Friday, U.W.-Madison removed Chamberlain Rock, a 42-ton granite boulder, from a relatively obscure spot on Observatory Hill, because in the '20s, large dark rocks were referred to as "ni----heads."  

It's just a rock.  It's lived here with this ignored or unknown ignominy for a century.  Somebody complained during the BLM riots, and suddenly it's got to go.  It's just a rock.  I suppose I shouldn't care it's going — one less obscure thing to grumble about.  But it's just ridiculous.  Maybe if the stone looked like Robert E. Lee or David Duke or something overtly racist.  

It's just a rock.  I bet pandemic relief funds helped the decision to make this heavy lift.  Free money enables a lot of human frivolity.  And they're just gonna move it to distant U.W. property.  If it's that repugnant, it has no business on any U.W. property.  

The proper response is to melt it into a large stone badger for Camp Randall. 

I'd wager thousands of black alumni have gone to their graves never knowing the rock existed.  How sad, to pass gently into that good night without realizing the delicious potential for righteous indignation.  Mel Brooks today simply could not have Gabby Johnson offer a laurel and hearty handshake to Rock Ridge's new...candy-gram for Mongo!

Image: Pixabay.

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