Statue-worthy Women

 

The First Lady of New York City, Chirlane McCray, decided to do something about the fact that there are very few statues of women in the city. She asked New Yorkers to nominate females that were worthy of having a statue in New York. The most nominated woman was Mother Frances Cabrini. Cabrini is a Catholic saint. She came to New York in the 1800s and set up missions for Italian immigrants. Italian Americans have had a huge impact on the city and Mother Cabrini played an important role in assisting this immigrant community.

When finally selecting seven statue-worthy women, McCray left Cabrini off her list. Many in the Italian American community felt slighted. Actor Chazz Palminteri went so far as calling McCray a racist for snubbing the Italian woman. Now McCray is married to Bill de Blasio, so maybe she hasn’t had a great example of Italian Americans. Still, is the mother of two half Italian kids really racists against Italians? Let’s take a look at who did make the cut:

Shirley Chisholm – First black woman elected to Congress

Elizabeth Jennings Graham – An 1850s version of Rosa Parks, she helped to desegregate the horse-drawn streetcars in NY.

Billie Holiday – Jazz legend

Katherine Walker – Keeper of the Robbins Reef Lighthouse (which is just a tiny island in the harbor) for 30 years. Helped to guide ships in and out of one of the busiest harbors.

So far, so good. When we get to the last three, I can see why a Catholic nun might not have made the cut.

Helen Rodriguez Trias – Abortion rights advocate

Marsha P. Johnson – A drag queen/prostitute, he played a role in the Stonewall uprising. A sad life that involved multiple stints in both jail and mental health facilities.

Sylvia Rivera – A gay rights advocate who co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. He described himself as a drag queen, a gay girl, and a gay man. For the purpose of statues, however, she is called a woman.

The final three are an abortion advocate and two gay men. The fact that two of the seven women are men is something that male chauvinists can take pride in. This, however, shows why a Catholic nun was not included. Not because of her race, as Palminteri suggests, but because of her religion. What was promoted as a celebration of women instead became more Leftist nonsense, and no one should really be surprised.

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  1. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    Vance Richards: The fact that two of the seven women are men is something that male chauvinists can take pride in.

    Hilarious. People actually elect such mental pretzels!

    • #1
  2. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    Vance Richards: The fact that two of the seven women are men is something that male chauvinists can take pride in.

    Hilarious. People actually elect such mental pretzels!

    And they do it with no sense of irony. 

    • #2
  3. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    Speaking of chauvinism… The conspicuous absence of pictures confused me for a moment after reading the post title. 

    • #3
  4. Caryn Thatcher
    Caryn
    @Caryn

    Those last three really are an outrage and a poke in the eye of every NY taxpayer that doesn’t buy into the latest leftist nonsense.  Sadly, I’d vote against all 7 rather than having to include the three.  Not that I’ll get a vote, but it’s not like statues come cheap.  The artist chosen might also be an item of interest, as it will likely be a choice made politically rather than esthetically.

    • #4
  5. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Vance Richards: Now McCray is married to Bill de Blasio, so maybe she hasn’t had a great example of Italian Americans. Still, is the mother of two half Italian kids really racists against Italians?

    Being a bit pedantic here, but the kids are only 1/4 Italian unless she is supplying the other 1/4. Warren Wilhelm, Jr. eventually took his mother’s maiden name of de Blasio, but his father was an American mutt with a German surname.

    • #5
  6. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Vance Richards: Now McCray is married to Bill de Blasio, so maybe she hasn’t had a great example of Italian Americans. Still, is the mother of two half Italian kids really racists against Italians?

    Being a bit pedantic here, but the kids are only 1/4 Italian unless she is supplying the other 1/4. Warren Wilhelm, Jr. eventually took his mother’s maiden name of de Blasio, but his father was an American mutt with a German surname.

    True, this is a guy who eats pizza with a fork so . . . Still, I believe it is the Church, not the Italians that she truly hates.

    • #6
  7. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Vance Richards (View Comment):
    Still, I believe it is the Church, not the Italians that she truly hates.

    Agreed.

    • #7
  8. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    I suggest several completely abstract sculptures to which viewers can assign whatever representational, ideational, historical, sexual or non-sexual meaning they choose.  There will be terminals at the base where people can enter their preferred perception and a computer will select entries at random and flash them on a title screen below the pile of material presented as art.  When NY citizens want to honor someone, say, Felix Dzerzhinsky, Chris Cuomo or Pol Pot, they can gather and each enter the honoree’s name to increase the probability and frequency of its appearance as the title and take selfies when it does.

