woman were married into the tribe, because there was a lack of females. We did not “own” the land where our people lived. We shared it with all living “people”. The white man’s word is “own”. All tribes recognized a supreme being in one spirit or another. All tribes – just as the old Europeans – lived their lives in harmony with the world. Then, eventually, ( 1600s ) that all went south. The Europeans landed and kept coming.
So boys and girls. If you ever want to have a conversation about rape, murder and everything bad, think about what the white man did to the “Native Americans”. The blacks, browns yellows and every other color person surely was/is abused. The Indian STILL is abused. You haven’t seen a ghetto, untill you visited some of these reservations.
Now, here we are. The fooled generations that are embracing the far left ( next socialism ) are just humans evilving. Sorry to say, they missed the turn.
Tony
I feel horribly sad for the Native American people…though, I have lived in St. Croix and know the history of the Arawaks that were wiped out by the warring tribe called the Caribs…so life before the Europeans arrived wasn’t so great for them either.
I have been doing what I can for a small segment of the Native American population in South Dakota by giving to St. Joseph’s Indian School giving the next generation a leg up through better housing and education. Do you know of other charities that are doing a good job of helping these poor folks to pull themselves out of poverty? I would like to help more.
thank you for your thoughtful responses, Tony; I enjoy reading them and learning new things!
HAPPY THURSDAY !!!
Candace,
You are of the few, who are aware of the plight of the people. Go to http://www.powwows.com . That website will point you in the right direction.
stay well,
Tony
You sound just like a progressive. I have visited reservations, or tried to, in the Southwest, but have you been to Foxwood?
HAPPY THURSDAY !!!
Tom,
Nice work ! Did you ever play at the folkfest ?
T
Stu,
Back when I travelled around the country, building stuff, making money and meeting pretty women, I hit quite a few res. I survived those visits because I was a guest of that tribe – whose men were construction workers.
Back in the ’60s & ’70s, there were no casinos. There were a lot of angry “skins”. You may recall a few incidents, were the feds went onto the res – unwelcome.
As I said many times. You ain’t seen a ghetto until you visited a res.
Tony
You must have gotten my telepathic thoughts…
Whaaaa?? Stu becoming a part of the Cancel Culture Generation? Pick me up from the ground! LoL!!
As usual Stu, thanks for picking out, and discussing, what would otherwise be a bug on an elephant’s behind for most of the rest of folks in Phila.
I had not thought of me being part of the problem, but maybe you are right. 😃
A day some good could come from cancelling is Election Day, just leave the Dems in charge Forever. The Dead wouldn’t have to keep coming up out of their graves every May and November; the Dems could stop stopping energy independence and border security and hydroxychoroquine (sp?) just because Trump and the GOP favored them; Puerto Rico, Guam, Guadalcanal and the Gaza Strip wouldn’t have to be States; the Dems could drop Impeachment II that it wasn’t AOC that we GOPniks plotted to murder but Vice President Pence; the people who’ve been building the no-longer-needed voting machines could join the old pipeline people in building solar panels and windmills; Mike Lindell could go back to making pillows, the news media to reporting the news, Congress to work, the kids to school, and the rest of us to indoor restaurant dining through masks.
Another great one, Stu, which I will post on FB. Your humor is so sardonic, but effective!!
Thanks, Candace. Humor is always a favorite tool.
When I first began to work for the city depending on what squad you were assigned to you would have to work Christmas and New Years’ for seven years until you had them off. That never left my memory of that schedule being unfair to those assigned to a squad by not being lucky out of the Academy. Years later when the opportunity arose I arbitrated a flat sixteen paid Holidays paid in one check-in July. My purpose and intent was to show that it was never the celebratory History of a Holiday but the paycheck especially if you were asked to work for a time and a half or double time. Moving forward to the sudden rewriting of History did the Mayor or his staff research that the word Indigenous is insulting to many as Indians prefer first nation, while others prefer the name of the tribe or the country they immigrated from so maybe we should call it “All species day.”
I still believe the majority of city workers and citizens don’t give a shoot as to who is being honored as long as it is a paid one. It always amazes me how many people show a sudden interest in History or statues when some of it relates only to their interpretation of History, or a sudden impulse to make a statement of their youthful teachings to protest anything.. Maybe just an agreement on a number of Holidays and list who is being honored on that day and those who wish to celebrate can parade, block party, and enjoy a Mayor’s proclamation. As long as they get paid or have the day off most citizens in my mind will rarely go out of their way to honor anyone with the exception of their religion and love of country.
