Activists are calling on the new County Executive to remove racist images from the Ontario Beach Carousel.
Late last year, county officials declined remove the images depicting offensive caricatures of black children, instead opting to install interpretive plaques. The plaques are currently being commissioned and are expected to be installed in the Spring.
But Minister Clifford Florence of the Faith Community Alliance says the plaques do not resolve the issue, and demands the images come down.
"The images are part and parcel of a time when people of color, black people, were thought to be and in fact routinely treated as less than human."
Florence stood with representatives from six other activists groups, including United Christian Leadership Ministry and the Rochester Black Panther Party. Saying their requests to meet with County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo have yet gone unanswered, the activists plan to protest the Hilton Garden Inn in Collegetown where she is scheduled to speak.
The County Executive's Office released a statement that reads:
In response to the recent request of Mayor Lovely Warren and City Council President Loretta Scott, the County determined course of action that would allow the City of Rochester to alter the Ontario Beach Carousel, a City-owned and City-designated landmark.
It was determined that the City could alter the Carousel’s design after receiving the approval from the City Preservation Board, which necessary to alter a landmark.
After the City obtains approval, the City may alter the Carousel at its expense and complete the project before the Carousel’s opening this Spring.
Also on Thursday about 20 activists opposed to the panel gathered at the Hilton Garden Inn at College Town, where Dinolfo spoke at a Chamber of Commerce event.
Mayor Warren issued this statement on Thursday evening:
“The spirit of cooperation has long defined the working relationship between the City and the County. I want to thank County Executive Dinolfo for embracing that legacy of cooperation and agreeing to the City’s plan to remove the offensive carousel panel. This depiction has caused pain and anguish to members of the African-American community and a great cross-section of our city’s and county’s residents who find its racist depiction and message to be repugnant. Today we have shown we can and will work together so our city and county can thrive and remain communities that take pride in their inclusiveness and diversity..."
Warren's office also released a letter she and City Council President Loretta Scott sent to Dinolfo on Jan. 4th in which Warren said that the city is requesting the panel at the carousel be removed and that it be replaced with another that is historically appropriate. She says since the county is the custodian of the carousel, city officials wanted the county to authorize the city to undertake that effort. Once the panel is rmoved, city officials request the panel be relocated to a place where it can be placed in a multi-media exhibit that will provide its "racially biased depiction" into an educational context, and Warren and Scott say they have had preliminary discussions with officials at the Rochester Museum and Science Center.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft2H9MR0F7k
