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Should the Bust of Margaret Sanger Be Removed from the Smithsonian Museum?

Should the Bust of Margret Sanger be Removed From the Smithsonian Museum?

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MMC

MMC

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Black Pastors Demand Removal of Planned Parenthood Founder’s Bust from Smithsonian Museum.....


“National Portrait Gallery, you must remove the bust!” declared Bishop E.W. Jackson Thursday morning in front of D.C.’s Smithsonian museum. He, along with a group of black pastors and pro-life activists, demanded the NPG take down its statue of Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger.

Yet, her prejudice against minorities didn’t stop the National Portrait Gallery from placing a statue of her in its “Struggle for Justice” exhibit, daring to stand her in the same room as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. The “Struggle for Justice” is supposed to honor trailblazers who were “champions of justice.” The Smithsonian thought Sanger fit this description, including her bust with text that reads she “profoundly affected by the physical and mental toll exacted on women by frequent childbirth, miscarriage and self-induced abortion.”

If the fact Sanger was a racist doesn’t convince NPG to take down the statue, perhaps the eight videos so far released from the Center for Medical Progress investigation into Planned Parenthood's sale of fetal body parts will change their minds.....snip~

Black Pastors Demand Removal of Planned Parenthood Founder’s Bust from Smithsonian Museum - Cortney O'Brien


What say ye, Should the bust of Sanger be removed from the Smithsonian Museum?
 
She called for the reduction of inferior races through eugenics. I say leave it up as a lesson for other Progressive Socialists who would try the same.
 
Is political correctness a criteria for history? If not, then I suggest leaving the bust up...Last I checked, the Smithsonian does not deal in opinions and conjecture.
 
MMC said:
Black Pastors Demand Removal of Planned Parenthood Founder’s Bust from Smithsonian Museum.....


“National Portrait Gallery, you must remove the bust!” declared Bishop E.W. Jackson Thursday morning in front of D.C.’s Smithsonian museum. He, along with a group of black pastors and pro-life activists, demanded the NPG take down its statue of Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger.

Yet, her prejudice against minorities didn’t stop the National Portrait Gallery from placing a statue of her in its “Struggle for Justice” exhibit, daring to stand her in the same room as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. The “Struggle for Justice” is supposed to honor trailblazers who were “champions of justice.” The Smithsonian thought Sanger fit this description, including her bust with text that reads she “profoundly affected by the physical and mental toll exacted on women by frequent childbirth, miscarriage and self-induced abortion.”

If the fact Sanger was a racist doesn’t convince NPG to take down the statue, perhaps the eight videos so far released from the Center for Medical Progress investigation into Planned Parenthood's sale of fetal body parts will change their minds.....snip~

Black Pastors Demand Removal of Planned Parenthood Founder’s Bust from Smithsonian Museum - Cortney O'Brien


What say ye, Should the bust of Sanger be removed from the Smithsonian Museum?
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Not unless you think we should also take down the busts of just about every historical American figure -- including all of the Founders -- for being at least racist than she was, if not dramatically more so. Fair's fair, right?

Ironically, Sanger wasn't even a huge proponent of abortion. Admittedly, mostly because available methods weren't as safe as what we have today. But she was mostly about contraception.

Also, she's been dead for decades, so I'm not sure how what's up with PP in 2015 is at all related to her (assuming you buy all the nonsense about those videos in the first place). Again, should we have taken down statues of the Founders whenever an American politician did something that someone thought was wrong? Gee, that's gonna be a long list. There are people who think even the anti-discrimination act and giving women the vote was wrong. Better get crackin'...
 
I voted NO. ONLY because 1984 is past and over, and anything resembling "revisionist" history should be pushed out at bayonet point.

Leave her bust up, then accurately say what she did. Both good and bad, and let the reader decide about how they feel about her.. That is history.

If it does get removed they should replace it with a huge plaque saying " REMOVED in 2015 because she did not meet the politically correct guideline of an era in the future"

As a historian and lover of history, I am quite offended by those that want to completely erase everything in the past that they do not agree with in the present.

