The PC left wheels out renaming the Texas capital of Austin, by Monica Showalter.
After getting a bunch of Confederate statues taken down in the name of political correctness, a proposal is going out in Texas, from something called the City of Austin’s Equity Office, to change the name of the city itself, all because the Texas founding father wasn’t politically in tune with their times and sensitivities.
Here is what the Austin American-Statesman reports: …
Known as both the “father of Texas” and the namesake of the state’s capital, Stephen F. Austin carved out the early outlines of Texas among his many accomplishments.
He also opposed an attempt by Mexico to ban slavery in the province of Tejas and said if slaves were freed, they would turn into “vagabonds, a nuisance and a menace.” …
And the Equity Office’s reasoning in its bid to dismantle Texas’s heritage? …
“It is also important to acknowledge that nearly all monuments to the Confederacy and its leaders were erected without a true democratic process. People of color often had no voice and no opportunity to raise concerns about the city’s decision to honor Confederate leaders.” …
The proposal is loathesome, another Taliban-like bid to erase history and leave citizens adrift, lost, and best of all, easier to manipulate in the aftermath by demagogues, presumably leftist demagogues intent on building a New Texas Man.
Worse still, such a move would excite leftists elsewhere. St. Francis really had a thing about converting Muslims to Christianity, to “save their souls,” so will San Francisco lose its name next?
Ha ha:
Austin is a hipsterly city loaded with youthful leftists which has built quite a brand name. Were they to rename their city of Austin ‘Leftwingia’ or something, they’d lose that accumulated brand recognition. The massive tourists flows (Thomas Lifson points out that London has two direct flights to Austin) might not be so lucrative anymore. Who’d want to go to Leftwingia instead of a city that retains some of its historic personality?
The steady drumbeat of anti-white racism, with a bit of anti-male animus as well.
Love the name “Leftwingia” — I wonder who’d want to live there?
