Posted on 01/10/2002 9:43:54 AM PST by narby
Racial Changes Made in Ground Zero Firefighter Tribute
It happened more than two weeks ago, but at least one New York City firefighter is still steaming over the politically correct changes made to a sculpted tribute to the firefighter heroes who raised the American flag at Ground Zero just hours after the World Trade Center was leveled on 9/11.
The three flag-raising fireman, as depicted in a widely publicized photograph taken by New Jersey's Bergen Record, were white.
But when a statue commemorating the event was unveiled at the FDNY's Brooklyn headquarters on Dec. 21, the three white firefighters had been replaced by a more racially diverse trio of unidentified Fire Department staffers.
The $180,000 statue is the first memorial to the 343 firefighters and emergency medical personnel killed Sept. 11, reported Newsday at the time.
The racial modifications came at the behest of Fire Department officials, artists with Studio EIS, located on York Street in the Dumbo section, told the paper.
Our firefighter-reader complained:
"What Firefighters McWilliams, Johnson and Eisengrein did inspired the people of the United States in one of its darkest hours. ... This photograph is as sacred as the famous photograph and sculpture of the U.S. Marines raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. ...
"The 343 firefighters [who] were killed at the WTC (54 of whom I knew personally) consisted of all races and creeds.
"But the fact is that the three firefighters who hoisted the Flag on the afternoon of Sept. 11th at the WTC were white and should be depicted as such."
We couldn't have said it better ourselves.
Why do they need to change history?
This is racial bigotry.
These firemen are getting screwed because of their race.
This is an extension of what has gone on in the public school classroom for a long time now. Changing history to suit a liberal agenda. Check out the history textbooks.
Wisdom cries in the streets.
It reminds me of a political cartoon (A respectful one) I saw after 9-11. The artist took it apon himself (Or herself) to change one of the guys to a woman...Wearing a fire helmet and a skirt just so we KNEW without a doubt, it was a woman.
I guess if reality doesn't fit these people's agenda, they'll just insert their own brand.
Yike!!!
This is scary. Historical fact can be distorted, history can be rewritten... Yike!!!
Let's keep posting these names. Remembering them is the least we can do to fight the politically correct. And if I am ever in New York I will leave a sign with their names by this offending piece of pc garbage.
Exactly which "Fire Department officials" wanted the "racial modifications" made?
And where did the $180,000 for the statue come from ?
Without being asked, the identities of the three real men who did this were altered to fit an unspoken, but very powerful, political theory. That liberal theory says that everything, including the most searing memories of our recent past, must be changed to serve their rigid views on inclusiveness and tolerance.
I'm amazed that they didn't change the names involved to something more ethnically diverse. Or added a woman and Musli-American. That may come when the real truth is more thoroughly suppressed.
Probably in part, but it's also aesthetics. The firemen, while brave, are not exactly pretty. The stuff most people look at and declare to be good art, is declared to be so, largely because the artist had the good sense to pretty up that which was visually flawed. The statue will not feature any pot bellies, the stances will be more "heroic" and the faces will be...well, chisled.
It is for this same reason that you will never see a statue of Janet Reno that looks like Janet Reno.
Exactly which "Fire Department officials" wanted the "racial modifications" made?
And where did the $180,000 for the statue come from ?
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