You know the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton?

Well, the Theodore Roosevelt School is also out.

Who cares.

Exactly, R2.

It seems like someone has been compiling lists of statues, buildings and products for years- waiting for the perfect moment to call for their abolishment.

Hah I remember that school from my days at Princeton. This is just sad.

School is for nerds.

He founded the League of Nations, he wrote the Fourteen Points, he was a legitimate statesman and diplomat who shaped the global politics of the twentieth century. Remember his name.

Wilson was a racist but more racist than any other white politician of his time? Unlikely. Princeton is scrubbing the name of a past president from one of its buildings but what actual structural steps are they taking to address racial inequality at the institution?

Yeah maybe that matters more.

Yes R7, he shaped policy and politics that helped to keep straight white euro based culture and people in power at the expense and off the backs of other races and minorities, and that includes you, faggot.

Wilson was a public racist who removed blacks from the federal civil service as a matter of policy. He should not be “erased,” but a school with a diverse student body and faculty is not the place to honor him.

Strange 15% of the population is telling the other 85% what to do. Is it in the food, water or what?

Most of the 85% agree with the 15%.

I went to Princeton. This has been a controversy for at least two decades. It was only a matter of time before they changed the name. I am glad they did it.

I went to Princeton too, and I think this is a stupid overreaction. EVERY single historical personage has some kind of baggage that would be considered problematic in today's political climate. Washington owned slaves, for starters, as did Jefferson. Are we taking down the Jefferson Memorial next and renaming both Washington DC and Washington state?

Wilson certainly merits ongoing critical evaluation and discussion, but he did a lot for Princeton and a lot for the world (and would perhaps have helped prevent WWII if he hadn't had an incapacitating stroke and died), so on balance, he did more good than harm. Fostering critical discussion about his legacy would be far more productive than trying to erase his name.

^ Why not both?

He not only was one of the most important US presidents; he was by far Princeton University's most famous and most effective president, and gained intense national attention during his tenure there. He completely reorganized it so that it became no longer a college for the soins of wealthy who aspired only to "gentlemen's Cs" to one of the most serious places of loearning in the country, on par with harvard and Yale as a serious research institution. to that end he established the graduate school, which had not been in existence until then. he also appointed the first Roman Catholics to the faculty and the first Jew.

He did indeed keep blacks out. And he was more racist than most educators of his time--he was extremely liberal about many things, but he could never shake his attitudes towards race that were formed during his childhood in Virginia (to his last dishonor).

Princeton has had a hard time with this over the years. He is by far their most famous graduate and their most famous university president, and he not only became US president but is remembered by historians as a great one. But he was also a racist and very open about it.

"Black Lives Matter" is not a spontaneous movement, it's a corporation funded by George Soros.

Stanford's Hoover Institute, you in danger, girl.

[quote] Princeton has had a hard time with this over the years. He is by far their most famous graduate and their most famous university president, and he not only became US president but is remembered by historians as a great one. But he was also a racist and very open about it.

Exactly. It's not like Princeton woke up one morning last month and decided on a whim to make this change.

He was also a virulent racist, R7.

Add me to the chorus: who cares? This is long overdue. If you really feel that this affects you some way, you should ask yourself why. Black people have been watching us put racists on literal pedestals for centuries. Consider what their pain is like before going off in how this affects you, because it actually doesn’t.

Fuck Woodrow Wilson, he was very openly racist about black Americans, and he did nothing and said nothing while black Americans were being lynched left and right down south. He did nothing to make life better or easier for them. They had no allie in Wilson.

Fuck Woodrow Wilson! I hope Hell is eating him alive.

[quote] Strange 15% of the population is telling the other 85% what to do.

Poll after poll shows the majority of ALL Americans support Black Lives Matter. You’re an obvious racist if you think this is just a black vs. white topic.

I co-sign R20.

Also don't forget, Wilson also gave us the fucking Fed too. You see how that's worked out for the country.

Fuck him.

The people who see this as “erasing history” are getting pretty tiresome. Monuments are not history. Removing a name or a statue doesn’t erase history. Germany got rid of all of their Nazi and Hitler monuments and its not like everyone forgot what happened in Germany in the 30s and 40s.

The real overreaction is white people playing the victim over long overdue gestures like this. Give me a fuckin’ break.

[quote] They had no allie in Wilson.

Nor do you in Noah Webster, apparently.

Guess what? It doesn’t hurt or affect me in any way. He re- segregated civil servants. That was a direct action. I’m a Democrat and he was a great president but they don’t have to name this after him.

