Democratic Party politicians are pushing to drop film legend John Wayne’s name, statue and other likenesses from Orange County’s airport in California because of his racist and bigoted comments.
The Los Angeles Times reported that, earlier this week, officials passed an emergency resolution condemning Wayne’s “racist and bigoted statements” made in a 1971 interview and are calling on the Orange County Board of Supervisors to drop his name, statue and other likenesses from the international airport.
The resolution asked the board “to restore its original name: Orange County Airport”.
According to those who crafted the resolution, the effort to oust Wayne, a longtime resident of Orange County who died in 1979, is part of “a national movement to remove white supremacist symbols and names (that are) reshaping American institutions, monuments, businesses, nonprofits, sports leagues and teams”.
JWA #throughtheyears 1980s: A 9-foot bronze statue of “the Duke” makes its debut and is installed on a pedestal outside the Terminal in 1982, while a new 60-foot FAA Control Tower finished completion in 1983. #throwbackthursday ? credit: OC Archives pic.twitter.com/JJXlMxi7ry
— John Wayne Airport (@JohnWayneAir) May 28, 2020
In a 1971 Playboy magazine interview, Wayne made bigoted statements against black people, Native Americans and the LGBTQ community.
He reportedly said: “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 judgment to irresponsible people,” he said.
The actor said he felt no remorse in the subjugation of Native Americans.
“I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. … Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival,” he said.
“There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.”
Wayne also called movies such as Easy Rider and Midnight Cowboy perverted, and used a gay slur to refer to the two main characters of the latter film.
Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner told the newspaper that he had just heard about the Democratic resolution and was unaware of its wording or merit.
Can anyone believe that Princeton just dropped the name of Woodrow Wilson from their highly respected policy center. Now the Do Nothing Democrats want to take off the name John Wayne from an airport. Incredible stupidity!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2020
President Donald Trump made clear his opposition to the proposal in a tweet also referencing the removal of former president Woodrow Wilson’s name from a university policy centre.
The president tweeted: “Can anyone believe that Princeton just dropped the name of Woodrow Wilson from their highly respected policy centre.
“Now the Do Nothing Democrats want to take off the name John Wayne from an airport. Incredible stupidity!”