If we do that, there will not be any past. Only an ever evolving present guided by the PC crowd. Therefore there will be absolutely ZERO learning from history, because no one will know the truth of what happened. Only the PC approved story that will keep changing.

NEVER abolish the past. Ask a Japanese kid today about the period between 1935 and 1945. They will tell you it was just a big picnic and someone invited some Americans who behaved badly.
 
SmokeAndMirrors said:
Not unless you think we should also take down the busts of just about every historical American figure -- including all of the Founders -- for being at least racist than she was, if not dramatically more so. Fair's fair, right?

Ironically, Sanger wasn't even a huge proponent of abortion. Admittedly, mostly because available methods weren't as safe as what we have today. But she was mostly about contraception.

Also, she's been dead for decades, so I'm not sure how what's up with PP in 2015 is at all related to her (assuming you buy all the nonsense about those videos in the first place). Again, should we have taken down statues of the Founders whenever an American politician did something that someone thought was wrong? Gee, that's gonna be a long list. There are people who think even the anti-discrimination act and giving women the vote was wrong. Better get crackin'...
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Heya SAM.
hat.gif
Sounds as if they don't like that she is up in the same room with MLK. Do you think they should have just went with moving her out of the same room?

They consider her the Founder of PP so I doubt any specific year matters. Not like Blacks or African Americans would think highly of her, huh?

Why get crackin when the History can't change as to who stood for womens Rights and who opposed it.

See some just never had to Evolve over what's Right!
wink.gif
 
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She's far too historically significant for that to be argued positively.

I abhor her, but she deserves her place in historical memory.
 
MMC said:
Heya SAM.
hat.gif
Sounds as if they don't like that she is up in the same room with MLK. Do you think they should have just went with moving her out of the same room?

They consider her the Founder of PP so I doubt any specific year matters. Not like Blacks or African Americans would think highly of her, huh?

Why get crackin when the History can't change as to who stood for womens Rights and who opposed it.

See some just never had to Evolve over what's Right!
wink.gif
Click to expand...

If there are any other representations of historical white people in that room (and there are, judging by the pictures I can find), chances are that every single one of them was racist. So why are they only complaining about Sanger?
 
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KevinKohler said:
Is political correctness a criteria for history? If not, then I suggest leaving the bust up...Last I checked, the Smithsonian does not deal in opinions and conjecture.
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You would be wrong as would the two posters who liked your post. It absolutely can be and the Smithsonian absolutely had to weather such storms before, including changing planned displays.

See Edward T. Linenthal and Tom Engelhardt (Editors), History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past (New York: Henry Holt & Company), 1996.
 
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I will add, furthermore, that public history was and always remains different from historical scholarship. Public history is meant for the populace to consume and thus is pulled into matters of civil discourse to a degree different than scholarship. Committees have to be formed to create a display and the tone of the display is of central social and political importance. Nevermind that most museums have incredibly limited time to attract the tourist's attention (with most time being spent at gift shops or even the restrooms).
 
SmokeAndMirrors said:
If there are any other representations of historical white people in that room (and there are, judging by the pictures I can find), chances are that every single one of them was racist. So why are they only complaining about Sanger?
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I thought it was because she was across the room looking at MLK. They didn't mention anything about White People. Just MLK and Rosa parks.

Could be that Sanger was into all that Superior race n-stuff.
 
KevinKohler said:
Is political correctness a criteria for history? If not, then I suggest leaving the bust up...Last I checked, the Smithsonian does not deal in opinions and conjecture.
Click to expand...

Tear down every bust of Thomas Jefferson this instant! He was a slave owner who sexually abused his slaves!

Wait, didn't George keep slaves? Oops, we a re-writin' history to make it correct, then it seems we have to remove whole chunks....
 
MMC said:
I thought it was because she was across the room looking at MLK. They didn't mention anything about White People. Just MLK and Rosa parks.

Could be that Sanger was into all that Superior race n-stuff.
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So what about all the other racists in the room? Why aren't they complaining about them? "She" is not "looking" at anything. It's a chunk of metal.

