‘True patriot’: White House pays bizarre tribute to Harambe 10 years after gorilla’s death
White House made lengthy post about gorilla shot dead at Cincinnati zoo after a toddler entered his enclosure in 2016
The White House has posted on social media a tribute to mark Thursday’s 10th anniversary of the death of a figure it called “a true patriot”.
The hero was not a human, however; it concerned the infamous case of the 400lb western lowland gorilla that had been named Harambe, which was shot dead at the Cincinnati zoo after a toddler entered his enclosure and interacted with the animal.
In a lengthy post on Wednesday evening, what would have been the primate’s 27th birthday, the official government account mourned “an icon that became part of internet history, American culture, and an entire generation’s timeline”.
Security staff at the zoo shot and killed the male silverback on 28 May 2016 after the boy, three-year-old Isaiah Dickerson, climbed a fence, crawled through a hedge, and dropped 15ft into the enclosure holding Harambe and fellow gorillas. Video captured the gorilla pulling the boy, who received only minor injuries, through water.
The incident became a viral internet sensation, prompting memes, tributes both fake and real, music and poetry, and calls for sports teams to be renamed for Harambe. It also sparked safety improvements at the zoo, which reopened its gorilla enclosure a year later with higher walls and other barriers.
Wednesday’s bizarre 123-word memorial post to the animal by the White House, which remained silent when the former Republican vice-president Dick Cheney died in November, evoked that aftermath.
“He became a symbol of loyalty, strength, chaos, unity, and the strange beauty of the internet bringing millions of people together for one cause: never forgetting Harambe,” it said.
“Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news. And somehow, a decade later, his legacy still lives on. Gone, but never forgotten. Rest easy to a true patriot.”
Harambe was born in captivity at a zoo in Brownsville, Texas, in May 1999.
Soon after the 2016 incident, Donald Trump, then a presidential candidate, spoke of how it was “so beautiful to watch” Harambe with the child.
“It was almost like a mother holding a baby … looked so beautiful and calm, and there were moments where [it] looked pretty dangerous,” he told reporters at a press conference, adding that he would not criticize zoo staff for opening fire.
“I don’t think they had a choice,” he said. “You have a child, a young child is at stake, and you know it’s too bad there wasn’t another way.”
Considering “Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news, it raises some real questions about what happens next.
The detail about wednesday’s bizarre 123-word memorial post to the animal by the White House, which remained silent when the former Republican vice-president Dick Cheney died in November, evoked that aftermath is something people should sit with.
Dick Cheney has been vocal about this, good to see them staying on it.
Still waiting to hear what Isaiah Dickerson actually plans to do about it.
If the incident became a viral internet sensation, prompting memes, tributes both fake and real, music and poetry, and calls for sports teams to be renamed for Harambe, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
Basically “He became a symbol of loyalty, strength, chaos, unity, and the strange beauty of the internet bringing millions of people together for one cause: never forgetting Harambe,” it said. What matters is whether anything changes because of it.
The detail about “Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news is something people should sit with.
So the bottom line is the incident became a viral internet sensation, prompting memes, tributes both fake and real, music and poetry, and calls for sports teams to be renamed for Harambe. Wonder how this will land.
On one hand “Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news. But at the same time the White House has posted on social media a tribute to mark Thursday’s 10th anniversary of the death of a figure it called “a true patriot”.
What stands out is the incident became a viral internet sensation, prompting memes, tributes both fake and real, music and poetry, and calls for sports teams to be renamed for Harambe. That is the part worth paying attention to.
If “He became a symbol of loyalty, strength, chaos, unity, and the strange beauty of the internet bringing millions of people together for one cause: never forgetting Harambe,” it said, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
On one hand “He became a symbol of loyalty, strength, chaos, unity, and the strange beauty of the internet bringing millions of people together for one cause: never forgetting Harambe,” it said. But at the same time “Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news.
In other words the incident became a viral internet sensation, prompting memes, tributes both fake and real, music and poetry, and calls for sports teams to be renamed for Harambe. Curious to see how this develops.
Think about it: wednesday’s bizarre 123-word memorial post to the animal by the White House, which remained silent when the former Republican vice-president Dick Cheney died in November, evoked that aftermath. That speaks volumes.