My late friend David Thundershield Queen, a true Native American activist, opposed the inane demand to tear down the historic Castillo de San Marcos, for the same reason that we preserved Nazi concentration camps and made national parks out of the places where Japanese-Americans were interned during World War II.
David Thundershield Queen rightly questioned the tactics of Bobby C. Billie, a Mickosukee activist who once apparently spread catsup on the door of a building (simulating blood) and then stood by while an innocent bystander was questioned by Gainesville police. Activists who engage in protected activity stand up for each other.
In the spirit of Henry David Thoreau, T=true "civil disobedience" (as opposed to vapid vandalism) involves being willing to get arrested. True activists would support the St. Augustine National Park and National Seashore, www.staugustgreen,com, rather than making hubristic, impossible demands to tear down our history (the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument). That demand is a stench in the nostrils of the Nation, and a disgrace to the human race. Seeing the Castillo promotes understanding. Destroying it would be akin to ISIS' destruction of historic buildings in Palmyra.
I applaud the protesters for their zeal and creativity (canoes and kayaks) and for their willingness to get arrested, respectfully, to make a point. I also applaud two successive Mayors (Nancy Shaver and Joe Boles) for taking the time to talk with their leaders. I do not approve of Bobby C. Billie, his inept demands or his cowardly refusal to support real healing -- the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore.
Enough grandstanding.
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