Only in Fucking Texas

[Minimalist]

would this require someone to "mull."


http://apnews.excite.com/article/2010071...121O3.html

Univ. of Texas to mull taking Klansman off dorm

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The president of the University of Texas will ask the school's regents to remove the name of a former professor and Ku Klux Klan member from a campus dormitory.

Simkins Hall, a two-story brick dorm built in the 1950s, is named after William Simkins, who was a popular law school professor in the early part of the 20th century but one with a dubious past. He served as a Confederate fighter and early organizer of the Ku Klux Klan in Florida, promoting the Klan and bragging about efforts to terrorize and harass "darkey" in campus speeches and publications.

[Dotard]

Yes, since Mr. Simkins was associated with a dubious organization let us negate and erase any reconition for the achievements he did accomplish.

I'm sure he had accomplished some good stuff in order to have a two story brick dorm house named after him.

Yes lets bury all his achievements and remove any reconition because he held some dubious personal opinions.

[Minimalist]

When a white woman in Florida complained of being insulted by a black man, Simkins wrote, "I seized a barrel stave lying near the hotel door and whipped that darkey down the street."

I'm sure he was a fucking saint.

[Autumnlicious]

If his misdeeds outweigh his accomplishments, then naming a building (which is subject to public scrutiny, if it isn't an oxymoron) is unwise, against the integrity of honored names and insulting.

Surely you wouldn't name a biology building after Watson and Crick, considering they stole research and credit from Rosalind Franklin?

Sorry Dotard, you're wrong on this one. Honoring a past figure with a building or sculpture should be restricted to honorable figures (honorable as in held in high regard and known mostly or widely, and known in that capacity for what holds them in high regard).

That is to say that a man who shows remorse for his previous transgressions and works to rectify them should be given the benefit of the doubt. But it is incorrect and an insult to the memory of others to ever lift even the most veritable genius or humanitarian to such a position when they stick to their inhumanity and defend it, no matter the greatness of their unconnected works.

[Minimalist]

I have no doubt that in 1950's Texas the guy placing the noose was held in high regard. The thing is, it is now 2010 even in Texas....whether they like it or not.

[Dotard]

Sorry Dotard, you're wrong on this one.

You would be right. I was. I am in agreement with you.
Your eloquently worded comment on the matter showed me the error in my thought process there.

The Minimalist Texas bigotry makes it difficult to see past The Minimalist Texas bigotry.