Social Justice Warriors Now Want to Rename St. Louis

What started as a fairly specific (if somewhat misguided) protest against police brutality and racism in the wake of George Floyd’s death has devolved into an absurdist campaign against anything and everything that can possibly be construed as racist if you squint hard enough and read enough “white fragility” literature. Anti-racist social justice warriors (read: white college-aged women) have begun targeting Confederate monuments, statues of the Founding Fathers, Aunt Jemima, the television show “Cops,” and everything else under the sun.

Now they want to rename the city of St. Louis because it has an allegedly racist history.

A new petition on Change.org demands that St. Louis, Missouri find a new name and also remove a statue dedicated to its namesake, King Louis IX of France.

“Over the past several years beginning with the killing of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, America has underwent a New Civil Rights Movement,” the petition states. “Part of this movement has been removing statues of racists, slavemasters, and Confederates from public spaces. In 2017 St. Louis removed the Confederate Monument in Forest Park after protests. In 2020 the statue of Christopher Columbus was removed from Tower Grove Park. It is now time for St. Louis to take the bold step to remove the statue of King Louis IX from Forest Park and rename the city.”

The petition continues: “For those unfamiliar with King Louis IX he was a rabid anti-Semite who spearheaded many persecutions against the Jewish people. Centuries later Nazi Germany gained inspiration and ideas from Louis IX as they embarked on a campaign of murderous genocide against the Jewish people. Louis IX was also vehemently Islamophobic and led a murderous crusade against Muslims which ultimately cost him his life.”

Wow. A French king from the 1200s wasn’t as woke as modern-day American liberals? Who would have possibly guessed?

So what happens after they change the name of St. Louis to Justice City or White Fragility Town? Does it mean that police will start being nicer to black criminals? Does it mean that the income inequality gap will be closed? Does it mean that we can finally stop pretending that America is a living monument to white supremacy?

No? Nothing at all will change?

This is the moment when we would ask, “Then what is the point?” but c’mon, we know better by now. The point is that anyone who signs this petition gets immediate “woke” points to deposit in their mental scoreboard. And for today’s boring, deranged left, that’s more than enough reason to do anything.