St. Louis residents call to change name of town due to antisemitic history
King Louis IX, the first French king canonized by the Catholic Church, burned over 12,000 manuscript copies of the Talmud.
By TAMAR URIEL-BEERIStatue of King Louis IX in St. Louis, Missouri.(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
St. Louis residents began a petition to change the city's name as its namesake, King Louis IX, was a known antisemite and Islamophobe. They additionally called to have his statue taken down.King Louis IX, the first French king canonized by the Catholic Church, burned over 12,000 manuscript copies of the Talmud, as well as other Jewish publications, according to the local KMOX radio station."Over the past several years beginning with the killing of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri America has underwent a New Civil Rights Movement," creators of the petition, under the title "Committee to Change the Name of St. Louis," wrote. "Part of this movement has been removing statues of racists, slavemasters, and Confederates from public spaces. It is now time for St. Louis to take the bold step to remove the statue of King Louis IX from Forest Park and rename the city."For those unfamiliar with King Louis IX he was a rabid [antisemite] who spearheaded many persecutions against the Jewish people," they continued. "Centuries later Nazi Germany gained inspiration and ideas from Louis IX as they embarked on a campaign of murderous genocide against the Jewish people. Louis IX was also vehemently Islamophobic and led a murderous crusade against Muslims which ultimately cost him his life."The residents who signed the petition demanded that the name of the town be changed and that the statue of Louis IX, which stands across from the city's art museum since 1906, be taken down.The organizers concluded that "St. Louis has a large and vibrant Jewish and Muslim community and it's an outright disrespect for those who are part of these faith communities to have to live in a city named after a man committed to the murder of their co religionists."The petition initially aimed at having 200 signatures but, at the time of writing, stood at 318 and aimed for 500.The demands of the petition come amid numerous protests throughout the US and the world in response to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer. The protests demand to end police brutality and institutionalized racism and, in the process, have taken down statues of historic figures, explaining that it is necessary because they were racist. For example, statues of Christopher Columbus and George Washington were torn down by protesters.
