A statue of former President Abraham Lincoln emancipating a slave was removed Tuesday from downtown Boston after the city’s public arts commission voted unanimously to take it down over the summer.
“The decision for removal acknowledged the statue’s role in perpetuating harmful prejudices and obscuring the role of Black Americans in shaping the nation’s freedoms,” the commission said in a statement.
Boston’s Democratic Mayor Martin Walsh praised the commission’s decision over the summer, saying, “After engaging in a public process, it’s clear that residents and visitors to Boston have been uncomfortable with this statue, and its reductive representation of the Black man’s role in the abolitionist movement. I fully support the Boston Art Commission’s decision for removal and thank them for their work.”
“The Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and the Boston Art Commission began a public engagement process over the summer that led to the decision to remove and relocate the Emancipation Group statue. … As expressed by so many during the public process this year, we fully agree that the statue should be relocated to a new publicly accessible location where its history and context can be better explained. The statue is being stored in a controlled storage facility in South Boston until a new location is determined,” a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said. – READ MORE
Listen to the insightful Thomas Paine Podcast Below --