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Who should replace Junipero Serra in Statuary Hall?

Published on 42 Comments on Who should replace Junipero Serra in Statuary Hall?

Every state gets two statues as part of the Capitol building's Statuary Hall Collection. One of California's is Junipero Serra, who seems likely to be replaced in the near future. But with whom?

Patt Morrison provides a few guesses here, but leaves out my choice: John Steinbeck. Unfortunately, this would give us two white guys representing a state that's now two-thirds non-white. So probably it ought to be someone else.

One solution might be to put statues on a ten-year rotation instead of trying to find an "eternal" representative. That would put less pressure on each choice since it wouldn't be considered the last chance ever to get a favored choice immortalized in bronze. If that means I have to wait 20 or 30 years for a Steinbeck statue, I can live with that.

42 thoughts on “Who should replace Junipero Serra in Statuary Hall?”

  2. Traveller

    I like John Steinbeck, he would not have even crossed my mind...so good choice, I'm going to have to work on this, but maybe Caesar Chavez? Hummm...I'll be back....lol....Traveller

      1. iamr4man

        He denies knowledge of that fact before choosing the name. Maybe. If he posted under the name “Little Sorrel” it would be harder to deny.

        1. Traveller

          I realize that I am a poor broke-down old hag, but the thought of Robert E Lee riding me up and down the Shenandoah Valley in a cold eastern rain gives me the willies....The image is...Trumpian....Sad! (and besides I am not a grey American Saddlebred of 16 hands!)
          .
          Before Covid I did try to spend 4 months a year on the road....I chose this name back in Usnet Time...or a time beyond remembering...;>}}

          Be that as it may, I still kind of have a very, very minor private travel board...but, there is a lot of Travel Reluctance out there even among serious previous travelers.

          I fear that Covid has really and actually changed my consciousness.
          I still have a good United travel Voucher to Rome and Sicily...which I must book before December 31....but will I?

          Ahhh, as a human being I am a puzzle.

          Best Wishes, Traveller (not the horse, and stop making fun of me....:>}})

        2. Traveller

          I realize that I am a poor broke-down old hag, but the thought of Robert E Lee riding me up and down the Shenandoah Valley in a cold eastern rain gives me the willies....The image is...Trumpian....Sad! (and besides I am not a grey American Saddlebred of 16 hands!)
          .
          Before Covid I did try to spend 4 months a year on the road....I chose this name back in Usnet Time...or a time beyond remembering...;>}}

          Be that as it may, I still kind of have a very, very minor private travel board...but, there is a lot of Travel Reluctance out there even among serious previous travelers.

          I fear that Covid has really and actually changed my consciousness.
          I still have a good United travel Voucher to Rome and Sicily...which I must book before December 31....but will I?

          Ahhh, as a human being I am a puzzle even to myself.

          Best Wishes, Traveller (not the horse, and stop making fun of me....:>}})

  3. Spadesofgrey

    2/3's nonwhite???? Nope. You don't get it. It's about 60% seen "as white" or European ancestry. 15% Asian. 5% black. 20% mezzies.

  4. Traveller

    John Muir, Earl Warren, I was going to say John Fremont...but I looked him up to see how many strikes he had against him....there are always surprising facts in peoples lives:

    From his Wiki

    "After the Civil War, Frémont lost much of his wealth in the unsuccessful Pacific Railroad in 1866, and lost more in the Panic of 1873. Frémont served as Governor of Arizona from 1878 to 1881. After his resignation as governor, Frémont retired from politics and died destitute in New York City in 1890. "
    **********
    I think I wanted to emphasize that he died destitute....I would not have guessed this. Life can be strange....Traveller

  8. aaall1

    Ronald Reagan and Sera both should go. Don Pío de Jesús Pico was a native Californian with Spanish, African, and native ancestry who persevered through Spanish, Mexican, and the United States governments. The other statue should be of Gov. Pat Brown.

  10. Alex R

    California's three standout industries -- technology, film/entertainment, and agriculture -- would be well-represented by Steve Jobs (Apple, Pixar) and Cesar Chavez (UFW). I say boot Reagan and Serra and put up these two.

    2. pjcamp1905

      Steve Jobs was a salesman who made a vast reputation out of stealing other people's ideas and presenting them as his own. Apple I and II? Those were all Wozniak. Macintosh/Lisa? Ripped off from Xerox after Jobs toured their Palo Alto labs. There isn't a spec of Mac technology that didn't have it start there. iPod? A gussied up version of the Diamond Rio. iPhone? The smartphone was invented by Handspring, who invented much of the fundamental technology that Apple drew on for the iPhone. Also preceded by the LG Prada which looks for all the world like a monochrome iPhone. After the Newton debacle, he did not want to do the iPad and had to be dragged into it kicking and screaming.

      Jobs was not a great inventor. He was a great salesman and self promoter at the head of a carefully cultivated cult of personality, a cult that seems to have transferred itself to Elon Musk.

      1. MontyTheClipArtMongoose

        In this Truckee country n' western bar, Diamond Rio is still a late 80s Nashville pop duo whose songs scored the town's proms for twenty years, not a supposed predecessor to the iPhone, but they do know this: Steve Jobs was a consummate businessman who would have been aghast to see Tim Cook sellout Apple to the woke mob.

        1. jte21

          Unfortunately Stein survived the Nazi occuptation of France by being, shall we say, not entirely unsympathetic to their cause.

  12. skeptonomist

    Obviously the statues are not "eternal" or Reagan would not be there. Who did he replace? If Republicans can put Reagan in, Democrats can replace him with a Democratic governor - even a recent one.

    1. Salamander

      Per wikipedia, under "Statuary Hall", in 2009 Reagan replaced

      Thomas Starr King (December 17, 1824 – March 4, 1864), often known as Starr King, was an American Universalist and Unitarian minister, influential in California politics during the American Civil War, and Freemason.[1] Starr King spoke zealously in favor of the Union and was credited by Abraham Lincoln with preventing California from becoming a separate republic. He is sometimes referred to as "the orator who saved the nation"

      I find it totally bizarre that they'd want to replace HIM, as opposed to Fr Serro, but I'm guessing the Republicans were running CA at the time? uh, yeah. Ahnold was running the place. Another star-turned-governor

    2. cld

      They could replace Reagan with a statue of Death, from Death Valley, holding a vial of tar from La Brea, representing extinction.

  14. pjcamp1905

    Why don't you take Ronald Reagan out while you're at it? That man was a malign influence who firmly cemented Nixon's racist appeals, Christian nut jobs, and unpaid for tax cuts as permanent features of the Republican party. He was an even shittier actor. Frankly, I don't see a damn thing to admire about him.

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