Cardinal Timothy Dolan: "The destruction of monuments only impoverishes our sense of history." (June 29, 2020 WSJ column.)
During the night of June 10-11, 60 protesters marched to Miami's Bayfront Park where seven were arrested after confronting police and defacing the statues of Christopher Columbus and Juan Ponce de Leon with red paint.
The face, tunic and boots of the seven-foot bronze replica of Ponce de Leon, the founding father and first governor of Puerto Rico as well as the Spanish discoverer of Florida, were splashed with the symbolic blood by the vandals. The monument's marble pedestal and inscription plate also were tagged with red paint citing the chosen slogans of the protesters.
A red "Hammer and Sickle" - the insignia used by communists and Soviet Russia during its 70-year repressive history - covered Ponce de Leon's inscription plaque. Below the "Hammer and Sickle" were painted the letters "BLM," the acronym for the organization Black Lives Matter.
The marble pedestal supporting the statue of Ponce de Leon was defaced with the words "Libertad Yo," followed by some incoherent scribbling with red paint that defies translation.
Seven nights later, the statue of Ponce de Leon in the City of St. Augustine, the nation's oldest township established by Spain in the year 1565, was desecrated with rotten eggs by vandals, according to the June 18, 2020 edition of the St. Augustine Record newspaper.
The Ponce de Leon monument in Melbourne Beach was defaced on June 22 with streaks of red paint and the words "Ais Murder" written on its base. (In fact, the Ais Indians attacked the explorer's landing party north of the Indian River Inlet during his voyage of discovery.)
If the anarchists would have taken the time to read the inscription at the base of Ponce de Leon's Bayfront monument, they would have learned; "He arrived on Easter Sunday in 1513 looking for the Fountain of Youth, he found something better, a beautiful land that he claimed for Spain, and he called it Florida (the land of flowers)."
One can only imagine the message Ponce de Leon would have delivered from his grave as the 21st century rage mob vandalized his statue. True to his noble and charitable character, he probably would have said monuments to the past are not the enemy. Ignorance is the enemy. Ignorance of history is the cradle that spawns racism and nourishes it daily with hatred.
The statue honoring Florida's discoverer was designed by the skilled Hispanic sculptor Enrique Monjo. It was dedicated in Bayfront Park on Oct. 12, 1977. The monument is located next to the City of Miami's "Torch of Friendship," and was donated by the government of Spain, according to the Library of Congress.
While a few protesters in Florida have judged Ponce de Leon as a target worthy of their wrath, in Puerto Rico his legacy is still honored by many. The inscription on Ponce de Leon's tomb in Puerto Rico reads, "In this narrow spot lies a gentleman, who was a Lion (Leon) in name and much more in fact."
His tomb is resting in a place of respect within the San Juan Bautista Cathedral. A statue of a guardian angel placed above his tomb protects the founder of Puerto Rico from harm in the afterlife. The city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, was named in honor of the island's first governor.
The admired 16th century Spanish historian-poet Juan de Castellanos (1522 - 1607) wrote the following "Elegy to Juan Ponce de Leon" while he resided in Puerto Rico. This contemporary elegy states;
"He was affable, well loved by his people,
properly balanced in every way,
he suffered his labors admirably;
was prepared in the face of danger,
the most courageous trembled before him,
an enemy to friends of convenience,
and envied even by the worst of men."
Many Puerto Ricans living in Florida and their native island can trace their ancestry back to Ponce de Leon and children born during his two marriages to the Dona Leonora and Juana de Pineda. Protesters may wish to consider this historical fact before they topple his memorial statues. Family matters in Hispanic culture.
The State of Florida recently observed "Viva Florida 500, 1513 - 2013." The event marked the 500th anniversary of the state's discovery by Ponce de Leon. It was year-long celebration of Hispanic history and the numerous cultural contributions of our first settlers.
Landmarks honoring Ponce de Leon are found throughout the State of Florida. In Palm Beach County, for example, there is a Ponce de Leon Street in Royal Palm Beach, a Ponce de Leon Avenue in West Palm Beach, and a Ponce de Leon Road in Boca Raton. The Ponce de Leon Ballroom is the centerpiece of the historic Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach.
During his first voyage in 1513, Ponce de Leon explored the Jupiter Inlet (Rio de Cruz) and the Palm Beach barrier island (Aboioa). The governor of "Bimini and Western Islands" was fatally wounded by a Calusa arrow inflicted during his second voyage to Florida in 1521.
His flagship carried Ponce de Leon to Havana, Cuba, where he died from his infected wound and was buried in July 1521. Thirty-eight years after his death, his grandson and namesake, Juan Ponce de Leon II (1524 - 1591), transferred his grandfather's crypt from Havana to San Juan. It has been in the care of the Catholic Church since the year 1559.
Unknown to Ponce de Leon and other early explorers in Florida, they were the carriers of fatal diseases from Europe, such as smallpox and measles, which would soon kill native Indians by the tens of thousands. Critics of Ponce de Leon are quick to place this burden on the Spanish explorer while absolving their own ancestors from blame.
The anarchists arrested for defacing the Bayfront statues of Columbus and Ponce de Leon were charged with inciting to riot, disorderly conduct, unlawful assembly, battery on police officers, aggravated assault, and criminal mischief. The vandals also have symbolic blood on their hands for not observing CDC guidelines during the incurable COVID-19 viral pandemic.
President Donald Trump issued a presidential order on June 26 titled "An Executive Order on Protection of American Monuments, Memorials and Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Violence." The order sets penalties for both law violators and local government agencies that fail to protect historic monuments.*
The Executive Order (Section D) states; "It is the policy of the United States, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to withhold federal support tied to public spaces from state and local governments that have failed to protect public monuments, memorials and statues from destruction or vandalism..."
The moral righteousness of a social movement is diminished in the eyes of the public by those who commit pointless acts of vandalism. If a cause is just, it will win public support on its own merit through peaceful assembly and protests.
Ponce de Leon was not perfect (are you), but he is the symbol of the 286-year period when Florida was not just a colony of Spain, but a time in history when Hispanic culture, traditions, religion and laws helped shape the future of our state as it exists today. For this reason alone his memorials deserve respect.
Hopefully, Hispanic Floridians will have seats at the table during future discussions of social equity and racism in our state to assure their message is heard too.
(c.) Davidsson. 2020.
*NOTE: Article updated on June 29, 2020. See additional articles below and archived in Older Posts.
Friday, June 12, 2020
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