A rock has been removed from the University of Wisconsin's Madison campus on the grounds of racism after the university's black student movement and other student organizations protested that the rock was called a "negro's head" when it was brought there about 100 years ago, Fox News reported Sunday local time.
At that time, this was common practice for darker-than-usual rocks, Fox News recalled, noting that a report in the Wisconsin State Journal published in the 1920s called the rock that way, which is why the protests have started now.
By the way, the rock itself had nothing to do with racism or any ethnicity. The university excavated it in 1925 and transported it to the campus, where it was erected as a memorial to the former president of the university, geologist Thomas Crowder Chamberlin. The 70-ton rock was placed on top of a hill, with roughly half a meter of the top visible above the ground. The rock is considered a rarity because it is two billion years old and probably came from Canada to Wisconsin on a glacier.
University researchers found no evidence of anyone calling the rock a "Negro head" at any other time, but they did find evidence that the Ku Klux Klan, notorious for its racist views, was active on campus at the time the rock was placed.
Juliana Bennett, who represents the student body on the Madison City Council, called the rock a racist monument and said its removal is a "small step" in making the school "more open and accepting."
According to the university, a plaque will be dedicated to Chamberlin on campus and the rock will be placed elsewhere on campus. Fox News recalled that some student organizations also demanded the removal of the statue of former US President Abraham Lincoln, but the university rejected it.
MTI
Photo: AP