[quote] and would perhaps have helped prevent WWII

This tells me that you are a complete idiot and that I need read no further into what you say.

R25 amen to that. Germany did all of that and no one forgot about Hitler or the Nazis. We don’t need statues and monuments to remember history. I am white and I’m getting sick of the white victimization saying taking down these monuments and statues are offensive and are hurting their heritage or whatever. Those evil men are not my heritage. And I live in the south.Born and raised. Fuck those racists.

R22 if you believe published polls, you're in trouble.

While they are at it they need to tie his Nobel Peace Price to the rear bumper of a car and drag it along rough roads at high speeds. THAT will show how woke we are now.

R30 they’re accurate.

Your life is not hurt or affected in anyway if they rename aunt Jemima or uncle bens or takes down a stupid monument or statue or renames a public building. History is history and we all know it we can read it it’s in books and online. If these things trigger you you might be a racist.

Conservatives don’t like change even if they’re not especially racist.

I am a big fan of President Wilson’s. He was a great president. We can also say and know that he was a huge racist and actually did harm by resegregating the civil service. That said renaming that building is not going to affect his legacy in anyway. I don’t care that they renamed it. So what. There are appropriate places and times to have a statue or monument or a building named after you and other times it’s not appropriate. Let’s get over this because it’s no big deal.

His name wasn’t even Woodrow. Poser.

Do they plan to re-name all these places "Malcolm X"???

R36 No racist but why would that bother you? WHO CARES???????

Why not R36.

A friend of mine went to Wilson High in DC. Most of the students pronounced it “Wuhlrow Weesum High Schoo”.

I’ll bet they rename it Barack Obama High.

This happens all the time. Big deal. In the late 60s/early 70s, everything got renamed after MLK or a Kennedy.

R40 Shhhhh don’t tell the racists that. They’re triggered and want to throw screaming hissy fits while they search for false equivalencies.

That IS a false equivalency. Naming a school FOR a recently martyred hero is not the same as removing a 75-year-old name in favor of TBD.

Still doesn't explain why this bothers you, R42, or how any effect it has on you compares to a black person seeing or attending a school named for a known racist who used his considerable power in life to deny black people jobs, opportunities and equality.

Obama is in need of things named after him like the flurry of shit named after Raygun.

Hopefully nothing will ever get named after Trump. Especially with everything going on right now. Especially if it's a public space or building, that will cater to a diverse group of people.

The backlash would be catastrophic.

There are schools named after both Bushes. Naming a school after Obama is nothing, unless you're a racist.

How many schools and bridges and streets were renamed Reagan? Someone's name had to be taken off of them to make room for St. Ronnie, who was NOT martyred or assassinated or anything.

I'd like to see more things get named after Barack and Michelle Obama. Their our first black president and first lady and it's time. I know there's already been things named after them, but I want to see more entities named after them.

The one truly funny thing about this presidency we have now is that he thinks Reagan was an awful president and that has led to the desaintifying. of Reagan by many many many conservatives. He no longer has the reverence he did before.

I still admire Wilson for his role in the League of Nations which eventually led to establishment of the UN.

Young people have to learn to assess historical personalities within the context of their time in history and for both the perceived good and bad to which they may have contributed.

Removing Wilson’s name is not erasing him from history.

Institutions, buildings, schools, etc. should be named after those who not only contributed to society, but were beyond reproach.

Wilson was not beyond reproach.

You are not necessarily taking someone’s name off to name after Reagan or Obama. They didn’t even remove “National” from the airport, now Reagan National.

This is absolutely unbelievable. These administrators are letting hoodlums control the school. Many of these lowlifes are vandals and belong in prison!

R53 No, racist, now fuck off and burn a cross. This doesn’t affect your life in any way.

Princeton is a trade school.

I grew up in the 60s. I saw how racist people were back then, in the North! Americans and Europeans have been racists for centuries. Are we supposed to wipe out history? Society is a lot more enlightened now and is still making strides. We still have a long way to go. But erase the past when we can learn from it? How many African countries are going to change their names because their ancestral populations also held slaves? I agree we should admit to shameful things in our past, but this is going well beyond reasonable.

R56 the entire world is racist, not just the USA and Europe

As my mentor told me when as a young man I first went to work in the UN '"don't idolize or romanticize the poor. We're all despicable.

It makes me laugh now but over the years I came to understand this truth.

