Video footage and images shared on social media showed the statue of Grant being torn down on Juneteenth, which celebrates the emancipation of slaves in the U.S. Nearly 400 protesters were reported at the scene around 8:30 p.m. local time, according to police, who did not engage with the demonstrators. “Yet we don’t want to see this become a virtue signal. Toppling Confederate statues...fine...understandable. About a half hour later, crews could be seen tying ropes around the statue. You people hate America. Grant was said to have owned a 35-year-old slave named William Jones, whom he purchased from his father-in-law, but gave Jones freedom in 1859. The move to take down the statue came on the heels of weeks of increased pressure from local organizers, community leaders and City Council members to remove symbols, monuments and other honorifics in the city memorializing figures of white supremacy. Subscribe to Block Club Chicago. Grant initially took an ambivalent stance towards slavery, according to a letter he wrote in 1863. If you’re defending the toppling of his statue on a day commemorating emancipation, ask yourself why. In Lightfoot’s statement, the mayor said the city will announce in “coming days” how it will create a formal process to assess Chicago’s monuments, memorials and murals “and develop a framework for creating a public dialogue to determine how we elevate our city’s history and diversity.”. Crews used a large crane to remove the statue from its pedestal in Grant Park in the early hours of Friday; A second, smaller statue of Columbus was also removed from Chicago's Little Italy overnight It was that relentless activism, organizers say, that finally forced the mayor’s hand. “In addition, our public safety resources must be concentrated where they are most needed throughout the city, and particularly in our South and West side communities.”. About a half hour later, crews could be seen tying ropes around the statue. A statue that depicts a formerly enslaved man kneeling at President Abraham Lincoln's feet rests on a pedestal in Boston in June. We want meaningful ways to address the harm caused by this structure that does not value the lives of Indigenous, Black and Brown peoples.”, Statement on recent announcement to remove the Columbus statue: #decolonizezhigaagoong pic.twitter.com/8lha7xb4Oc. On Thursday night, a statue of George Washington, the first president of the U.S., was torn down by a group of people in Portland, Oregon. In San Francisco on Friday a statue of another president, Ulysses S Grant, was among monuments pulled down in Golden Gate Park. In counterpoint to the trend, a new statue of a Civil War figure will be dedicated Thursday at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. A U.S. flag was seen burning at the head of the statue before it was toppled using a rope. Chicago removed a Christopher Columbus statue from the city's lakefront Grant Park before dawn Friday, a week after protesters tried to topple it. Crews are here and gearing up. Protesters on Friday toppled a statue in San Francisco of former President Ulysses S. Grant, who famously led the Union Army to victories that crippled and ultimately brought down the Confederacy. This includes directly interviewing sources and research / analysis of primary source documents. A Columbus statue was also removed from the … Ald. The Grant Park statue started to come down at around 3:15 a.m. Crews used a large crane to remove the statue from its pedestal as a small crowd gathered to watch. Christopher Columbus Statues In Grant And Arrigo Park Removed - Chicago, IL - Mayor Lightfoot ordered both statues to be removed one week after Grant … When the latest round of Confederate statue removal fever broke out, a number of conservatives were left wondering where it might all end. Just after 3 a.m., crews successfully separated the statue from its base, lifting it away with a crane and a harness. The Grant Park statue was erected in 1933 when Chicago hosted the world’s fair for the second time, while Little Italy’s 9-foot-tall bronze of Columbus was originally displayed in the Italian Pavilion of Chicago’s first world’s fair in 1893. Protesters in San Francisco, California, toppled a statue of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the U.S. who led the Union Army during the Civil War, among other monuments at … torn down by a group of people in Portland, Oregon, Democrats and Liberals Must Get Back To Economic Basics, Democrats Must Emphasize Boldness, Not Moderation. Protests continue across the country following the death of Floyd, which sparked a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement and renewed outcry against police brutality and racism. We are now on the Roosevelt side just south of the statue.#OnAssignment for @BlockClubCHI pic.twitter.com/VggaAspLMH. Primary category in which blog post is published, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Lincoln Square, North Center, Irving Park, Learn more about Civil’s Credibility Indicators, hours after an abrupt decision from Mayor Lori Lightfoot, police and protesters violently clashed, leaving dozens of protesters. Most controversially, protesters also pulled down a statue of Ulysses S Grant — the Union general responsible for the defeat of the Confederacy — because he … To continue reading login or create an account. conduct a comprehensive review of Chicago’s monuments. #BREAKING: Demonstrators topple statues in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Another protest earlier this week demanding the removal of the statue shut down traffic in the South Loop for several hours. Click here to support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation. Police called it a coordinated ambush and showed a video of some in the rally changing into all black and leaving projectiles on the ground for others to throw. shut down traffic in the South Loop for several hours. On Dec. 29, the statue was removed. About 3:45 a.m., a flatbed truck with the dismantled statue drove away on Roosevelt