Joe Louis & Legacy Naming

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

I think there are all sorts of civic naming opportunities. And I fully agree it shouldn't be just athletes. Ralph Bunche is a man I know a lot about, but by means of my own reading, unfortunately. I don't recall hearing a teacher ever utter it. It's a fine idea to name something for him.

I don't think we need a radical renaming of many things in the city all of a sudden. I just think when opportunities arise to name new things, or reconsider old things, we should give some thought to naming them for people that are worth remembering, from all walks of life. That is for the purpose of honoring, yes. But also to suggest the question to people yet unborn, "Who was __________?"

[SDCC]

Yes,.. and why do you consider truth to be crap?

The fist was donated by a big sports mag of the day to commemorate the second fight between Joe and Max Schmeling. At the time Hitler and the Nazis were touting the superiority of the Aryan race,..and Max had beaten Joe pretty badly in 1936. While Max was never a member of the Nazi party,.. the Nazis touted it none the less as proof of Aryan superiority thing.

When Joe beat Max 2 years later,.. it was touted here as a blow to that ideology.

The fist represents black power beating the white Aryan race superiority idea. It's the 180 degree opposite of the Nazis / Aryan thing.

It was put here in Detroit because Joe was from Detroit.

It IS NOT simply a monument to the Brown bomber. If it were,.. they would have made a statue of him,... so that passers by would know who it was a monument to,.. and what the fella looked like.

Thank you for sharing this snap shot in history...interesting, and certainly worth a plaque honoring him, and his place in time. I would include the history of the match, not just the boxing match.

[EastsideAl]

Yes,.. and why do you consider truth to be crap?

The fist was donated by a big sports mag of the day to commemorate the second fight between Joe and Max Schmeling. At the time Hitler and the Nazis were touting the superiority of the Aryan race,..and Max had beaten Joe pretty badly in 1936. While Max was never a member of the Nazi party,.. the Nazis touted it none the less as proof of Aryan superiority thing.

When Joe beat Max 2 years later,.. it was touted here as a blow to that ideology.

The fist represents black power beating the white Aryan race superiority idea. It's the 180 degree opposite of the Nazis / Aryan thing.

It was put here in Detroit because Joe was from Detroit.

It IS NOT simply a monument to the Brown bomber. If it were,.. they would have made a statue of him,... so that passers by would know who it was a monument to,.. and what the fella looked like.

How ridiculously disingenuous. Yes Joe Louis was black, and, yes, he was definitely pretty powerful. And, yes, his many victories, especially over Schmeling, were felt as empowering by many black people all over the country and the world in a time of ascendant white supremacy. The monument was certainly intended by the sculptor, by his own words, to reflect all of those things.

But Joe Louis had nothing at all to do with the Black Power movement, as I'm sure you know. And calling the monument to Joe Louis that stands in the middle of our downtown a "black power fist" is more than a little reminiscent of the ludicrous white panic controversy that surrounded its construction. The wild accusations that Mayor Young had erected some sort of "black power fist" as an anti-white symbol to scare whitey out of downtown. Like it was a monument to Huey Newton or someone, rather than Joe Louis. Or that it was some specific message in the pernicious racial divide here in the Detroit area. As if building a monument that symbolized a struggle against racism, as a memorial to a man who himself stood as a powerful symbol against racism, was somehow anti-white.

Of course, this crap was mostly said by the same large group of suburbanites who would scream for the next 30 years about the mayor "sending black criminals" across 8 Mile to victimize white folks. Never mind the fact that that accusation was based on taking something the mayor said completely out of context, or that the scary black fist was commissioned by Sports Illustrated [[you know, all those black radicals at Time Life Corp.!!), and designed by an extremely well-known Mexican-American artist from California. But, yeah, it's still a "black power fist" to you. Stupid crap.

[SDCC]

I like the back-story for a couple of reasons; the Nazi’s were obviously racist, there are YouTube videos in which Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels uses the N word. He was warning America about black Americans – can’t remember the specifics. When Jesse Owens won the gold medal, Hitler stormed out of the Olympic games; so he wouldn’t have to present the award to Mr. Owens. The master race hypotheses postulated by the Nazi’s collapsed when Mr. Owens won, and again when Mr. Louis won, in two very public locations.
While Adolf – Maximillian Adolph Otto Siegfried "Max" Schmeling – did win the first fight in the 12^th round, Mr. Louis won the 2^nd match in a first round knockout.
The fight of a lifetime to witness, it was a who’s who, as far as attendees.
Fascism was beaten twice, by two American athletics and hero’s.
History honors them, and so should Detroit.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Joe Louis was a transcendent figure: a real hero in sport and also in life. He should be honored for being a great black man, a legendary boxer, and an excellent and patriotic American.

[Danny]

Joe Louis was a transcendent figure: a real hero in sport and also in life. He should be honored for being a great black man, a legendary boxer, and an excellent and patriotic American.

Too bad that Olympia Entertainment is not going to name the New Red Wings Arena after a famous black boxer. When white folks built their properties thew will name it from whoever is white and famous or leave it as a corporate name.

You have to remember this. When White folks built Detroit, they named their places [[mostly) after famous white people.

When black folks took over Detroit and occupy its neighborhoods and turn most if it into instant blighted ghetto hoods, they would named it after famous black leaders.


White folks are slowly coming back to Detroit to contribute and commit to its regional infrastructure. Sooner or later. You will not see most famous African American names. Other than Martin Luther King Blvd, John Conyers Blvd, Berry Gordy Blvd, Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, Rosa Parks Blvd, William L. Bonner Blvd, and Rosa Parks Transit Center.

[Honky Tonk]

Thank you for sharing this snap shot in history...interesting, and certainly worth a plaque honoring him, and his place in time. I would include the history of the match, not just the boxing match.

There is/was a statue of Joseph Louis in the Cobo Hall lobby. In fact, it was there before the Sports Illustrated Fist.

[SDCC]

There is/was a statue of Joseph Louis in the Cobo Hall lobby. In fact, it was there before the Sports Illustrated Fist.

I don't know if the statute is still there, I trust it is. I like the location, as visitors, or attendees at Cobo can see his likeness. The stone base is inscribed as well, can't find an image of the words etched in the stone [[granite) base.

[FlyingJ]

you guys should Google Robert Graham, the artist who made the Joe Louis Fist. He's always been controversial, from the '84 Olympics Statues out here to his androgynous, multi-ethnic Virgin Mary for L.A.'s re-booted Cathederal that one group of nuns referred to as "Our Lady Of The Costco"