Trevor Lawrence, Mike Jones, Cornell Powell & Darien Rencher to lead peaceful protest in Clemson

CUTrevor 2020-06-11 14:38:29


It will begin at 6:00 on Saturday on campus. The students are protesting to remove John C. Calhoun's name from buildings on campus. I wonder if they realize that there would be no Clemson University without Calhoun. Yes, Calhoun owned slaves. So did George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Are we going to try to erase the Founding Fathers from history too? You might as well change the name of Clemson University as well because Thomas Green Clemson was Calhoun's son-in-law and did not force Calhoun to release his slaves. 

I abhor racism (by whites, blacks and everyone), but the millennials need to learn that names of buildings and statues are not endorsing the institution of slavery, and those who owned slaves 200 years ago when it was legal, were not all evil. That may seem like an incongruous statement in this day and age when we all recognize slavery as an evil institution, but 200 years ago it was simply the way this country operated. Again, I abhor racism and the institution of slavery, but I am not in favor of efforts to erase our history by removing all names of people who did great things because they also owned slaves. That would include changing the names of Washington State and Washington, DC. If we don’t do that, we shouldn’t change the names that are significant to the history of Clemson University. And I say that as an alumnus with two degrees from Clemson. Most of the local Clemson media did not attend Clemson.

Trevor and the other players leading the protest held an interview on Zoom today with the media. I’ll have that posted shortly.





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