Controversial statue of man who led massacre to remain on State Capitol
With the two top Republicans in the General Assembly opposed to the removal of a controversial Colonial-era fighter from the exterior of the State Capitol, the 3,000-pound statue of John Mason will continue to loom over Bushnell Park with other Connecticut historical figures.
Despite legislative efforts by state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, the co-chairwoman of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, who joined native tribal leaders in calling the statue offensive in 2021, House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora and Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly’s have rejected the expenditure of the $79,000 to take the 8-foottall marble statue from its exterior niche three stories above the Capitol’s north steps.
Candelora and Kelly said that mixed signals from the Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commission, an appointed advisory agency, means that the proposed contract for the removal is not something they can approve, although it was initially included in the 2021 state budget.
“The decision of whether to approve this contract is not properly before us,” Kelly wrote earlier this month, citing that the preservation commission must sign off on all changes to the “exterior structure, surfaces, or finishes” of the Capitol, build in 1878 as a memorial to the Civil War
Candelora noted that the so-called big six in the General Assembly, all members of the Committee on Legislative Management, including the four top Democrats in the legislature, should not have the sole authority to approve the project. One GOP lawmaker is required to approve an expenditure above $50,000.
“The power to change the exterior of our state’s Capitol building should not reside in just six individuals and the rules and regulations that govern decisions about our Capitol reflect that sound policy,” Candelora wrote. “The (preservation) commission considered the issues related to the John Mason statue and failed to make a clear decision with respect to the expenditure we are asked to consider.”
Mason led an infamous attack by English settlers and the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes against the Eastern Pequot tribe in May of 1637, killing as many as 600 Native Americans and enslaving others in the Mystic section of Groton. The larger-than-life sculptures of early European settlers and Civil War-era figures encircling the Capitol, are joined by a marble figure of the late Gov. Ella T. Grasso, the first woman elected governor in her own right in the United States.
Osten said Monday that the death toll of the massacre included women, children and the elderly, many of whom were burned alive, was likely 600. “Essentially, this expenditure is not going to happen right now,” said Osten, who in addition to heading the Appropriations Committee is a member of the Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commission. “We’ll have to start all over again from the beginning,” including public hearings on the proposal before her budget-writing committee as well as the preservation group.
The 8-foot sculpture was placed in its niche in 1909. While others among the state’s founders depicted in the niches owned slaves, Mason’s reputation became particularly controversial in the age of Black Lives matter.
Last November, the Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commission held a multi-hour hearing on the issue, where Walter Woodward, the state historian, suggested that leaving the statue in place could provide important opportunities for the public to openly discuss the bloodshed and genocide of Connecticut’s Colonial era during the tours that attract thousands of people each year to the Capitol complex, including the adjacent Legislative Office Building.
But representatives of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation were joined by speakers from the Mohegan Tribe and the Eastern Pequot Tribe in supporting the removal or Mason’s statue, possibly for public display elsewhere, such as the basement of the Old State House in downtown Hartford.
Osten says the issue has been frustrating. “This is not something that emerged from the ‘woke’ culture,” she said in a phone interview. “We have been working on this literally for years,” she said.