Chicago is reviewing statues memorializing Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin for possible action.
Fox News reported that about 40 monuments in the city, including those icons of American history, have been identified “for public discussion” by the new Chicago Monuments Project to determine whether they “warrant attention or action.”
The project started after Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the city would remove two Christopher Columbus statues last June. A protest over one of the statues led to police swinging batons and demonstrators hurling frozen water bottles, fireworks, and other projectiles at officers last year.
Now the Chicago Monuments Project aims to "grapple with the often unacknowledged — or forgotten — history ... and provides a vehicle to address the hard truths of Chicago’s racial history, confront the ways in which that history has and has not been memorialized, and develop a framework for marking public space that elevates new ways to memorialize Chicago's history more equitably and accurately,” according to Fox News.
Community members can take part in discussions about the statues. The list also includes former President Ulysses S. Grant, additional statues in honor of Columbus, and others.
"This project is a powerful opportunity for us to come together as a city to assess the many monuments and memorials across our neighborhoods and communities — to face our history and what and how we memorialize that history," Lightfoot said.
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