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Priorities! NY Gov. Hochul moves to cleanse ‘offensive representations’ of Indians from Capitol

January 10, 2024 | | Print Article

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has set her sights on cleansing what some deem to be “offensive representations” of Native Americans from the state Capitol.

At a time when her state is facing very serious problems, not the least of which is a surge of illegal aliens in New York City, the Democrat leader showed where her priorities are by pandering to thin-skinned leftists over the “harmful racial stereotypes” displayed at the government building in Albany.

“All New Yorkers should feel welcome and respected when visiting the State Capitol. Unfortunately, offensive imagery and distasteful representations of populations in the art which adorns the Capitol can alienate visitors,” the governor stated in her newly released State of the State policy book for 2024.

“Indigenous peoples, in particular, are often depicted in artworks in a manner that reflects harmful racial stereotypes and glorifies violence against Indigenous peoples. Such depictions do not reflect the values of New York State,” Hochul said.

According to the New York Post, “Albany insiders said New York’s Native American activists have complained about murals in the governor’s reception room — also known as the ‘War Room’ — that adorn the ceiling on the second floor.

“The mural depicts New York’s early battles, the Five Nations of the Iroquois, and former President and Gov. Theodore Roosevelt,” the outlet reported. There is a series of frames depicting indigenous Americans in a battle with Samuel de Champlain and the French during the 1600s, including one where a Native American is standing over a comrade who has been killed. Underneath another frame of a colonizer fighting a tribesman is the statement, ‘Champlain Killing First Indian.’”

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A Tuesday press release from Hochul’s office states: “To ensure that all New Yorkers are welcomed in the State Capitol, Governor Hochul will commence a comprehensive review of artistic representation of Indigenous peoples in the Capitol, with invited participation from representatives from each of the nine Indigenous Nations. All New Yorkers should feel welcome and respected when visiting the Capitol, but unfortunately, offensive imagery and distasteful representations of populations in the art which adorns the Capitol can alienate visitors.”

“Assessments of offensive artistic representations of Indigenous peoples are informed by precedent more than eighty years old, and Indigenous peoples, in particular, are often depicted in artworks in a manner that reflects harmful racial stereotypes and glorifies violence against Indigenous peoples. Such depictions do not reflect the values of New York State,” the statement read.

Hochul’s focus on virtue signaling at a time of crisis in the Empire State was slammed by X users who rightly wondered why precious time and resources were being squandered on pet leftist non-issues.

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In another sop to her progressive base, the governor signed off on the creation of a brand spanking new committee to study reparations, the confiscation of wealth and property from white folks who never owned slaves to give it to blacks who were never in chains.

“In New York, we like to think we’re on the right side of this. Slavery was a product of the South, the Confederacy,” Hochul crowed at a ceremony where she signed the bill in New York City last month. “What is hard to embrace is the fact that our state also flourished from that slavery. It’s not a beautiful story, but indeed it is the truth.”

Chris Donaldson
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