Chicago City Wire

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has launched an effort to remove statues of four former U.S presidents under the cause of confronting “hard truths of Chicago’s racial history,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Over the summer, Lightwood had statues of Christopher Columbus removed, saying it was only temporary because she had been given information that something would happen to the statues.

The four former presidents that have made the list are George Washington, William McKinley, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant.

However, at the same time, Lightwood claimed the statues, which were in Grant and Arrigo Parks, were vandalized and shouldn’t be torn down. She had argued that the statues needed to remain to confront the nation’s history. 

Right after that, the Chicago Monuments Project began, reviewing more than 500 statues around the city that were either considering problematic, offensive or didn’t represent equity and justice, the news media reported.

“Given the past year and in particular the past summer that made clear history isn’t past, it is essential that residents are a part of this conversation. This project is about more than a single statue or mural, it’s about channeling our city’s dynamic civic energy to permanently memorialize our shared values, history and heritage as Chicagoans in an open and democratic way,” Lightfoot said in a news release, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The statues and monuments on the list made the list because they are argued to promote white supremacy, inaccurate or demeaning portrayal of Native Americans, iceboating slavery, racist acts or genocide or have a one-sided view of history.

“The Chicago Monuments Project Advisory Committee has considered hundreds of the city’s sculptures and plaques in this critically important process,” Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Mark Kelly said, the news media reported.

Lightfoot has continued to say the removal of the statues was temporary and for their own safety.