I question our City's approach to history. It annually honors the birthday of a murderous slave trader. City and UF removed monuments local Confederate veterans, while refusing to erect a promised monument to U.S Colored Troops.
It "honors" Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, the man who:
1. Promised King Phillip II to bring in 500 enslaved Africans within three (3) years;
2. Ordered the 1566 garroting murder of Guillermo, a Gay French interpreter of the Guale Indian language because he was "a Sodomite and a Lutheran." (His brother-in-law wrote it down).
Here is the City's NextDoor post and my response:
On Wednesday, February 15 at 11:00am, the City of St. Augustine will mark Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles’ 504th birthday with a brief wreath-laying ceremony at the base of his statue in front of City Hall, located at 75 King St. The public is invited to attend.
The ceremony will include a processional and a reading of the proclamation in front of the statue of Don Pedro Menendez by a group of reenactors from Historic Florida Militia, as well as remarks offered by City Commissioner Jim Springfield.
Menendez, who founded the city on September 8, 1565, was born in Avilés, a port city in the Asturias region of Spain, on February 15, 1519. Following a career in the Spanish Navy during the reign of Spanish King Phillip II, his voyage to Florida in 1565 was in response to the French having founded Fort Caroline. The French were defeated soon after the arrival of Menendez and the establishment of St. Augustine.
The area in front of city hall was named Parque de Menendez in a ceremony on February 15, 1978, by the City Commission and attended by the Ambassador of Spain to the United States. The statute itself is a replica of one in Avilés, given by “the People of Avilés, Spain to the People of St. Augustine, Florida” on September 8, 1972.
Wednesday, February 1511:00 AM
Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles 504th Birthday Ceremony
75 King Street, St. Augustine, FL
2 interested · 1 going
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In 1566, Adelantado Pedro Menendez de Aviles ordered the first anti-Gay hate crime in North American history. Menedez's brother-in-law wrote it down. Guillermo, a Gay French interpreter of the Guale Indian language, was ordered to be garroted to death out of sight -- Menendez said Guillermo was a "Sodomite and a Lutheran."
1 day ago
What is the City of St. Augustine doing to honor Guillermo's memory? And what our Nation's Oldest City doing to respect LGBTQIA+ rights? Please respond below.
(edited)1d
You have the same rights as everyone else, stop crying and get living.
2 hr ago
gerard Chevrette
1 hr ago
Our history must be told completely. Governor DeSantis wants to censor it. Enough flummery, dupery and nincompoopery from anti-historical hysterics.
1 hr ago
On June 7, 2005, United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida Chief Judge Henry Lee Adams, Jr. found that the City of St. Augustine violated the First Amendment re: Gay history, ordering that some 42 Rainbow flags fly on our Bridge of Lions and seven along our Bayfront June 8-13, 2005 in honor of Gay Pride week. Judge Adams issued a TRO after irrefragable proof that the City discriminated. Every other group request to fly flags was granted; only one was denied. (Facts remarkably similar to one the Supreme Court recently decided re: City of Boston discriminating against one flag request, for a Christian flag).
48 min ago
The 1566 murder on Menedez's orders was presented by plaintiffs in a summary of GLBTQIA+ St. Augustine history.
47 min ago
Our City Commission voted 3-2 to deny the flag request; fourteen days later, Chief Judge Adams ruled for plaintiffs, Rev. Ruth Jensen and her wife, Ms. Elizabeth Forbell.
46 min ago
Of course, our prudish UF St. Augustine Historical friends portray St. Augustine history here in an exclusionary manner. For example, a four hour documentary on St. Augustine, attempting to portray Menendez as if he were some sort of Spanish colonial George Washington, completely omitted the murder. UF refused to share draft scripts. UF refused to consider suggestions. UF runs St. Augustine historic buildings in an inconsiderate manner, even changing the name of Government House to Governor's House without adequate discussion or debate.
43 min ago
HSAC Advisory Committee meetings are held with deficient notice, with agendas only available if you request them! How gauche and louche.
42 min ago
Two of four hours of documentary were shown on PBS. Local historic re-enactors appeared in it, including former Mayor George Gardner and his wife, Sally. UF did not include in the credits the names of George, Sally or any of the dozens of other costumed historic re-enactors who appeared in their film. UF's insensitive attitude toward history here leaves much to be desired.