Philadelphia, PA
Dear Stu,
If you are going so far as to abolish Independence Day, then why not take the final step? Why not abolish the U.S. of A. altogether?
That way, we could all separate into our various identity groups, and we could have mass migrations, as they did when Hindu India separated from Moslem Pakistan. What fun! Of course this might requires a bit of “ethnic cleansing” to tidy things up after we carve up the country and all move to our “identity” homelands. But afterward we wouldn’t need to worry about who we are supposed to honor! To each his own! Isn’t this what they did over there after the abolition of the USSR? Maybe we could even have some ethnic-national wars on the N. American continent, like Europe did for hundreds of years?
What’s that? These are exactly the things we were supposed to avoid by having a single non-ethnic national identity in the U.S.?
Well, I guess we’ll simply have to live with each other? Being American requires mutual tolerance?
Best to keep Independence Day on the books after all?
H.G. Callaway
H.G. Regarding abolishing the US of A, at the rate things are going, it’s going to happen on its own eventually, without having to legislate it specifically. Like Ben Franklin said to Elizabeth Powel, when asked if we had a monarchy or a republic, “…a republic, if you can keep it.”
Abolish USA? It was tried, remember? BUT, current fissure keeps up, I can foresee a peaceful parting of ways — a Blue America, a Red America, but, no, never, a White America. 😉
Mr. Byofsky,
Thank you for your continued insights into modern-day America.
Since the Holidays on our current calendars will surely injure someone’s already fragile psyche in the future, might I suggest adopting a numeric (and/or alpha) Holiday naming convention. For example, we can celebrate Holiday #1 every January 1st. We can celebrate Holiday #2 on the third Monday every January- and so forth and so on.
There might be a tiny flaw in my idea as numbers might offend our woke brothers & sisters in the future. As such, we should make every effort to avoid using Holiday #13 (bad luck), Holiday #69 (left up to you to interpret) and Holiday #666 (could it be Satan?), etc.
Please keep up the good work. There is no other place for a reader like me to visit. Thank you!
Thank you for that high praise. Invite your friends to join us — by name or number. 😃
Just another step in the process of dismantling the nation and diluting the glue that once held us together. We see it happening, we KNOW it’s happening, and we stand by, helpless. Why worry about some other nation doing us harm when we as a nation are committing suicide?
Vince,
Both Russia and China have said many times, ( my words ) that we will die from within.
Tony
I wrote these lyrics about 20 years ago
You’ll Crave Freedom When It’s Gone
I gave up drinkin’ and I quit smokin’
I love fast food, yet I eat just a token, no court’s decision forced me to change, but it’s not unreasonable to expect it someday
You’ll crave freedom when it’s gone
I fish with my kids in a pond that I dug, on this land that is ours and home that we love
How do I begin to help them understand that some bureaucrats in Washington have deemed it wetland
You’ll crave freedom when it’s gone
Chippin’ away at the Constitution’s meaning, when I close my eyes I hear some brave men screaming,
Brick by brick one piece at a time, can’t you hear our Founding Fathers shoutin’ out this cry
You’ll crave feedom when it’s gone
I remember a time not so long ago, some were sayin’ God is dead, but we knew it wasn’t so
All the problems from afar, yet the hatred from within
Wake up America your liberty’s wearing thin
You’ll crave freedom when it’s gone
There’s one last thing I’d like to mention, some infamous outcomes began with good intentions
You’ll crave feedom when it’s gone
Chippin’ away at the Constitution’s meaning, when I close my eyes I see those brave men pleading
Brick by brick undermining it’s foundation, can’t you see them whispering these words in frustration
You’ll crave freedom when it’s gone, you’ll crave freedom when it’s gone
Pretty nice work, Tom.
Thanks Stu.
HAPPY THURSDAY !!!
Tom,
Nice work ! Did you ever play at the folkfest ?
T
Negative Tony. I once had 5 minutes in the limelight on stage accompaning a singer in a school faculty talent contest.
Our people’s hubris blinds us to the fact many nations have come and gone, their day in the sun as fleeting as dew on the grass in spring. Like the USA is doing now, those nations perished because they did not see — or chose not to see — the internal corruption that ate away at the foundation of their greatness. Shelley said it better in his poem Ozymandias:
“I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear–
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away”