Posted on 01/24/2018 9:34:40 PM PST by nickcarraway
There are 37 little people on the lawns outside the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Union Avenue. Tuesday morning, before the sun came up, most of the lawn jockeys were wearing a little something extra. Someone had draped Confederate flags around their necks.
The museum spotted the flags and removed them. Now, equipped with surveillance video, they're looking for five culprits.
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Mark Mulholland ✔ @MulhollandWNYT This is what it looked like outside the @nmrhof in Saratoga Springs this morning as protestors placed #Confederate flags on lawn jockeys. @SSPDNY @WNYT
1:51 PM - Jan 23, 2018 · Saratoga Springs, NY 7 7 Replies 18 18 Retweets 16 16 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy The people who placed flags have been communicating with NewsChannel 13 by email. They use a pseudonym, Jehu Sal Deyaun, the name of a slave who lived in Saratoga County during the 1800s.
They say the flags, like the lawn jockeys, are symbols of servitude and slavery. The protestors say the very first jockeys in this country were slaves and the modern-day lawn jockey started as a statue of a slave with an outstretched arm. They provided NewsChannel 13 photos of the earliest statues.
The protestors want the lawn statues removed and they're urging the museum to include black jockeys in a historically accurate exhibit.
The museum calls the flags the work of vandals and issued a statement via email (see below).
The museum's president, John Hendrickson, is also weighing in, saying the lawn jockey display is a "celebration of the colors of silks, not the color of skin."
Museum security removed the flags early Tuesday morning and shared surveillance video with police Tuesday evening.
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame sent NewsChannel 13 a statement:
"The lawn jockeys on the Museum property along Union Avenue represent some of the most important and historic racing stables in our beloved sport’s history. They offer no social commentary or racial overtones from our perspective. The response we have received from the public has been overwhelmingly positive since they were unveiled last year. The statues add beauty and vibrancy to our Museum property and Saratoga Springs. They are meant to represent the colors and pageantry of thoroughbred racing and honor the sport’s great traditions. We look forward to installing more lawn jockeys in 2018 along with detailing the history and significance of the statues so the public understands their history.
"Although no damage was done, this is an act of vandalism and trespassing and we do not consider this 'art action,' as the anonymous perpetrator has claimed it to be. "
The horror; the horror!
Is it possible to consider Saratoga Southern NYS?
(I didn’t think so. They should try fracking...)
What twisted minds these malcontents must have.
Snow on the ground.
Shoe prints and tire tracks?
Snowman DNA?
No? Me either. Why don't they give the money they pissed away on those flags to some druggie standing at an exit ramp?
I am so glad that at the age of 50 I have seen so much of the greatness of America and not as much of her going to the toilet. My remaining years I see a swirling bowl. Society has lost its collective mind. Less people understand my sentiment the older I get. Is this what those talked of as I grew up?
Aren’t people in Saratoga Springs lucky they don’t have any real crime for their police to worry about?
The flag hanger has way too much time on their hands.
Probably not. I am 75 and have read that my life interval, f WWII then everything that’s happened since, are probably the prime years to have been alive in America. I can’t say as I disagree and have little desire to see where the US ends up.
Well, too many flags, certainly.[p
Oh my god! Good thing there are no real crimes being commited elsewhere or the police might have to divert resources needed to solve this horrible crime.
I wonder if they’ll have to open up therapeutic clinics in the area for people traumatized by the sight of a Confederate flag, bless their hearts.
Would the police consider this a higher or lower priority than a burning bag of poop left on a doorstep after someone rang a doorbell?
Would it depend on whose doorbell was involved?
Appearantly, the “vandals” don’t know the history behind the message and original purpose of lawn jockeys. What a shock.
They look like well hung jockeys.
This is a prosperous community—in the Northeast that means there will always be a few social justice warriors pooping in the public square (or perhaps putting Confederate flags on jockeys). :-)
I would leave the flags on the jockeys, thank them for the novel idea, and really piss them off....
We have a couple hundred thousand lawn jockeys here in Baltimore but most of them are draped with hoodies or dungaree jackets.
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