06-28-2020, 08:39 PM
Efforts to remove U.S. statues vs. lawmakers
opposed heads for face-off over
Lincoln statue in D.C.
Protesters have for days said they will forcibly remove the
statue, in the District's Capitol Hill neighborhood
By Charlotte Hazard
Last Updated:
June 26, 2020 - 10:59pm
The surge of protesters
defacing and removing historical statues and lawmakers trying
to protect them and other government property is headed for
a potential showdown Friday night over a statue of
Abraham Lincoln in the nation’s capital.
Federal and District of Columbia law enforcement teams have
for days patrolled the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park,
in the district’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, as protesters vow
to remove the statue.
President Trump has been among the most vocal about the
removal of the statues, including one of Christopher Columbus
being torn down. He vowed earlier this week to sign an executive
order to strengthen existing law that will put offenders in prison
for 10 years. And he is purportedly using U.S. marshals to
protect federal property.
However, he got some perhaps unexpected support Thursday
from D.C. Mayor Murial Bowser, a Democrat, who weeks earlier
bristled at Trump activating National Guard units from states
to help when protests in the district neared chaos.
She said the district should debate the fates of the statues and
“not have a mob decide they want to pull it down.”
Also on Thursday, about a half a dozen Park Police stood guard
around the Lincoln monument, depicting Abe Lincoln with a
slave kneeling beneath him. The demonstrations were peaceful,
but The Daily Caller recorded protesters announcing they were
going to remove the statue by force.
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s non-voting
representative in Congress, has suggested that the statue be
placed in a museum.
“Although formerly enslaved Americans paid for this statue
to be built in 1876, the design and sculpting process was done
without their input, and it shows,” Norton said in a statement.
“The statue fails to note in any way how enslaved
African Americans pushed for their own emancipation.”
Others disagree and believe the statue is an important part in
African-American history. According to Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham,
a chairwoman of the history department at Harvard University,
“even though the image is problematic, it’s part of our history
that African Americans themselves paid for this monument and
it was their way of saying slavery had ended.”
opposed heads for face-off over
Lincoln statue in D.C.
Protesters have for days said they will forcibly remove the
statue, in the District's Capitol Hill neighborhood
By Charlotte Hazard
Last Updated:
June 26, 2020 - 10:59pm
The surge of protesters
defacing and removing historical statues and lawmakers trying
to protect them and other government property is headed for
a potential showdown Friday night over a statue of
Abraham Lincoln in the nation’s capital.
Federal and District of Columbia law enforcement teams have
for days patrolled the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park,
in the district’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, as protesters vow
to remove the statue.
President Trump has been among the most vocal about the
removal of the statues, including one of Christopher Columbus
being torn down. He vowed earlier this week to sign an executive
order to strengthen existing law that will put offenders in prison
for 10 years. And he is purportedly using U.S. marshals to
protect federal property.
However, he got some perhaps unexpected support Thursday
from D.C. Mayor Murial Bowser, a Democrat, who weeks earlier
bristled at Trump activating National Guard units from states
to help when protests in the district neared chaos.
She said the district should debate the fates of the statues and
“not have a mob decide they want to pull it down.”
Also on Thursday, about a half a dozen Park Police stood guard
around the Lincoln monument, depicting Abe Lincoln with a
slave kneeling beneath him. The demonstrations were peaceful,
but The Daily Caller recorded protesters announcing they were
going to remove the statue by force.
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s non-voting
representative in Congress, has suggested that the statue be
placed in a museum.
“Although formerly enslaved Americans paid for this statue
to be built in 1876, the design and sculpting process was done
without their input, and it shows,” Norton said in a statement.
“The statue fails to note in any way how enslaved
African Americans pushed for their own emancipation.”
Others disagree and believe the statue is an important part in
African-American history. According to Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham,
a chairwoman of the history department at Harvard University,
“even though the image is problematic, it’s part of our history
that African Americans themselves paid for this monument and
it was their way of saying slavery had ended.”
Semper Fidelis
USMC
USMC
Nemo me impune lacessit