Racial justice activits are calling for the removal of twin Emancipation memorials in Washington DC and Boston that depict a freed slave kneeling at Abraham Lincoln’s feet.
The Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Emancipation Group and the Freedman’s Memorial, was erected in Washington’s Lincoln Park in 1876. Three years later, a copy was installed in Boston, home to the statue’s white creator, Thomas Ball.
Earlier this week,thousands of demonstrators gathered to demand the removal of the original in Washington, where the Army activated about 400 unarmed National Guard personnel ahead of calls circulating on social media to tear it down Thursday evening.Protesters gathered to scores of thousands and tried to topple the statue of a former US President Andrew Jackson near the White House as police responded with pepper spray to break up new demonstrations that erupted in Washington.
Black activist and Hollywood actor Tory Bullock pointing to the statue said ,“I’ve been watching this man on his knees since I was a kid”.It is supposed to represent freedom,but instead it puts us beneath someone else. “If he’s free, why is he still on his knees?’” Bullock questioned the white creator of the memorial, Thomas Ball.
The US is witnessing widespread demonstrations for racial justice since the May 25 death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man killed by white police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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