Statue could be history
The fate of the only statue deemed worthy of removal under Mayor de Blasio’s review of socalled “symbols of hate” will be decided Monday by the city’s Public Design Commission.
The commission will meet at City Hall to decide whether to accept a recommendation made in January by a mayoral-appointed panel to relocate a statue of Dr. J. Marion Sims — who was heralded for advances in gynecology but condemned for experimenting on slaves — from its perch in Central Park to Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, where he is buried.
De Blasio formed the 18person panel last August to review “all symbols of hate on city property” in the wake of violence by whitesupremacist groups in Charlottesville, Va.
Following a five-month review that drew protests and national debate over concerns about scrubbing history, the panel opted to remove only the statue of Sims, citing his treatment of slave women.
It spared every other monument dedicated to controversial historic fig- ures, most notably the Christopher Columbus statue in Manhattan’s Columbus Circle.
Palel opponents, however, are expected to testify against removing the Sims statue, saying it would set a bad precedent.
“The fate of the monument mustn’t hinge on whether some New Yorkers — like the city’s first lady — believe that Sims was a ‘bad’ person,” said Michele H. Bogart, an arthistory professor at Stony Brook University.
But Tom Finkelpearl, who co-chaired the commission, said moving the statue to Green-Wood “is an important step toward making our public spaces more open, inclusive, and welcoming to all.”