{"id":39245,"date":"2021-07-23T11:33:57","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T15:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/?p=39245"},"modified":"2021-07-23T11:33:57","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T15:33:57","slug":"human-rights-commission-release-statement-on-underground-railroad-tableau-vandalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/human-rights-commission-release-statement-on-underground-railroad-tableau-vandalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Rights Commission Release Statement on Underground Railroad Tableau Vandalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Jamestown Human Rights Commission<\/strong> has released a statement against the racist, anti-Semitic vandalism of the Underground Railroad Tableau<\/strong> Statues in Dow Park.<\/p>\n

The statement read in part, “The Commission is disappointed by the repeated malicious activity that has happened in Dow Park in recent months. The looting of the Underground Railroad Tableau in May of this year was reprehensible, and this vandalism has made it clear that there is a racist narrative that is becoming more prevalent in our area. ”<\/p>\n

Two statues were found defaced over the July 4th weekend. Jamestown Police are asking anyone with information to contact the anonymous TIPS line at (716) 483-8477.<\/p>\n

The City of Jamestown Human Rights Commission denounces the hateful vandalism of the Catherine Harris and Silas Sherman statues in Dow Park discovered on the 4<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0of July in the City of Jamestown. This racist, anti-Semitic act is a clear example of white supremacy in our city and must be renounced as loudly and powerfully as possible. The Commission is disappointed by the repeated malicious activity that has happened in Dow Park in recent months. The looting of the Underground Railroad Tableau in May of this year was reprehensible, and this vandalism has made it clear that there is a racist narrative that is becoming more prevalent in our area.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Catherine Harris, Silas Sherman, and many other individuals from Jamestown and the surrounding county, shared an active role in the Underground Railroad.\u00a0 These activists dedicated their time, money, and opened up their homes to provide aid to people trying to reach freedom.\u00a0 Due to these efforts, it is estimated that about 30,000 people were able to reach Canada.\u00a0 The City of Jamestown has always played a significant role in the fight for justice and equality and this community will not be defined by the defacement of our statues.\u00a0 We refuse to allow these acts to tarnish their importance.\u00a0 We do not want this to be how these statues are recognized and remembered by the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is our duty as a community to identify this white supremacist behavior and work tirelessly to obstruct its expression in our neighborhoods.\u00a0 As a Commission, it is our responsibility to acknowledge destructive and hateful acts like those committed in Dow Park, and to ensure that these do not become distinguishing traits of our city.\u00a0 We strive for Jamestown to be known for its strong opposition to any prejudiced, intolerant behavior that does not align with the values of compassion and inclusivity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anti-Semitism is defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) as \u201ca certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.\u00a0 Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and\/or property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.\u201d Merriam-Webster\u2019s definition is \u201chostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group.\u201d Both definitions can be directly applied to the vandalism at Dow Park.\u00a0 The Commission does not hesitate to view these actions as unequivocally anti-Semitic and feel that our leaders should treat them as such.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is an organization started in 1913 with a mission \u201cto stop the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all\u201d.\u00a0 Their main focus is to monitor, track, expose, and respond to antisemitism around the county.\u00a0 Their Center on Extremism keeps a running list of reported anti-Semitic incidents in the United States.\u00a0 They use this information to compile yearly audits; comparing the number of incidents to past years, dividing them up by state, and even organizing them by certain locations such as schools, business establishments, college campuses, etc.\u00a0 These audits help provide a small glimpse into the hate and animosity that Jewish individuals face throughout their lives.\u00a0 The incident in Dow Park is now on ADL\u2019s tracker and will be a part of their 2021 audit.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Commission wants to emphasize that this act was a hate crime, and that we are in support of identifying the involved individual(s) and prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the law.\u00a0As Jamestown residents, we are tasked with the obligation to vehemently rebuke any and all expressions of racism, anti-Semitism, and bigotry. These acts do not define who we are as a community and are in direct opposition to the work we do to represent and highlight our city\u2019s diversity at the City of Jamestown Human Rights Commission.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Commission urges anyone who may have information regarding the vandalism or the disappearance of the statues at Dow Park to please contact the Jamestown Police Department at (716) 483-7537.\u00a0 Alternatively, the Department\u2019s tip line is (716) 483-8477.\u00a0 All callers can choose to remain completely anonymous.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Jamestown Human Rights Commission has released a statement against the racist, anti-Semitic vandalism of the Underground Railroad Tableau Statues in Dow Park. The statement read in part, “The Commission is disappointed by the repeated malicious activity that has happened in Dow Park in recent months. The looting of the Underground Railroad Tableau in May […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":38970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4],"tags":[10105,10504],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Statue-Vandals.jpg?fit=1735%2C728&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3YlJ4-acZ","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39245"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39246,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39245\/revisions\/39246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}