President attacks ‘ridiculous’ decision to remove Theodore Roosevelt statue
A STATUE of Theodore Roosevelt will be removed from the American Museum of Natural History in New York as a result of the former president’s “troubling views on race” and the statue’s composition.
The decision drew ire from Donald Trump who tweeted: “Ridiculous, don’t do it!”
The bronze sculpture of Roosevelt, which has been at the entrance of the American Museum of Natural History for 80 years, depicts the former leader on horseback towering over a black man and a Native American man – who are both on foot.
Roosevelt became the 26th US president at the beginning of the 20th century, and while he was celebrated as a conservationist and progressive at the time, he also held racist views towards black and Native American people, according to the museum’s website.
The US is gripped by widespread protests against racial inequality, sparked by the killing in police custody of George Floyd, an unarmed black man.
Demonstrators across the country have toppled a number of statues of figures with racist legacies, including Confederate generals, colonial figures and slave traders. “It has long been controversial because of the hierarchical composition that places one figure on horseback and the others walking alongside, and many of us find its depictions of the Native American and African figures and their placement in the monument racist,” the museum said.
“To understand the statue, we must recognise our country’s enduring legacy of racial discrimination – as well as Roosevelt’s troubling views on race.”
Theodore Roosevelt IV, 77, a greatgrandson, said: “The world does not need statues, relics of another age, that reflect neither the values of the person they intend to honour nor the values of equality and justice. The composition of the equestrian statue does not reflect Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy. It is time to move the statue and move forward.”