AMHERST, Mass.
Alas, Lord Jeffery Amherst, the beloved colonial military commander sho helped the British to victory in the French-Indian War, who gave this town its name, will no longer represent the Amherst College. The board of trustees at Amherst College announced on Tuesday that it had decided “not to employ “Lord Jeff” as a campus symbol.
Amherst College was founded in 1821. It was not until the early 20th century that “Lord Jeff” sprang onto the scene as a campus symbol. He was the star of a beloved campus song and, although he was never made an official mascot, many of the sports teams are referred to on the field as the Jeffs or the Lord Jeffs.
See, some students got all “PC” and “anti-free speech” when they voiced their concerns that maybe just maybe, Lord Geoffrey Amherst just might be an inappropriate symbol and offensive to many members of the Amherst college student body. Primarily, because Lord Geoffrey Amherst advocated the wiping out of Native Americans by giving them smallpox-infected blankets more than 250 years ago.
In a 2007 article called “The Un-Canadians”, Amherst is included in a list of people in the history of Canada who are considered contemptible by the authors, saying that he “supported plans of distributing smallpox-infested blankets to First Nations people.” In 2008, Mi’kmaq spiritual leader John Joe Sark called the name of Fort Amherst Park of Prince Edward Island a “terrible blotch on Canada”, and said: “To have a place named after General Amherst would be like having a city in Jerusalem named after Adolf Hitler…it’s disgusting.”
Mi’kmaq historian Daniel N. Paul, who referred to Amherst as motivated by white supremacist beliefs, also supported a name change, saying: “in the future I don’t think there should ever be anything named after people who committed what can be described as crimes against humanity.”
Look at this fucking PLATE!
Border design” mounted Englishman with sword chasing Indians on foot”.
Look how fucking stupid this mascot is, anyway! In his jeans!
During Pontiac’s War, Amherst advocated the use of biological warfare against the Native Americans. In letters to Colonel Henry Bouquet. Amherst, having learned that smallpox had broken out among the garrison at Fort Pitt, and after learning of the loss of his forts at Venango, Le Boeuf and Presqu’Isle, wrote to Colonel Bouquet:
Could it not be contrived to send the small pox among the disaffected tribes of Indians? We must on this occasion use every stratagem in our power to reduce them.
Bouquet, who was already marching to relieve Fort Pitt, agreed with this suggestion in a postscript when he responded to Amherst just days later on July 13, 1763:
P.S. I will try to inocculate [sic] the Indians by means of Blankets that may fall in their hands, taking care however not to get the disease myself. As it is pity to oppose good men against them, I wish we could make use of the Spaniard’s Method, and hunt them with English Dogs. Supported by Rangers, and some Light Horse, who would I think effectively extirpate or remove that Vermine.
In response, also in a postscript, Amherst replied:
P.S. You will Do well to try to Innoculate [sic] the Indians by means of Blankets, as well as to try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race. I should be very glad your Scheme for Hunting them Down by Dogs could take Effect, but England is at to great a Distance to think of that at present.
They seem nice.
As reported by historians Elizabeth Fenn and Benedict Kieran:
“Fort Pitt had antic
ipated these orders. Reporting on parleys with Delaware chiefs on June 24, a trader [William Trent] wrote: ‘[We] gave them two Blankets and an Handkerchief out of the Small Pox Hospital. I hope it will have the desired effect.’ The military hospital records confirm that two blankets and handkerchiefs were ‘taken from people in the Hospital to Convey the Smallpox to the Indians.’ The fort commander paid for these items, which he certified ‘were had for the uses above mentioned.’ Historian Elizabeth Fenn has documented ‘the eruption of epidemic smallpox’ among Delaware and Shawnee Indians nearby, about the time the blankets were distributed.”
Ah, this country.
“It is unacceptable that a man with this legacy of racial hatred and planned genocide should represent our community,” the editorial board of the student newspaper in December wrote in an op-ed that urged the board of trustees to condemn the Lord Jeff mascot at their January meeting on Friday. “We need a mascot that all of the diverse members of this community can rally around — not one that bitterly divides us.”Of course some old white guy had to weigh in (John Edmonston, class of 1975):
“They want to cut ties with what Amherst once waaaaas. You say no to it, you’re not on the team. You’re homophobic or you’re racist or you’re sexist.”
Growing unease about Lord Jeff coalesced into a campaign when, in the spring of 2014, a moose appeared on campus — a fairly rare apparition in this part of New England. A Facebook group created for the campaign posted this bit of fabulousness:
“The moose is a noble, strong animal. It’s fun. It’s got antlers. It could totally take Lord Jeff in a fight”.
The debate over his role on campus, has been one of a series of controversies at colleges, municipalities and other institutions around the country over the use of historical figures,and sports mascots.
THIS is what a sports mascot should look like. Nobody know what the fuck it is
postscript: I feel sorry for the majestic looking Lord Jeffrey Inn in Amherst.. Please don’t blame this fabulous looking place.