Denver Life

Reader: Manifest Destiny is nothing to celebrate

Colorado native Francisco Sotomayor has been touring the country with his monumental "American Woman," a 10,000-pound sculpture he carved from Colorado marble. And at each showing, he signs three-inch chunks of marble from the original block so that visitors can take home a piece of "American Woman," which he sees...
By Patricia Calhoun
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Colorado native Francisco Sotomayor has been touring the country with his monumental “American Woman,” a 10,000-pound sculpture he carved from Colorado marble. And at each showing, he signs three-inch chunks of marble from the original block so that visitors can take home a piece of “American Woman,” which he sees as representational of this country’s “Manifest Destiny.”

But not everyone agrees that’s a thing to celebrate. Says DonkeyHotay:

“Manifest Destiny” = Genocide

Not something most civilized cultures would be proud of, much less celebrate.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12’s public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

patricia.calhoun@westword.com

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