Latest / Chuck Douglas / Columbus Statue and journalism

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Columbus Statue and journalism · Chuck Douglas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Off the air. We're talking about that, you know, the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Powerball jackpot and Eddie van Halen's the Frankenstratt. You know,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I combine the words is going up for auction two
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to three million. It may go higher. It may go higher,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: especially if a you know, some iconic, rich and famous
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: musician wants to buy it. It could go higher than that.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: But we were talking about, you know, what would you buy,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: and all kinds of stuff started going through my head
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: that you guys started hitting me with stuff, which a
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: couple of them were really good. Bob. Bob thought an
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: iconic Payne Stewart outfit that would be for Mark because
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: he's the golf guy. But I got one. Was it Shane? Yes,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Shane sent me something I hadn't thought of, but he's exactly.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I would love to own the golden EIB microphone. That
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: would just I would never use it. I would not
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: feel worthy of using it, but I'd love to own that.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: I don't know why anything that you didn't participate in
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: that conversation, Zach. Is there anything that if you had
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: that kind of money, you'd you'd just some part of
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: your history or memorabilia that that item from your life,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: that you go, man, I'd like to have that.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a couple of bat There is a basketball
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  Speaker 2: signed by Rick Patino and most of the nineteen ninety
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  Speaker 2: six Kentucky basketball team.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: That I would want.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: I don't know how much that would be, but there's
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: some Rick he was a basket basketball coach. If anybody
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: he doesn't know, he has some side stuff that would
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: be really cool.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: So other than that, I don't know.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: I'd have to think about it.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, and plus you know it's Kentucky, so
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: it would be pretty cheap. The idea, I'm just kidding you.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: I'm just kidding you, but I bet you everybody has
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: something that they would is my wheels got to and
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking, okay, the rights to uh to various things
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: entertainment wise from my childhood i'd love to have. And
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: the old cartoons. I asked Mark if you remembered Funky Phantom.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: I know you don't, You're way too young. I have
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: no idea what that. You'll find a friend, friend, friend,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: and Funky Fantom he'll pop right in just when you
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  Speaker 1: need him. Most It was from the Scooby Doo people,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: and Funky Phantom was a revolutionary war ghost. He had
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: a cat named Boo, a ghost cat named booate name
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: and and they would he helped the kids solve mysteries.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I would I don't know why I would like to
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  Speaker 1: own the rights to Funky Phantom. It was stupid, but
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: for some reason it was a very It was a
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: short lived that Sigmund the Sea Monster, which was a
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: live action Saturday Morning thing. I wouldn't mind owning that.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Josie and the Pussycats, I think I'd like to own
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: that too. Wasn't that a girl show? I'm not even
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: being on. No, Josie and the Pussycats was. They were
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: a girl band, but again, like Scooby Doo, they were
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: playing a concert and then they'd have to solve a
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: mystery before the show or whatever. So yeah, that was there.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: I wonder how much you would buy, like the intellectual
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: rights to like a film series like the Halloween film series.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: That would probably cost millions upon millions of dollars, right,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: because there's still money to be made. Those things run
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: somewhere every day, someplace in the planet. They're running every day.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: They're still money. There's a ton of them on the
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: serious tip by the way here, I'm and I'm taking
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: this from the WBNS ten TV site. Okay, suspect in
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four waffle house shooting near Ohio State sentenced
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: to at least twenty three years in prison. I'm thinking bravo,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: no community control, finally right. This is the story. A
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: man charged in a fatal shooting at waffle house near
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Ohio States campus last year was sentenced to at least
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: twenty three years in prison. Jakwan Curry, twenty one, pleaded
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: guilty involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault, and tampering with evidence. He
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: was initially charged with murder, but the charge was dismissed.
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  Speaker 1: April twenty nine, twenty twenty four, a fight started inside
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: the restaurant on North High Street and continued outside. A
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  Speaker 1: shot was fired during the fight, striking thirty eight year
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  Speaker 1: old Ronald Diggs. Records from Franklin County Municipal Court state
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: that Curry pulled out a handgun and shot Digs. How
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: this was involuntary. You removed the gun, pointed it and
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: pulled the trigger, But it's involuntary, police said. Two other
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: people were injured during the fight. A Franklin County judge,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: a Franklin County judge. A Franklin County judge. What judge?
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: What judge? Somebody finally went to print. They don't give
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: you the judge's name. I find this very odd. A
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Franklin County judge sentenced Curry to twenty three to twenty
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  Speaker 1: eight and a half years in prison. He'll receive three
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: hundred and eighty four days of jail credit. I have
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: now sentenced you to more time than you have been
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: on this earth. What you do with the next twenty
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: two years is up.
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  Speaker 3: To you, the judge, the judge. The judge told Curry,
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  Speaker 3: I'm very curious. This isn't scathing criticism. This is a
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  Speaker 3: sincere curiosity. Why ten TV would not put the judge's
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  Speaker 3: name in that story.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't even think of a reason.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: I've been sitting here trying to can a judge say, hey,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: please don't release my name.
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  Speaker 1: I know they can't. No public record, the court, the
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: court is public record. But I you know, I think
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  Speaker 1: I believe maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm the odd man
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  Speaker 1: out here. Maybe, but I think most people are probably thinking, Okay,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: you were in a fight, you pulled out a gun,
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  Speaker 1: you pointed it, you pulled the trigger, you took a life,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: and you went to prison. I think most people believe
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: that's the proper way this should conclude. So why not
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: give this judge credit? In this world of community control,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: where nobody seems to go to jail for anything in
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  Speaker 1: this town anymore, why not name the judge and give
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: them credit for sentencing and putting away someone who took
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: a life. I'm profoundly, I mean this profoundly curious about that.