R25 is correct. Taking down monuments or renaming buildings does not do that. Erasing Wilson from the history books would do that. No one is calling for that.

Yes, Wilson was a statesman...the architect of the peace to end WWI and rebuild the world order from it. But his racial views were extreme...getting rid of black civil servants. He was very much a segregationist southerner, even though he is associated with New Jersey.

Nixon, too, did a great deal of good work with detente, but would anyone want a monument to him?

A marble bust of the former president (Nixon) stands outside the Senate chamber, portraying Nixon as vice-president under President Eisenhower.

Wilson was very much a racist. He also held a viewing of the incredibly racist 1916 film "Birth Of A Nation" at the White House.

History will remember Wilson and what ever good he did; we don't need monuments and schools named after him too.

This seems ok to me. Wilson's racism is real and changing the name..why not, But when all the statues are gone and things are renamed, will things get better? Renaming streets MLK Blvd 50years ago hasn't improved society significantly. They change the names of schools a lot but it never affects outcomes much.

MLK was renamed that after MLK was assassinated. It was done in memory of him. Things named after Wilson weren't named for him for the same reason.

I believe they call that a false equivalency.

R61 It’s symbolic but it matters.

In NYC, when they created small schools, they gave the worst schools the most grandiose names. You knew the Nobel Academy for Excellence was full of kids who couldm't read. Meanwhile the East Asian and. Chinese kids at Dogpoop HS were doing great. But I get symbols matter so we'll see if things actually change.

This has been in the making for a long time.

I am all for cleaning house and our national act. When will we get to the sexist country artists and rappers?

Rolling my eyes at R66.

Just don't touch my hundred thousand dollar bills

Right now, although overarchingly there is real empathy and support at college campuses worldwide, this is also a great deal about maintaining political correctness and student tuition there during this bad economic crisis and pandemic situation.

R67 is a Karen.

[quote]Are we supposed to wipe out history? Society is a lot more enlightened now and is still making strides. We still have a long way to go. But erase the past when we can learn from it?

You sound unhinged and hysterical. For the billionth time: removing statues and names is not "erasing history." Monuments are not "history;" they're objects created by powerful institutions to project their values. Stop conflating the two; it's ignorant.

History is the record of events that happened and artifacts associated with those events and those times. Statues are not artifacts; they're manufactured often years or decades after the people or events they commemorate.

[quote] Institutions, buildings, schools, etc. should be named after those who not only contributed to society, but were beyond reproach.

Hahahahaha. No one is beyond reproach. NO ONE.

R72 True but who cares what a building is named. I hated an airport being named after Reagan but it doesn’t hurt me nor affect my life.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

R74 Of course the terrible Gov Jindal who wrecked LA would say such a stupid thing. False equivalency day?

[quote]True but who cares what a building is named. I hated an airport being named after Reagan but it doesn’t hurt me nor affect my life.

It's not about you.

How about the Nancy Wilson School?

Call it the Ellen Axon Wilson School. She was not a racist. Make sure it's named after the first Mrs. Wilson though because the second Mrs. Wilson was an outspoken racist who would have loved to have been a KKK if women were allowed.

R76 It’s about racists getting their asses handed to them. They’re screaming and crying like little babies.

R79 Oh yes, this will do soooo much for the BLM cause.

R80 What does that even mean? We should coddle racists lest they get upset? They already cause enormous problems. We are over their bullshit. Enough. They get nothing.

These BLM protesters should stop and think about the fact that if their ancestors hadn't been brought to this country, most likely they would still be living in a hut in the middle of Africa today!

R82 America belongs just as much to black people as it does to native Americans, and less to white people.

Black Americans built America literally.

Go choke on your dad's dick.

r82 is a racist as well as a proponent of slavery.

Shun him good gals!

R82 I bet you are a slave for BBC.

We'll always have Quai Wilson

R83 The absolute fuck are you talking about?

Will the statues and monuments dedicated to anti-gay people be removed next ?

If Woodrow Wilson and his ilk hadn’t formed and implemented post reconstruction racist legislation, we would’ve made much more progress by now and wouldn’t be in the state we are today. There were so many lost opportunities to do the right thing a hundred years ago. His legacy is terrible. I say rename the Woodrow Wilson Bridge the Woody Guthrie Bridge. This land was made for you and me!

[quote]These BLM protesters should stop and think about the fact that if their ancestors hadn't been brought to this country, most likely they would still be living in a hut in the middle of Africa today!

Yeah, except that half of our ancestors are actually white slave owners .... so how does that work exactly?