By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MAY 11, 2021 | The removal of the Samuel Spencer statue in front of the Norfolk Southern Railroad headquarters continues to bother me — because of the reason for its removal. (See an earlier treatment of this story here.)
Etched on the statue were three facts: Spencer was a native Georgian, Confederate soldier and first president of the Southern Railway.
For some reason, we found another source which put a different light on one of the facts on this subject.
Spencer was listed by the Harvard Business School as one of the “Great American Business Leaders of the 20th Century.” Among the points listed by the School were his birth and death dates and place (Georgia), race, gender, and colleges where he graduated (2), and then one more item: “Military service: Army.”
That got me to thinking. What if the Spencer statue had etched on its base, instead of “Confederate soldier” that Spencer was, instead, listed as an “Army veteran.” Note that Harvard did not say whether he was a Union or Confederate veteran.
We think the flap over the memory of Samuel Spencer has been treated badly, and hope that the City of Atlanta, who owns the statue, can find some dignified way to release it to be appropriately established in some reasonable place. We still like Duluth’s Southeastern Railway Museum as the perfect place to memorialize him.
It’s always good when you hear something that makes you burst out in laughter. That happened the other morning when listening to National Public Radio (NPR) about the outcome of a Supreme Court case.
Students in Des Moines, Iowa were protesting another student’s suspension from school had an unusual reason, believing they what they had learned in church, which was that peace and love were important. One student said, and this is what made me guffaw: “We’re not communists, we’re Methodists.”
- To read the entire NPR story by Nina Totenberg, go to: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/988083256.
Distinctive age: Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff, age 33 when sworn in, is the youngest Democrat elected to the Senate since Joe Biden in 1973. Ossoff’s now 34, being born on Feb. 16, 1987. President Biden was sworn into office at age 30 on January 3, 1973; he was reelected as a Delaware senator six times.
We recently learned of the death of Eli Broad, 87, who died April 30 in Los Angeles, Calif. and had an impact on Gwinnett. His death was announced by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation (pronounced Brode). He was a successful businessman in home building and insurance. He had an extensive art collection and was instrumental in creating the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and in shaping the civic and cultural life in Los Angeles.
The Broad Foundation had a competition among the large school systems in the United States. It named the Gwinnett County Public School System as the top large public school system in the country in both 2010 and 2014, and the system was a finalist three times. Alvin Wilbanks, who attended two seminars for superintendents at the Foundation, and knew Mr. Broad, commented: “He was a fine gentleman and philanthropist with interests in art, health and education. We will miss his impact for good.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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