An anonymous note has been left at the base of The Dust Cries Out, a statue done by artist Karen Swenholt commemorating the victims of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, which calls for the removal of the recently erected public art.
The note asks for the statue to be removed because it is "... just a remembrance of the daily injustice inflicted to every follower over the sees murdered by the United States every day ..." [sic].
The statue was placed a few weeks ago on Great Falls Street in Falls Church as part of the City's honoring the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Falls Church City is just four miles from the Pentagon and its fire department was among the first responders at the Pentagon attack.
The unsigned note appears to have been produced on a word processor, is typed in blocked letters, and is written in broken English syntax. There is no information on who may have authored the note or why it was left at the site.
The content of the note is a bit shocking, but our City has a long and bitter history of unsigned notes and lit drops appearing around town to inflame citizen passions on political issues.
UPDATE 9/15:
Editor note: In response to a few reader comments, and for those not familiar with Falls Church local politics, our community has a politically active group of citizens who have a long and inglorious history of using anonymous letters and lit drops to incite political passions and smear groups of people on the eve of elections. Just before various elections the group has spread letters, among other things, suggesting their political opponents want to open homeless shelters at nearby churches, indicating they are "dear fellow Democrats" who are planning enormous residential tax increases, that the uneducated and dirty children of immigrants are "coming soon" to overwhelm our public schools.
It may be the letter shown here is from whom it purports to be from - a foreigner opposed to US politics. I do not know for certain.
But it occurs to me the letter may not be what it seems. The fact it was typed, in block letters, well written in parts but with obvious syntax errors in others, done in the form of an anonymous letter, following a familiar pattern of purporting to be authored by a member of a controversial group, and suddenly appears withing 50 days of an election ... well, it just seems a little conveniently packaged for me to believe without raising an eyebrow.
Just something to think about. - Mike at Blueweeds