    The outcome will appear to be democratic, the art itself will remain utterly pointless and its meaning completely plastic.  Moreover, Tom Wolfe is dead so there is greatly reduced risk of being the subject of devastating eternal mockery. 

    • #8
  9. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    Caryn (View Comment):
     . . . but it’s not like statues come cheap.

    Don’t worry, she doesn’t mind spending taxpayer money.

    • #9
  10. Al French, sad sack Moderator
    Al French, sad sack
    @AlFrench

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    I suggest several completely abstract sculptures to which viewers can assign whatever representational, ideational, historical, sexual or non-sexual meaning they choose. There will be terminals at the base where people can enter their preferred perception and a computer will select entries at random and flash them on a title screen below the pile of material presented as art. When NY citizens want to honor someone, say, Felix Dzerzhinsky, Chris Cuomo or Pol Pot, they can gather and each enter the honoree’s name to increase the probability and frequency of its appearance as the title and take selfies when it does.

    The outcome will appear to be democratic, the art itself will remain utterly pointless and its meaning completely plastic. Moreover, Tom Wolfe is dead so there is greatly reduced risk of being the subject of devastating eternal mockery.

    That idea is worthy of its own post.

    • #10
  11. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Al French, sad sack (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    I suggest several completely abstract sculptures to which viewers can assign whatever representational, ideational, historical, sexual or non-sexual meaning they choose. There will be terminals at the base where people can enter their preferred perception and a computer will select entries at random and flash them on a title screen below the pile of material presented as art. When NY citizens want to honor someone, say, Felix Dzerzhinsky, Chris Cuomo or Pol Pot, they can gather and each enter the honoree’s name to increase the probability and frequency of its appearance as the title and take selfies when it does.

    The outcome will appear to be democratic, the art itself will remain utterly pointless and its meaning completely plastic. Moreover, Tom Wolfe is dead so there is greatly reduced risk of being the subject of devastating eternal mockery.

    That idea is worthy of its own post.

    No.  Too big a risk it would become policy in at least five cities.  Not being able to get the joke has become the essence of Gramscian Marxism.

    • #11
  12. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    Vance Richards: The fact that two of the seven women are men is something that male chauvinists can take pride in.

    Hilarious. People actually elect such mental pretzels!

    Please, don’t insult a delicious snack food by comparing it with lunatics . . .

    • #12
  13. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Al French, sad sack (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    I suggest several completely abstract sculptures to which viewers can assign whatever representational, ideational, historical, sexual or non-sexual meaning they choose. There will be terminals at the base where people can enter their preferred perception and a computer will select entries at random and flash them on a title screen below the pile of material presented as art. When NY citizens want to honor someone, say, Felix Dzerzhinsky, Chris Cuomo or Pol Pot, they can gather and each enter the honoree’s name to increase the probability and frequency of its appearance as the title and take selfies when it does.

    The outcome will appear to be democratic, the art itself will remain utterly pointless and its meaning completely plastic. Moreover, Tom Wolfe is dead so there is greatly reduced risk of being the subject of devastating eternal mockery.

    That idea is worthy of its own post.

    No. Too big a risk it would become policy in at least five cities. Not being able to get the joke has become the essence of Gramscian Marxism.

    I’m pretty sure communists beat you to the idea. 

    “Please, sir, may I have some more?”

    • #13
  14. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Al French, sad sack (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    I suggest several completely abstract sculptures to which viewers can assign whatever representational, ideational, historical, sexual or non-sexual meaning they choose. There will be terminals at the base where people can enter their preferred perception and a computer will select entries at random and flash them on a title screen below the pile of material presented as art. When NY citizens want to honor someone, say, Felix Dzerzhinsky, Chris Cuomo or Pol Pot, they can gather and each enter the honoree’s name to increase the probability and frequency of its appearance as the title and take selfies when it does.

    The outcome will appear to be democratic, the art itself will remain utterly pointless and its meaning completely plastic. Moreover, Tom Wolfe is dead so there is greatly reduced risk of being the subject of devastating eternal mockery.

    That idea is worthy of its own post.

    No. Too big a risk it would become policy in at least five cities. Not being able to get the joke has become the essence of Gramscian Marxism.

    I’m pretty sure communists beat you to the idea.

    “Please, sir, may I have some more?”

    Way too representational.  Smash it to rubble. Mix the rubble well with colored glass shards, plastic and metal refuse and use a suitable amount of adhesive and put the resulting steaming artistic pile on an over-sized mutlti-colored toilet bowl/slash sports trophy and then we are in business and ready for the electronics. 