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  Speaker 1: It just it's it doesn't seem normal.
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  Speaker 2: No, Like I said, I've been sitting here trying to
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  Speaker 2: think of a reason why.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I can't think of any reason why not to release
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: the name. There's no public blowback that's going to happen.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: No, you wouldn't think. And again, if somebody wouldn't really
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: want to get upset about it, they can. They can
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: look up the court record. It's not a big deal.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: But as a reporting entity, immediate entity, it just seems
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  Speaker 1: to me that that makes sense.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: All his name was really hard to spell, and they
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: were just like, we can't, we can't do.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: This copy and paste. Then oh, okay, news, are you done?
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Are you sure? News stories over the weekend included one
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: that I don't think can get enough attention. As we
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: are finally once again talking about the Christopher Columbus statue
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: that used to be in front of ninety West broad Street,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: suddenly they're talking about where it would be. And I
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: don't know if you heard the game plan or not,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: but one of the plans for where to locate this statue,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: which is apparently in some secret storage somewhere, is to
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: put it in a park situation. But the park the park
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: would not focus solely on Columbus. Instead, it would feature
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: text and artwork detailing the city's history and Columbus's controversial legacy,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: including his treatment of Indigenous people. The proposed park, approximately
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: five acres inside, would be designed in a spiral around
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: a circular community gathering space for festivals and concerts. It
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: would offer river access, opportunities for water recreation, with an
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  Speaker 1: emphasis on greenery, and a reflective space under a large
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  Speaker 1: stained glass skylight. Visitors could choose to view the twenty
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: two foot statue from its base or from higher ground,
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  Speaker 1: where they could look at the statue in the eyes.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Text about Columbus Histy Street would surround the statue. However,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the interesting part of this is that, as I was
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: watching various media coverage over the weekend, the park's going
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: to be designed so that if you don't want to
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: see the statue, you can you can completely avoid knowing
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: it's there. Okay, And of course there's got to be
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: you know, committees and meetings and a city council vote
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff before they do anything.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: During the George Floyd protest twenty twenty, the Columbus Art
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  Speaker 1: Commission and the City cruise remove the statue overnight. I
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: found that a very very interesting quote. This, by the way,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: is the coverage from WSYX. I've never heard the Columbus
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Arts Commission have anything to do with this. Andy Ginther,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the mayor, in the middle of the night at like
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: four am, is who I've understood was responsible for the
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: decision to remove that statue from Statey Hall. No vote,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: no public input, no planning meetings, no committees, no task force,
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  Speaker 1: just just middle of the night statue goes bye bye.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Now suddenly we're talking about the Columbus Arts Council or
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Art Commission, I'm sorry having something to do with this.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I was really vocal when they took it down. Resident
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Miles Stickle said, we were struggling in our country to
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: find out what to do with these relics of these
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: old men who who thought we had such a high
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: regard and really did an awful things. Critics of the
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: statue highlighting Columbus's violent history and enslavement of Native Americans. Meanwhile,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: some Italian Americans view the Statue of Art as strengthening
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: US Italy relations. Since July verse the twenty twenty, the
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  Speaker 1: statue has been stored at an undisclosed location, so they're
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: hiding it. Basically, we take responsibility to tell the truth
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: about colonialism and racism, and to tell the stories of
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  Speaker 1: people who've been overlooked in a race from the telling
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: of our history. I invite the entire community to join
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  Speaker 1: us in an inclusive discussion that will allow us to
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  Speaker 1: re envision how we project ourselves to the world and
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: create a symbolic landscape that more closely resembles our shared
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: values and aspirations for our future. The words of Mayor
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Andrew Ginther, of course, in a press release, not actually
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: facing people, just in a press release. This project, led
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: by historians, indigenous architects and designers, and diversity inclusion advisors,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Diversity and Inclusion advisors. What kind of degreedy you need
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: to get that gig?
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: I don't know, but I bet it pays well.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: Use see how we can do that.
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  Speaker 2: Oh man.
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  Speaker 1: They use what they called conventional and restorative practices to
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  Speaker 1: support the sharing of personal narratives from Columbus residents. While
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: State Community College also removed its statue in twenty twenty,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: the Ohio State House retained its statue on Capitol Square.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Statues of Columbus have been deleted or defaced or removed
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  Speaker 1: in cities like Boston, Saint Paul, blah blah blah. The
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  Speaker 1: proposal also includes a multiple long term temporary public art
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: installation for city halls, campus and the surrounding areas. Here's
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: the thing, everything everywhere can offend someone for some reason.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: More runs, and if you don't grasp that, that's your weakness.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: In fourteen ninety two, things were a little bit different
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: than they are today. In seventeen seventy six, things were
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: a little bit different than they are today. In eighteen fifty,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: things were a little bit different than they are today.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: But you continue to insist on putting today's standards, and
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: they're not even standards. I shouldn't use the word standard
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: because they're not standard. They're fringe, today's fringe beliefs on
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: the things that happened hundreds of years ago, and changing
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: what is because why because it makes you feel better. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: if the statue isn't there, there was never any slavery.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: If that, if that monument isn't there, we never had
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: any sort of racial problems in this country. Yeah, if
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: we don't hold that up. Women have always had the
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: right to vote.
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  Speaker 2: I haven't seen any problems since that statue has been taken.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Man, this is so ridiculous. And of course again it's
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: going to require you know, committees and voting with city
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: council and all that kind of stuff. Why why it
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: didn't require that to make it disappear? Why is it
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: required to reappear? Oh yeah, see me, see me, see me,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: or maybe that's just me.