J‘JETTISON EFFERSON’ BID
Lawmakers to Blas: Statue out of City Hall
A group of City Council members on Thursday formally asked Mayor de Blasio to remove the statue of Thomas Jefferson from City Hall as the fallout from the George Floyd killing continues to mount.
Jefferson’s “words are ‘all men are created equal’ but they were not matched by his action, which included the ability to sell, buy, mortgage and lease human beings,” Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-SI) said of the Founding Father who authored the Declaration of Independence.
“He believed black people to be racially inferior, said black Americans and white Americans could not live peacefully side by side, and he fathered as many as six children with a woman he enslaved,” Rose added.
“I believe the New York City Council should neither ignore nor glorify this dark side of American history.”
But some council members quickly fired back, charging that Speaker Corey Johnson and his allies were trying to erase history instead of respecting it.
“I was totally appalled when I heard that, and ashamed to be a council member in that moment,” said Robert Holden (D-Queens). “At this point, you can go after any historical figure, it seems.
“Yes, we have blemishes in our past, and I can understand wanting to remove confederate generals’ statues.”
He added: “But where does it end?”
Councilman Joe Borelli (R-SI), argued that packing up the statue is the kind of move a totalitarian government would make.
“Someone should explain to me which civilization that banned or destroyed art has ever been considered liberal and progressive,” he said. “ISIS? The communists? The Jacobins? Henry VIII? Who? Tell me.”
The council sent a letter to de Blasio requesting the move, Johnson said.
City Hall’s landmark status means any change must be approved by de Blasio and the Public Design Commission, according to the speaker.
The effort is the latest example of how America is re-examining its views of major historical figures who took part in slave-holding, the Confederacy and segregation.
The police killing of Floyd in Minneapolis provided new momentum for the movement to boot the 1833 Jefferson statue, an effort that dates back two decades. It was originally led by now-Assemblyman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn), a former member of the Black Panthers.
Jefferson was the nation’s third president and is, perhaps, most famous for his contributions to the American Revolution, including crafting the Declaration.
However, in recent years, historians have unearthed volumes of information about Jefferson and his relationship with a slave, Sally Hemings, with whom he fathered six children.
It’s not the only statue in New York City under the microscope. There have been repeated attempts to remove Christopher Columbus’ statue from Columbus Circle because of the navigator’s maltreatment and enslavement of indigenous people in the Caribbean.
A spokeswoman for de Blasio said the administration was reviewing the request.