No, she really wasn't. Racist? Sure. Hitler in a dress? No, not even close. There's been a lot of spin about her over the years, mostly by people with an anti-choice agenda to push. And -- surprise, surprise -- the complaint is coming from an anti-choice group. Gee, I'm shocked.
 
SmokeAndMirrors said:
So what about all the other racists in the room? Why aren't they complaining about them? "She" is not "looking" at anything. It's a chunk of metal.


No, she really wasn't. Racist? Sure. Hitler in a dress? No, not even close. There's been a lot of spin about her over the years, mostly by people with an anti-choice agenda to push. And -- surprise, surprise -- the complaint is coming from an anti-choice group. Gee, I'm shocked.
Click to expand...




What spin has there been over 7 of her most famous quotes?



Sanger is widely known as a racist and a eugenicist. Some of her documented statements from 1939 indicate as such:

"We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.".....snip~ same link.





As a eugenicist, Sanger encouraged the sterilization of persons with less desirable qualities, and strongly encouraged the reproduction of groups with more desirable qualities. Sanger’s disdain for blacks, minority groups, and the diseased and disabled spawned the birth of an abortion corporation that profits off the killing of the weakest and most vulnerable. From its conception, Planned Parenthood was built upon the roots of exterminating individuals deemed “unfit” for the human family.

Today, the spirit of Sanger lives on. According to the Guttmacher Institute, the former pro-abortion research division of Planned Parenthood, African-American women are five times more likely to choose abortion over white women. Planned Parenthood clinics are strategically planted in minority communities, targeting blacks and impoverished minority groups, and abortion remains the leading cause of death for the black community.

We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal......snip~

7 shocking quotes by Planned Parenthood's founder
 
MMC said:
What spin has there been over 7 of her most famous quotes?

Sanger is widely known as a racist and a eugenicist. Some of her documented statements from 1939 indicate as such:

"We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.".....snip~ same link.

As a eugenicist, Sanger encouraged the sterilization of persons with less desirable qualities, and strongly encouraged the reproduction of groups with more desirable qualities. Sanger’s disdain for blacks, minority groups, and the diseased and disabled spawned the birth of an abortion corporation that profits off the killing of the weakest and most vulnerable. From its conception, Planned Parenthood was built upon the roots of exterminating individuals deemed “unfit” for the human family.

Today, the spirit of Sanger lives on. According to the Guttmacher Institute, the former pro-abortion research division of Planned Parenthood, African-American women are five times more likely to choose abortion over white women. Planned Parenthood clinics are strategically planted in minority communities, targeting blacks and impoverished minority groups, and abortion remains the leading cause of death for the black community.

We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal......snip~

7 shocking quotes by Planned Parenthood's founder
Click to expand...

Actually, here is the proper quote -- which is both mis-quoted and removed from its context in what you just gave.

"The ministers work is also important and he should be trained, perhaps by the Federation as to our ideals and the goal that we hope to reach. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."

Rather different now, isn't it. Sanger actually worked with groups that included black people, and was addressing their distrust. She was racist in a socially common way, but ultimately there was no woman with less access to contraception than black women, so she did sometimes address them.

Anyway, I can't be bothered with hack sources by the same people who tried to get people to believe there was an "abortion survivor" who was born and lived at 18 weeks gestation, that the intestines are accessible through the uterus, and other ludicrously insane things.
 
why is it alright to demand the Confederate flag be removed from government grounds yet a bust of a known racist permitted to be left in the Smithsonian established as a trust instrumentality by act of Congress, and it is functionally and legally a body of the U.S. government?
 
vesper said:
why is it alright to demand the Confederate flag be removed from government grounds yet a bust of a known racist permitted to be left in the Smithsonian established as a trust instrumentality by act of Congress, and it is functionally and legally a body of the U.S. government?
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Putting something in a history museum for education's sake is very different from flying it over your capitol as a symbol of what you believe.
 
SmokeAndMirrors said:
Putting something in a history museum for education's sake is very different from flying it over your capitol as a symbol of what you believe.
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It's not any museum but a museum that is legally a body of the U.S. government.
 
