New York Museum of Natural History requests removal of Roosevelt statue, Trump expresses opposition

(Patria) – The American Museum of Natural History in New York plans to remove the statue of former President Theodore Roosevelt located in front of the main entrance.

This decision announced on Sunday followed numerous incidents across the US in which statues of Confederate generals and leaders, as well as other historical figures associated with slavery and the persecution of Native Americans, were violently torn down or destroyed.

Thus, on Friday in San Francisco, the statue of Ulysses S. Grant was removed from Golden Gate Park, among others. Grant led the Union Army in the Civil War and fought against the Ku Klux Klan as president. However, before defeating the Confederacy, which supported slavery, he married into a family that owned slaves, and he himself briefly owned a slave.

Former President Roosevelt, who served in the White House from 1901 to 1909, helped form the museum's collection.

Museum President Ellen Futter told The New York Times: 'Our museum community is truly moved by the growing movement for racial justice that has emerged following the murder of George Floyd.' Futter added that museum staff have observed how attention has turned to 'statues as powerful and offensive symbols of systemic racism... simply put, it is time to remove it,' concluded the museum director.

The statue in New York's Central Park depicts the 26th US President Roosevelt on horseback, with an African American on one side and a Native American on the other. The statue has been the target of protests and calls for removal for some time, which the museum had previously considered.

The Mayor of New York, Democrat Bill de Blasio, stated that the museum was asked to remove the statue because 'it explicitly depicts African Americans and indigenous peoples as subordinate and racially inferior. The city supports the museum's request. It is the right decision and the right time to remove this problematic statue.'

The fate of the Roosevelt statue is yet to be decided, and one of the opponents of such a move will be President Trump himself.

Theodore Roosevelt IV, a direct descendant of the former president, told The Times that he supports the decision.

- The world does not need statues, relics of other times that do not reflect the values of the person in whose honor they were erected, nor the values of equality and justice, said Roosevelt IV, who is also a member of the museum's board. He added that 'the composition of the statue does not reflect Theodore Roosevelt's legacy' and that 'it is time to remove it and move forward.'

The Times writes that the museum director emphasized that the request concerns the statue itself, not Roosevelt's character and work.

- It is important to emphasize that our request concerns the statue and the hierarchical composition it depicts, explained Ellen Futter, adding that the request does not relate to Roosevelt, who 'served as governor of New York before becoming the 26th president of the US, and who was a pioneer of (museum) conservation.'