Chirlane McCray to decide fate of NYC statues of Washington, Jefferson
Not even the Father of Our Country is safe.
First lady Chirlane McCray will put statues and structures honoring historic figures tainted by slavery — including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson — under the microscope as part of a new “Commission on Racial Justice and Reconciliation,” Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday.
Hizzoner’s move comes a day after five city lawmakers — including City Council Speaker Corey Johnson — sent a letter requesting the statue of Jefferson be removed from the council’s chamber, as leaders across the city and nation struggle to respond to weeks of protests over racism that followed the death of George Floyd.
“This is exactly the kind of thing that this new commissions needs to examine,” de Blasio told reporters during his morning briefing, announcing his wife’s latest assignment. “I think it is the time to evaluate the entire look and feel of this city and a commission that’s focused on justice and reconciliation can really think about a bigger approach.”
He added: “I’m going to charge them with that task.”
De Blasio said that would include examining City Hall’s statue of Washington and the name of the mayoral residence, Gracie Mansion, which was built and owned by a slave owner, Archibald Gracie.
When pressed by reporters, de Blasio acknowledged he was not sure how far the review should go, but said it was time to examine the “profound contradictions” of the city and nation’s forefathers.
“I don’t have a foregone conclusion for you now as to what names should be kept, what names should be changed,” he added. “But I think this commission is the right way to do it.”
The purview of McCray’s new panel will be expansive, de Blasio said, examining ties between racism and virtually every facet of the city, even making mention of Robert Moses — the “power broker” and city construction czar who historians say ran roughshod over poor and minority neighborhoods to build freeways and other amenities that benefited white New Yorkers.
It’s the city’s third plunge — and McCray’s second — into the tricky issue, which critics say is a slippery slope toward sanitizing history altogether.
De Blasio ordered a commission in 2017 to reexamine memorials to controversial figures — including Christopher Columbus statue in Columbus Circle.
That panel closed up shop in January 2018 recommending that officials relocate just one statue — controversial 1800s gynecologist Dr. J. Marion Sims, who perfected his surgical techniques by operating on black slaves without anesthesia.
McCray previously led a commission to build statues of historical women figures, which came under intense criticism after it snubbed sainted Italian-American nun Mother Cabrini.
The reconciliation commission is the second task force that McCray has been named to in recent weeks after Hizzoner selected her to co-chair a panel examining how racial inequities helped to fuel the coronavirus outbreak.
Critics have slammed City Hall for using the high profile posts as a way to boost McCray’s profile as she eyes a possible run for the Brooklyn Borough presidency in 2021.