A statue of Theodore Roosevelt on its front steps of the American Museum of Natural History is removing, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday night, saying the proposal was made by the museum. The bronze statue which has stood at the museum’s Central Park West entrance as of 1940 portrays Roosevelt on horseback with a Native American man and an African man standing beside the horse.
Whether the statue will come down, or where it will go, is not yet clear. The New York Times first announced the decision to remove the statue from the museum’s front steps. In 2017, demonstrators sprayed red liquid on the base of the statue to signify the blood, and released a statement calling for its removal as a symbol of “patriarchy, white supremacy and settler-colonialism.”
So, in the past few weeks, numerous monuments destroying or damaging in the midst of national demonstrations. Also, members of the New York City Council wrote a letter to de Blasio on Thursday. They demand the removal of a statue of Thomas Jefferson from the City Hall. De Blasio did not provide a direct response to the letter. It is from the council on Friday but states a newly form Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission. It tasks with examining the statue of Jefferson. The City and Commission must recognize places in which discrimination tends to occur. It is in housing, criminal enforcement, environmental protection. Also, employment, and inequalities on the ground.
