As Asheville has now prevailed in the legal appeal to keep the Vance Monument destroyed, even after it was recently rehabbed by the mayor’s own law firm and others, the plan must now focus on the city name change.
Like many who’ve been waiting on the result of this ruling, we now should all agree to change the name of the city of Asheville to a newer, more modern, meaningful name that does not honor a slave owner. With this ruling, we must further the agenda to transform this place as only changing its name will accomplish! It can no longer be known as Asheville, named for a slave owner. The time is now.
So, everyone please be thinking about what sweet favored name you would select and submit it/them to the City Council. Then let the people vote on the top 10 choices by City Council and the mayor, of course. This can easily be decided and put on the November election ballot!
Can you think of a better way to enhance the image of this racist town than to change the actual racist name? No, you can’t.
Y’all ready? Remember, we cannot give reparations to a city named for a slave owner. Do it.
— Fisher Caudle
West Asheville
And give biltmore estate back to the good people of Shiloh!!
At the very least give Biltmore Forest as a nice Re-Pay-Rayshun.
I’m good with “Wakanda of the Appalachians!”
Shalom!
Georgetown — and to ensure no confusion as to which “George” place a large statue of St. George Floyd where the Vance monument stood.
It’s only fair and equitable. Let DEI reign supreme.
People are just getting dumber and dumber in this town.
It has been suggested to the letter writer several times that he run for City Council and test his many idiosyncratic ideas against the will of voters. After all, it only takes $75 to get on the ballot. For some reason he has never done so.
Why would I want to? Much easier to call it out right here…
Altamont
And Eddie Buncombe owned EVEN MORE slaves than Sammy Ashe.
The Vance monument was created to honor a segregationist. That is what it stands for. “Asheville, “Patton” and “Merrimon” are names of things. It is not the same. If the Black community is concerned that their city is named after a racist, then maybe the name should be changed. But I suspect that they do not care.
For the record: Asheville is still highly segregated, and becoming more so by the day. Not all segregation is racial.
Let’s face it, in 2021, we may have gone a tad overboard when we opted to tear down the 75-foot obelisk, a longstanding symbol of Asheville. Though the decision was made by a twelve-member committee, with only one opposing vote, we can’t ignore the misstep. Erecting a monument to a slave-owning rebel was undoubtedly misguided, but did we swing the pendulum too far with the Confederate statue teardown trend?
Seriously, how did we equate a 75-foot granite-block obelisk with a statue of Robert E. Lee astride his trusty Traveler? An obelisk isn’t exactly comparable to ol’ Longstreet on his faithful charger. It’s like using a sledgehammer to swat a fly.
Now that the dust has settled, can’t we admit we may have been a bit hasty? Before we demolish anything deemed politically or socially unacceptable, let’s pause and reconsider. If it’s not a graven image of a sword-wielding separatist in butternut, perhaps we can find a way to repurpose the art.
So, here’s an idea: why not bring back the obelisk we tore down? Sure, it had its flaws, but let’s be real, it was just an obelisk. To the citizens of Asheville, it meant much more than a monument to a flawed man long forgotten. Yet, we squandered thousands of taxpayer dollars tearing it down, without a thought to what would replace it.
Let’s learn from our missteps. It’s time to rebuild that obelisk and demonstrate some common sense. Because while rethinking history is important, maybe next time, we’ll think twice before wielding the wrecking ball.