Progressive lawmakers in Orange County, California, are demanding the county’s board of supervisors rename John Wayne Airport because of the American icon’s “white supremacist, anti-LGBT, and anti-indigenous views.”
Members of the Democratic Party of Orange County introduced a resolution they said was part of “a national movement to remove white supremacist symbols and names” because “racist symbols produce lasting physical and psychological stress and trauma, particularly to black communities, people of color, and other oppressed groups.”
In an interview with KCBS-TV, Fred Smoller, an associate professor of political science at Chapman University, described the Wayne statue in the airport as “Orange County’s Confederate monument.” He believes the airport should return to its original name, the Orange County Airport, which was changed to honor the famed actor on June 20, 1979.
Much of the criticism of Wayne harkens back to a 1971 interview with Playboy magazine, when “The Duke” was asked about activist Angela Davis, who “claims that those who would revoke her teaching credentials on ideological grounds are actually discriminating against her because she’s black.”
“With a lot of blacks,” Wayne said, “there’s quite a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly rightfully so. But we can’t all of the sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgement to irresponsible people.”
Wayne went on to say he doesn’t feel personally “guilty” about slaves in past generations, though he quickly noted he is “not condoning slavery.”
“It’s just a fact of life,” the entertainer continued, “like the kid who gets infantile paralysis and has to wear braces so he can’t play football with the rest of us. I will say this, though: I think any black who can compete with a white today can get a better break than a white man. I wish they’d tell me where in the world they have it better than right here in America.”
He also addressed Native Americans, telling the outlet he doesn’t believe it was “wrong in taking this great country away from them.”
President Donald Trump addressed the matter himself in a tweet, calling the demands to remove Wayne’s statue and name from the airport “incredible stupidity.”