A woman in Arizona took an opposite approach to the recent trend of taking down or vandalizing Confederate statues and monuments--she decorated the Confederate memorial located in Phoenix into a participation trophy. Armed with two Pinterest-worthy banners reading "2nd Place" and "Participant," Rebecca Olsen McHood did some relatively-harmless modifications to the monument. She also made a banner that said "You lost, get over it." Although she was told by the police that she couldn't attach anything to the monument, she simply draped the banners over the memorial and left them there, taking a few pictures.
McHood is white, so she checked with a handful of her nonwhite friends and asked if it was too soon. They assured her that it wasn't. She immediately got to work crafting two banners that say "2nd Place Participant" and "You lost, get over it." Then she and friend drove over to the Capitol.
"I wasn’t sure what was going to happen — I wasn’t sure if people were convening at Confederate monuments around the state or not," she says. "I know we have some white power people who like to have little rallies, but they get, like 20 people, so I wasn’t too concerned for my safety."
McHood describes herself as a Republican and said that she felt as though President Trump was "condoning" the activities of white supremacists. Thus, she said, she felt like she needed to do something to speak out against hatred.
McHood's little crafting adventure earned her much praise on Twitter.
Whoever did this, we love you forever #ParticipationTrophy #AZagainstHate pic.twitter.com/AkHawsVXoy
— ProgressNow Arizona (@ProgressNowAZ) August 16, 2017
This woman turned a Confederate statue into a giant "second place" trophy, complete with participation sash ?? https://t.co/lHkCAKPaHg
— Tamerra Griffin (@tamerra_nikol) August 17, 2017
Arizona woman turns Confederate monument into 2nd place participation trophy https://t.co/ExuNMMf4vG #lulz pic.twitter.com/XmYOtcpuVM
— Anonymous (@AnonyOps) August 17, 2017
Outside the Arizona capital is the worlds largest participation trophy! ???????????? pic.twitter.com/4AlkNY2oLo
— Colin (@Cascadia_Colin) August 16, 2017
As far as taking a stand goes, I certainly prefer this approach to ripping down a statue or setting something on fire. This gets the point across just as well, with the added bonus of a little humor.