The Mayor of Boston said he was considering dropping a statue of former President Abraham Lincoln who was standing in front of a black man who was released after a petition was launched for removal.
Mayor Marty Walsh’s office said he was “willing to engage in dialogue with the public about his future in Boston” and look into the processes needed to make changes, WCVB news station reports.
The statue, located in Park Square in the city, is a replica of the Emancipation Memorial in Washington and shows Lincoln with one hand raised above a man kneeling with a shackle on his wrist.
The monument was intended to show Lincoln freeing the man from slavery, but a new petition argues that it “actually represents us still below others.”
“It is said that it is a statue that should represent freedom. But, for me, it represents compliance, “said Tory Bullock, who started the online petition, which had at least 7,800 signatures on Monday morning.
“That symbolizes‘ Know your place, because that is where you are. ‘”
Bullock said that he wanted to see the statue replaced with a new one symbolizing equality.
“This is a great opportunity to involve several local black artists in creating (new) sculptures, to produce something new that represents equality,” Bullock told WCVB.
Calls to dismantle the statue came after the statue of Christopher Columbus was decapitated last week in the North End neighborhood amid protests over the death of George Floyd.
Other controversial monuments have also been destroyed in recent days.
With Post cable
