Victory day in ri windows#

Thanks to LI for remembering the 75th anniversary. Dear Rhode Islanders, think of these men when you’re asked to change the name. But I had no idea of the atrocity that had been committed there against our troops, hours after the emperor announced surrender on August 15. It’s a large hilly area now popular for having picnics and barbecues. POW’s in my wife’s hometown of Fukuoka at Mount Aburayama.

Hours AFTER the Japanese listened to the emperor announce surrender on the radio, this is what happened to U.S. They needed to be forced into unconditional surrender.

It was a terrible time in Japan’s culture. My wife’s mother was born nine months after my wife’s grandfather, who’d been given up for dead, walked back into his hometown to his wife and children. Living in Kyushu (the southernmost of the four main islands and the point where the invasion was planned to begin) he might have very well ended up dead. My wife is Japanese and our children are half Japanese and I say “Hell No!” don’t rename it.Īlmost every year in August people I talk with can’t believe I think dropping the atomic bombs was absolutely the right thing to do.Īt the end of the war, my wife’s father was a child being trained in school along with his classmates to attack invading allied troops with sharpened bamboo poles. Legal Insurrection is the first (and only) place I’ve seen it mentioned. The Featured Image if from a video of Victory Day in Hawaii we play every year.Įmperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender on the radio at noon 75 years ago today. With Governor Gina Raimondo seeking to remove “Providence Plantations” from the state name, even though historically it had nothing to do with slavery, it’s only a matter of time. “Thousands of Rhode Islanders sacrificed themselves for the cause of democracy, and their example is especially important today given the troubling rise of extremism and totalitarianism both abroad and at home.”Įven Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, who has waded into cultural battles before (he has proposed reparations for Black and indigenous city residents) steered clear of the Victory Day debate. General Treasurer Seth Magaziner “believes it is appropriate to celebrate the end of the second world war as a victory over fascism,” spokesman Evan England wrote in en email. Gina Raimondo, House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio all had the same response: no comment. The Journal last week reached out to a dozen of the state’s high-ranking elected officials and 2020 candidates for their takes on whether Victory Day is ripe for a change. The Providence Journal reports that political leaders are mostly giving a “no comment’ on the subject:

Victory day in ri windows#

The Providence Journal reports that some downtown Providence shops are taking part in a campaign called #RenameVictoryDay and have signs in their windows suggesting the holiday be called “Mayor’s Bay Day,” “Lobster Roll Day,” or “Surf and Sand Day.” An online petition launched last month suggests changing the name to something more inclusive such as “Celebrate Rhode Day.” Over the years, there have been unsuccessful efforts by state leaders to discontinue or rename the holiday amid concerns that the day, which is sometimes referred to as “V-J Day” or “Victory Over Japan Day,” carries negative connotations, WPRI-TV reports.īut amid the national reckoning on racism, those calls have been renewed.

Rhode Islanders are renewing the push to change the state’s unique but controversial Victory Day holiday, which is being observed Monday…. This could be the last Victory Day in Rhode Island, as part of the movement to erase history sweeping the country.