(edited)32m
Every other government agency publishes the text of their agendas, and backup materials. UF needs greater public scrutiny. It's our money.
32 min ago
City of St. Augustine insurance defense lawyer Susan Erdelyi brandished our City's discriminatory attitude in her June 7, 2005 oral argument in front of Chief Judge Adams.
(edited)Now
Judge Adams asked, "What's the Broward Yacht Company?" She replied, "I think it's a yacht company, your honor." Broward Yacht Company got to fly their flags on BoL, when it had no connection to St. Augustine history.
30 min ago
Judge Adams asked her, "What's historic about Flagler College other than that one of its buildings is old?" She had no coherent reply. Flagler College got to fly its flag on BoL some 59 times 2004-2005.
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Yet City of St. Augustine rejected Gay Pride group request for Rainbow flag, claiming LGBTQIA+ people had insufficient ties to history under City's 2004 policy.
27 min ago
Judge Adams' TRO was a great victory for First Amendment rights, achieved only two weeks after the itty-bitty City violated them. Three cheers for the Rule of Law and the First Amendment.
25 min ago
Our City now adopts annual Gay Pride proclamations, while disdaining requests for the Rainbow flag, without presenting it for a vote or discussion. Nancy Sikes-Kline told me several years ago that the Rainbow flag would not fly over City Hall. There had been no discussion or debate by Commission. Her dismissive verbal ukase is in pari delicto with the Establishment's haughty attitude 2003-2005, with some 32 long pages of hate speech on the St. Augustine Record's Talk of the Town website, where business owners and City officials posted "Anonymice" comments carping against dissenters, including those who caught the City dumping a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir),
(edited)30m
Until it stopped in 2015, City spent tax funds on an annual Gala in honor of Menendez's birthday. Florida League of Cities said St. Augustine was the only Florida City to sponsor Galas -- we had two (2)!
23 min ago
Adelantado Pedro Menendez's contract with the King of Spain promised the King of Spain that Menendez would bring in 500 enslaved Africans during the first three (3) years. (corrected -- three years, not five, per Dr. Susan Parker and Dr. Eugene Lyons, Ph.Ds. https://www.staugustine.com/story/news/local/2019/08/24/1619-project-ignores-fact-that-slaves-were-present-in-florida-decades-before/
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6m
So the City still "honors" its murderous, slave-trading founder, but City and UF disdain the rest of our history. UF cancelled plans for a U.S. Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.) monument west of Government House. Wonder why? It said that with the removal of the two (2) Confederate war veteran monuments by City and UF, there was no longer a plan to honor Black Civil War veterans, from St. Augustine, who helped free Jacksonville, freed enslaved people, and helped liberate Fort Sumter. Ask UF, why not?
(edited)3m
The fantasy narratives over the impeccable honor, respectability, and morality of historical figures carries over to today. Politicians and leaders want to be seen as flawless people who never make mistakes or let people down, but that's not reality and not human nature. However, I can understand the tendency to cover up wrongdoing when after all the price continues to rise for just about everyone in society. Perhaps such a steep price didn't exist hundreds of years ago. If you had power, you were more likely to hold onto it and there was less deterrent to bad behavior. Other people continuing to hide the behavior of certain historical figures doesn't make much practical sense. Perhaps if there wasn't so much denial happening, people wouldn't be trying to tear the statues down. It's the denial of the morality of certain historical actions that people are trying to tare down. The monuments are just the innocent bystander if you will.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans recently voted on a "Horrors of Socialism" resolution, and of course neglected the "Horrors of American Slavery" and "Horrors of American Capitalism" resolution. With six million people now on some kind of state supervision or behind bars, multiply that by how many of their relatives are impacted, and you've got one of the biggest social disasters in human history. Why so much focus on the horrors of possible solutions (modern socialism.) The Nordic countries don't have a mass incarceration problem now do they? People are happier in general there so what is the real source of misery here in the USA?
ReplyDeleteJames Madison wrote that "it is not a just government, nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has in his personal safety and personal liberty, is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest.” Now we see "founding father" statements such as that being used by Republicans in an attempt to undermine social programs. But what they don't mention is that Madison owned slaves! He was depriving the lower classes of the fruits of their labor EXACTLY as the rich do in this country today. These people have not changed not even one iota. What they are saying is that the rich are entitled to exploit uninterrupted to no end. Mind you there was no such thing as a billionaire when Madison was alive.
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