    Damn, after I read that over I realized that I should be NYC art commissioner or a highly compensated fraud artist.

    • #14
  15. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    I’m pretty sure it’s more anti-Catholicism than anti-Italian.

    • #15
  16. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    EJHill (View Comment):

    I’m pretty sure it’s more anti-Catholicism than anti-Italian.

    Yeah, I think Chazz went with the wrong bigotry, but “racist” probably gets you more shock value . . . especially when only one white woman made the list.

    • #16
  17. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    You’d think the French would also be miffed at McCray bemoaning the lack of female statues in New York City….

    • #17
  18. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    If Chicago’s Cabrini-Green is an example of how big-city Democrats honor the poor woman, she’s probably better off without the statue. 

    • #18
  19. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Vance Richards (View Comment):
    especially when only one white woman made the list.

    Uh…I thought you said Chirlane McCray did it?

    Chirlane McCray.JPG

    • #19
  20. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Vance Richards (View Comment):
    especially when only one white woman made the list.

    Uh…I thought you said Chirlane McCray did it?

    Made it unto the list. Walker is the only white woman selected by McCray. The rest are black women, a black man, a hispanic woman, and a hispanic man (who occasionally identified as a women).

     

    • #20
  21. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    The list:

    https://women.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/she_built_nyc_nominations.pdf

     

    • #21
  22. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Vance Richards (View Comment):
    Made it onto the list.

    Ah, okay. Didn’t parse that as you meant it.

    • #22
  23. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    ctlaw (View Comment):

    The list:

    https://women.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/she_built_nyc_nominations.pdf

    Triangle Shirtwaist Fire? They’re voting for the fire? Or is that the name of another drag queen?

    • #23
  24. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    Arahant (View Comment):

    ctlaw (View Comment):

    The list:

    https://women.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/she_built_nyc_nominations.pdf

    Triangle Shirtwaist Fire? They’re voting for the fire? Or is that the name of another drag queen?

    That’s what happens when you have open nominations (gorilla Girls are on there too). That fire killed over 140, mostly women. I can see wanting to memorialize that, but is that a statue you would want to show your daughter and say, “That can be you someday”?

    That list does show that Mother Cabrini was the overwhelming favorite among the New Yorkers who submitted nominations.

    • #24
  25. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Vance Richards: The fact that two of the seven women are men is something that male chauvinists can take pride in.

    I’m all choked up.

    • #25
  26. Eustace C. Scrubb Member
    Eustace C. Scrubb
    @EustaceCScrubb

    Why didn’t they nominate this person?

    (Uncle Miltie)

    • #26
  27. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    I nominate Kitty Genovese.  

    1) Brutal murder victim perpetrated by a sociopathic monster back when violent crime was on the upswing in Gotham.

    2) She was not helped by people who heard her screams and symbolized heartless indifference of NYC denizens beaten down by fear.

    3) Vaunted NYT story about 38 indifferent neighbors later shown to be crap.

    Crime, social breakdown and MSM malfeasance all in one statue of an innocent victim. 

    • #27
  28. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    Vance Richards: The fact that two of the seven women are men is something that male chauvinists can take pride in.

    Hilarious. People actually elect such mental pretzels!

    When someone pointed out that there is an Alice in Wonderland statue in Central park, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen said, “Not even a real woman, you know? Give me a break! Enough is enough!” Then they end up honoring women with a statue of men pretending to be women. Define “real”.

    • #28
  29. kelsurprise, drama queen Member
    kelsurprise, drama queen
    @kelsurprise

    I saw a bunch of these she-statues outside a building on 6th Ave.  I’m guessing that both judgment and production was rushed on these things because, for the most part, they’re astoundingly ugly.  I was also puzzled by some members of the lineup.  I mean, female astronaut, okay, but Nicole Kidman?  Oprah?  Pink?  They’ve certainly accomplished a lot in their lifetimes but I think they’ve all gotten to take home “statues” bestowed by their various industries in appropriate celebrations of that already. 

    Many of those statues to men, on the other hand, which our mayor’s wife finds so offensive, are in honor of people who never came home at all.  This one, for instance:

    Up until now, one of the surest ways I knew of getting a statue erected in your honor was to die while protecting others.  So really, it would be a statistical impossibility not to have more statues of men than women. 

    But then, statistics are clearly all that matters in this latest fast-track push for “equality” so I guess we’ll just keep lowering the standards for statuary until we have a landscape littered with meaningless monuments. 

    As a woman, this crusade does not inspire me.  It embarrasses me. 

    • #29
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