While we're talking statues, let's talk about Edward Carmack, the Nashville statue torn down by protesters.
Weirdly, Carmack's statute is one of the most prominently placed at the Tennessee capitol. It's weird because he only served a single term in the state legislature.
Weirdly, Carmack's statute is one of the most prominently placed at the Tennessee capitol. It's weird because he only served a single term in the state legislature.
He also served 4 years in the U.S. House of Reps., and one term in the U.S. Senate. Not exactly a lifelong public servant.
For most of the rest of his adult life he was a newspaper editor, where he pushed alcohol prohibition, published defamatory articles about his rivals ...
For most of the rest of his adult life he was a newspaper editor, where he pushed alcohol prohibition, published defamatory articles about his rivals ...
... and -- oh yeah -- defended lynching.
In 1892, a white grocer in Memphis convinced some cops to arrest the black owners of a competing grocery on trumped-up charges. Black people in the area came to defend the grocery. A riot ensued. A white mob then drug the three ...
In 1892, a white grocer in Memphis convinced some cops to arrest the black owners of a competing grocery on trumped-up charges. Black people in the area came to defend the grocery. A riot ensued. A white mob then drug the three ...
... store owners from the jail and lynched them.
The great Ida Wells decried the lynchings in her Memphis newspaper, Free Speech. In response, Cormack used his Nashville paper to call Wells a "black wench," and called for her paper to be firebombed. It was.
Wells fled ...
The great Ida Wells decried the lynchings in her Memphis newspaper, Free Speech. In response, Cormack used his Nashville paper to call Wells a "black wench," and called for her paper to be firebombed. It was.
Wells fled ...
... to Chicago, and didn't return to the south for 30 years.
So why is a figure as mediocre (at best!) as Carmack honored at the capitol? Another fun story. Cormack became a hardcore prohibitionist at the turn of the century, and was beloved by the state's temperance groups...
So why is a figure as mediocre (at best!) as Carmack honored at the capitol? Another fun story. Cormack became a hardcore prohibitionist at the turn of the century, and was beloved by the state's temperance groups...
He then died violent death, which they used to make him a martyr.
But as violent deaths go, here too Carmack was amusingly mediocre. He'd been feuding with a rival newspaper publisher and Prohibition opponent named Duncan Cooper. Cooper thought Carmack had been defaming...
But as violent deaths go, here too Carmack was amusingly mediocre. He'd been feuding with a rival newspaper publisher and Prohibition opponent named Duncan Cooper. Cooper thought Carmack had been defaming...
... him in Carmack's Nashville paper, and either threatened to kill Carmack or sent him a very sternly worded letter, depending on your source. On a fall day in 1908, Carmack saw Cooper and his son out in Nashville, panicked, pulled a gun, and opened fire. He missed Cooper ...
... but wounded Cooper's son, who then returned fire, killing Carmack.
Prohibitionists seized on Carmack's death to promote their cause. The Tennessee legislature banned alcohol two months later. 20 years later, in the midst of Prohibition, a temperance group commissioned ...
Prohibitionists seized on Carmack's death to promote their cause. The Tennessee legislature banned alcohol two months later. 20 years later, in the midst of Prohibition, a temperance group commissioned ...
... the statue that stood in front of the Capitol until last week.
Now as a journalist, I'd like to see more statutes of journalists. (Fewer politicians!) But man. Let's pick the right journalists. Edward Carmack died because driven by a petty feud, he panicked, ...
Now as a journalist, I'd like to see more statutes of journalists. (Fewer politicians!) But man. Let's pick the right journalists. Edward Carmack died because driven by a petty feud, he panicked, ...
tried to kill a man, missed, and was killed. His death was then elevated to build support for ...
... one of the biggest social policy failures in American history!
Meanwhile, Ida Wells was a pioneering journalist who endured harassment, death threats, and fire bombings ...
... one of the biggest social policy failures in American history!
Meanwhile, Ida Wells was a pioneering journalist who endured harassment, death threats, and fire bombings ...
to force the country to confront the atrocity of lynching. For this, Edward Carmack insulted her, used his paper to successfully call for her offices to be destroyed, and chased her out of the state.
And in the more than 100 years that have transpired since, the TN capitol...
And in the more than 100 years that have transpired since, the TN capitol...
... has chosen to and continues to honor who?
Edward flippin' Carmack.
My fellow Tennesseeans, I submit we retire the fallen Edward Carmack statue to an appropriate spot on lower Broadway, where he can be toasted by drunken bachelorette parties and offered Jager shots ...
Edward flippin' Carmack.
My fellow Tennesseeans, I submit we retire the fallen Edward Carmack statue to an appropriate spot on lower Broadway, where he can be toasted by drunken bachelorette parties and offered Jager shots ...
... by SEC frat bros for the next 100 years.
In his place, let's put up a statue honoring a real goddamned journalist -- a woman this state wronged, despite her heroic efforts to make us better.
Let's welcome Ida B. Wells back to Tennessee.
In his place, let's put up a statue honoring a real goddamned journalist -- a woman this state wronged, despite her heroic efforts to make us better.
Let's welcome Ida B. Wells back to Tennessee.
