Saturday’s Women’s March left behind some not so stunning images. From signs dumped all over the D.C. metro area (taxpayer dollars are required to clean those up), children forced to carry politically charged placards and even the desecration of the Daughters of the American Revolution Founders Memorial.

Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a non-profit, non-political organization whose membership consists of women who are descendants of soldiers and participants in the American Revolution.

In a past life when I had time to spare, I attended DAR meetings. These are lovely people. They care about their communities, volunteer in a variety of capacities, and are committed to preserving founding principles. They’re also apolitical and welcome women of any political persuasion.

Sadly, women from Saturday’s March desecrated the DAR Founder’s Memorial, not just by leaving various unrelated signs, a Trump shrine, but also with blue paint, and destruction of the complex’s landscaping. Somehow this is supposed to send a message to Trump…

In any case, Britt Dorr Elwell, a member of the D.C. DAR chapter, photographed the damage to their founder’s memorial and posted the following to Facebook:

It takes more than donning a vulgar hat, cheering at the sight of pink cabin lights on your Southwest flight and carrying a cheap poster board to convince me you’re a champion for women’s rights. I’ve been a member of two of the oldest non-partisan women’s organizations in our nation since soon after college graduation. I’ve sat on committees, lobbied at the State House, held numerous board positions, supported our wounded veterans, collected clothing for foster kids, sold pins to support schools in Appalachia, fought for the girls being sexually trafficked in our own towns, donated kids books to combat illiteracy, empowered the abused women and children in our shelters, sold cookbooks to fund childhood obesity campaigns, packed supplies for our homeless, the list goes on… My advice to all of you gals who feel so marginalized in this great nation is simple…pay it forward. JOIN an organization that is (gasp!) non-political in nature, but simply exists for the sole purpose of doing incredible things on behalf of women and children. Through these organizations I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Republicans, Democrats, black women, white women, career women and stay-at-home moms and guess what? We’ve made a significant impact in our own communities and dare I say, yours as well? Some of you left behind these charming posters in “tribute” or “protest” and in doing so desecrated our Founders Memorial at our headquarters in DC. Ironically, the largest building complex privately built, owned, operated and maintained entirely by women in the world. The ladies who volunteer of their personal funds and time to care for our great hall will MARCH out today to clean up your mess. A minor inconvenience, really, as the proud ladies of the DAR have pledged to contribute a minimum of 19 million service hours and $25,000,000 to our endowment fund over the next 2 years. ???????? Daughters of the American Revolution-Over 950,000 bi-partisan women marching since 1890 including the likes of Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Alice Paul, Janet Reno, Rosalyn Carter, Barbara Bush. http://www.dar.org/national-society The Association of Junior Leagues International-Established in 1901, currently 150,000 bi-partisan women marching in the footsteps of fellow members Sandra Day O’Connor, Laura Bush, Katherine Hepburn, Nancy Reagan, Eudora Welty, Rosalyn Carter, Carolyn Maloney, and Eleanor Roosevelt. https://www.ajli.org/

The post was later updated:

Here are two videos that can be found on YouTube, one is a live feed of the desecration in progress and another describing the reasoning behind the protest on our grounds. Blue paint has also marred our monument, but they are attempting to make it shine again. Make no mistake, using our beloved Founder’s Memorial as an “effigy” is not furthering the mission for women’s rights. It may surprise you that some Daughters did in fact participate in the women’s march, some who I consider personal friends. Some who like myself, attend our weeklong Continental Congress each summer and take part in the solemn ceremony of laying wreaths at this statue in honor of the women who came before us. You see we are a non-political group of female VOLUNTEERS not activists. Perhaps we’ve been able to accomplish so much good over the past 125 years because our founding daughters had the sense to leave politics at the door? Or in this case specifically, off of our lawn, off of our bushes and off of our lovely statues.

The videos Elwell referenced are here:

And here:

Destruction of private property is so funny!

I'm sure the Daughters of the American Revolution won't mind if we leave a few protest signs here ???????????????????? pic.twitter.com/UaL3g3ZO7k — Jen Eagan (@jen_eagan) January 22, 2017

The ignorance is astounding though sadly unsurprising.

Update:

Despite the reports and the eyewitness account of Mrs. Elwell, our correspondence with DAR indicated there was no damage to shrubs or paint on the Founders Memorial:

I’m happy to report that our DAR Headquarters Building is just fine. There was no physical damage to our building or property and the signs were cleared relatively quickly the next morning. There was no additional cost incurred as a result and everything was back to normal by Sunday morning.

We’re not sure how this squares with other accounts, but we’ll take their word for it.

Follow Kemberlee on Twitter @kemberleekaye



