Petition Seeks New Name for Rikers Island Over Historic Ties to Slavery

DNA info ^ | 7/20/15 | Eddie Small

[Impala64ssa]

RIKERS ISLAND — The head of the Harlem Historical Society wants Rikers Island renamed based on the namesake family's connection to slavery.

The embattled jail complex, which has been beset with scandal over poor treatment of inmates and calls to shut it down, gets its name from the family of Abraham Rycken, a Dutch immigrant who settled in New York in the 1600s, according to the New York Historical Society.

Jacob Morris, director of the Harlem Historical Society, recently started a petition to rename the embattled jail complex due to family member Richard Riker's history of helping send blacks into slavery during the 19th century.

Riker presided over the main criminal court in New York City, the Court of Special Sessions, in the early 1800s, and he used his authority in this position to send blacks to slavery as part of what abolitionists called the Kidnapping Club, according to historian Eric Foner.

[Impala64ssa]

The "moral equivalent" of the Confederate flag controversy up in daBronx. Maybe I should start a petition demanding that the name of nearby Homossassa, FL be changed to Heterossassa. Why not remove every Ford built vehicle off the roads and crush them, because Henry Ford was a blatant anti-Semite? Mercedes Benz, at one time powered the nazi war machine, probably built some of the locomotives that transported Jews to the concentration camps, yet not only are Mercedes sold in Israel oftentimes as taxis and police cars, the IDF have been using Mercedes trucks for years. It's history! Learn from it, don't bury it, or the horrors of the past will inevitably be repeated.

[doc1019]

Like renaming will change anything.

[Steely Tom]

I’m sure a cash payment will go a long way toward smoothing this over.

[Impy]

How about Picard’s Island?

[Dilbert San Diego]

Renaming things makes liberals feel better about whatever outrage of the day is on their minds.........

[EagleUSA]

How about SAMBO ISLAND ??

That should keep the race pimps busy for some time.

[Beowulf9]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7j802RKtDc

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

[boop]

People still buy Hugo Boss clothes, and he made Nazi uniforms.

Stop ENJOYING those clothes, people!

[boop]

"Renaming things makes liberals feel better about whatever outrage of the day is on their minds........."

Here's a handy tip for liberals: Don't like the name of Riker's island?

Don't do stupid crap that gets you sent there!

[Pecos]

I understand that Boss actually designed the SS uniform.

Regarding Riker's Island - Maybe they could re-name it Obama Island. Just a thought.

[ThePatriotsFlag]

This anti slavery BS has got to stop! It is starting to become laughable.

[Organic Panic]

“Sons of Obama Housing Complex.”