SmokeAndMirrors said:
Yes. So? How does this change that history is different from endorsement?
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For cripe sake her bust is part of the “Struggle for Justice” exhibit that includes MLK and Rosa Parks. This racist, supported black eugenics, a racist attitude toward black and other minority babies, an elitist attitude toward those she regarded as ‘the feeble minded’ when speaking at a rally of Ku Klux Klan women and other communications with Hitler sympathizers. How can a person like Sanger, who found common cause with the racial agenda of the Ku Klux Klan, be ranked among true champions of ‘justice? She was a purveyor of grave injustice and her ugly mug needs to be removed from the exhibit. It is an outrage.
 
vesper said:
For cripe sake her bust is part of the “Struggle for Justice” exhibit that includes MLK and Rosa Parks. This racist, supported black eugenics, a racist attitude toward black and other minority babies, an elitist attitude toward those she regarded as ‘the feeble minded’ when speaking at a rally of Ku Klux Klan women and other communications with Hitler sympathizers. How can a person like Sanger, who found common cause with the racial agenda of the Ku Klux Klan, be ranked among true champions of ‘justice? She was a purveyor of grave injustice and her ugly mug needs to be removed from the exhibit. It is an outrage.
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She did. :shrug:

Lots of Americans who also fought worthy causes were as bad or worse. She apparently didn't dislike them all that much, or she wouldn't have worked with them.

Again, do you want to take down all representations of the Founders? They had slaves, after all.
 
SmokeAndMirrors said:
She did. :shrug:

Lots of Americans who also fought worthy causes were as bad or worse. She apparently didn't dislike them all that much, or she wouldn't have worked with them.

Again, do you want to take down all representations of the Founders? They had slaves, after all.
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"didn't dislike them all that much" ???????????????? Her library of writings and correspondence, speeches, says differently.
Like I stated her ugly mug is part of the Struggle for Justice exhibit focusing on heros of Civil Rights.

She belongs in an exhibit of history on racism in the 20th century which included blacks, Jews, Irish people, Poles Serbs, Croations and Italians, and others who suffered xenophobic exclusion and other forms of ethnicity-based discrimination in American society, where many were not considered fully white.
 
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SmokeAndMirrors said:
Ironically, Sanger wasn't even a huge proponent of abortion. Admittedly, mostly because available methods weren't as safe as what we have today. But she was mostly about contraception.
Click to expand...

She was against abortion but not because of safety:

One final misconception about Mrs. Sanger must also be addressed, it seems, and in this case the truth will terribly inconvenience the propaganda efforts all around. It is not right, pace Planned Parenthood, that Margaret Sanger declined to advocate abortion on grounds that it was then a dangerous and illegal surgery. “There are cases where even the law recognizes an abortion as justifiable if recommended by a physician,” she wrote in 1920, and “we know that abortion, when performed by skilled hands, under right conditions, brings almost no danger to the life of the patient.” On the evidence in “The Woman Rebel,” the real reason Sanger declined to advocate abortion, notwithstanding the law’s flexibility and what she took to be the procedure’s safety, is that abortion appalled her.

She turned women seeking abortions away from her clinics: “I do not approve of abortion.” She called it “sordid,” “abhorrent,” “terrible,” “barbaric,” a “horror.” She called abortionists “blood-sucking men with MD after their names who perform operations for the price of so-and-so.” She called the results of abortion “an outrageous slaughter,” “infanticide,” “foeticide,” and “the killing of babies.”
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What Did Margaret Sanger Think about Abortion? | RedState
 
Fiddytree said:
She's far too historically significant for that to be argued positively.

I abhor her, but she deserves her place in historical memory.
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Oh I definitely agree she needs to be remembered FOR WHAT SHE ACTUALLY STOOD FOR. Her own writings, correspondence and speeches to racist groups tell her to be a racist. They have her bust in an exhibit recognizing heros of the Civil Rights movement along with MLK and Rosa Parks. Her bust needs to be moved to an exhibit depicting racists of influence in the 20th century.
 
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