Charles Barron, a Brooklyn member, has also repeatedly requested that the Thomas Jefferson statue be removed.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also sympathizes with supporters of moving the memorial. He described the situation as complicated.
– It is annoying to people that even a person who has deeply understood the value of freedom, human dignity and life, owns slaves. I understand why people are so worried and why they consider it something that cannot be ignored, de Blasio said in an interview with WABC.
Jefferson (1743-1820), one of the Founding Fathers of America and author of the Declaration of Independence, is considered a controversial figure by some sections of society. Local NY1 TV highlights allegations that he had more than 600 slaves and that he had six children from one of the two women.
Mayor spokesman Mitch Schwartz explained that the city council is interested in finding another location for the statue. It would “contextualize the Jefferson legacy in all its complexity”.
The New York Historical Society (N-YHS) has been mentioned as one of the potential new sites.
– We’re in ongoing discussions about the statue. (…]Although there are no specific plans for the exhibition at the moment, perhaps in the coming years we will present an exhibition that includes the (Jefferson Memorial), said a spokesperson for N-YHS.
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, who is of Polish-Italian descent, criticized plans to remove the statue.
For all New York City’s problems, is this really the most pressing issue now, in the days of de Blasio’s unsuccessful decline? Sliwa asked.
The Jefferson fresco, which has been in its present location since the 1920s (it was placed in City Hall eight decades ago), is a model of a bronze statue on display at Washington’s Capitol Rotunda. The author of the work is French Pierre-Jean-David Dangers.