Road, to the cheers of a few dozen people. At that protest, people scaled the statue, threw ropes around it and tried to pull it down. The three statues in San Francisco join a host of other monuments that have been torn down in recent days amid ongoing protests following the killing of George Floyd last month. The Christopher Columbus statue is transported after being removed from Grant Park in the early hours of Friday, July 24, 2020. A third statue … It wasn’t clear where the statues are headed or what Lightfoot’s office means by “temporarily removed.” Calls for comment were not immediately returned. Police officers swarmed the scene, using pepper spray to push protesters away from the statue. This is the statue in Little Italy being driven away with a police escort. “In 1862, he signed general order 11, expelling Jews from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Crews remove the Christopher Columbus statue from its pedestal in Grant Park the morning of July 24, 2020. Lightfoot’s statement said the removal comes after “consultation with various stakeholders,” but it did not specify who the city spoke to. As Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Union troops prepared to march into Richmond in the final days of the Civil War in 1865, the president of the Confederate States of America fled the capital city. As a news piece, this article cites verifiable, third-party sources which have all been thoroughly fact-checked and deemed credible by the Newsroom in accordance with the Civil Constitution. See why nearly a quarter of a million subscribers begin their day with the Starting 5. Jason Ervin (28th), who represents Little Italy, said he didn’t know the mayor planned to take down the Columbus statue in Arrigo Park. The Christopher Columbus statues in Grant Park and here in Little Italy at Arrigo Park were removed by the city overnight. Crews removed a statue of Columbus from Grant Park in Chicago. Rioters in California destroyed a statue of Ulysses S. Grant (not the one featured in the image above) on Friday night as far-left activists continue to destroy statues across the U.S. Grant, a Republican who served as America’s 18th president, played a key role in helping then-President Abraham Lincoln win the Civil War. CBS 2’s Marissa Parra reported crowds cheered overnight as the Grant Park statue was removed by the city. Word of the mayor’s unexpected decision to take down the 87-year-old statue came down as hundreds of people were protesting near her Logan Square home Thursday night, leading to raucous cheers and celebrations in the streets. He also tweeted Friday he was not asked for his input. Indicates that a Newsmaker/Newsmakers was/were physically present to report the article from some/all of the location(s) it concerns. "I never was an abolitionist, not even what could be called anti-slavery," he wrote to his friend and patron, Elihu Washburne. Ralph Northam's … • Ulysses S. Grant statue, ... Top lawmakers in Sacramento announced that the marble sculpture of the Italian explorer and Queen Isabella would be removed. One teacher calls returning to school a "life and death" decision while Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson say schools must open to prevent students from falling behind. A day after Portland rioters tore down a nearly 100-year-old statue of George Washington, vandals toppled more historic statues. CHICAGO (WLS) -- Christopher Columbus statues in Grant Park and Little Italy were removed Friday morning. GRANT PARK — Statues of Christopher Columbus in Grant and Arrigo parks were removed early Friday morning, just hours after an abrupt decision from Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Back in 1848, Grant married into a slave-owning family condemned by his abolitionist father. A daily dose of neighborhood news delivered to your inbox every morning. The statues were removed in a quick, pre-dawn operations with no announcement from the city, spawning comparisons to the secretive destruction of Meigs Field by then-Mayor Richard Daley in 2003. This article contains new, firsthand information uncovered by its reporter(s). Rioters had attempted to topple the statue in mid-July. Just admit it. ... Grant has been regarded by some as anti-Semitic. Now this is just crazy. These are selected by the writer and confirmed by the editor. @hurd_hurd will have details on our News at 11. https://t.co/RvmlMqu73s pic.twitter.com/iUZE28AvdD, Vandals tear down 3 statues at Golden Gate Park claiming they enslaved people #Juneteenth ⁦@nbcbayarea⁩ pic.twitter.com/T6VmTtcRaq, Activists just toppled the Junipero Serra statue in Golden Gate Park here in San FranciscoNow they’re onto Francis Scott Key, slave owner and writer of the Star Spangled Banner pic.twitter.com/Ykv0hFMZvK, This is no longer about righting wrongs. A statue of former President Ulysses S. Grant-- the Union general who led his army to victory against the Confederacy during the Civil War-- … Both statues were vandalized earlier this summer. Protests over the statues had become unsafe for protesters and police, Lightfoot said in her statement, and individuals had attempted to topple the statue in Grant Park “in an extremely dangerous manner.”. Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died shortly after being pinned to the ground with a knee on his neck during an arrest made by officers of the Minneapolis Police Department. Please consider me if you have an opening. Already subscribe? Lots of folks inexplicably defending a slave owner on Juneteenth, so just to be clear: Grant owned a slave for about a year and married into a slave owning family. Douglas Park Will Be Renamed For Frederick Douglass, Park District Board Says: ‘We Have Heard You’, Teachers Union Blasts Mayor, CPS Chief For Threatening To Discipline, Dock Pay Of Those Who Don’t Report To School, CPS Will Have ‘Sick Rooms’ Where Ill Children Can Wait For Parents To Pick Them Up, District Says, Edgewater Historical Society Museum Vandalized After Brick Thrown Through Window, Smashing ‘Chicago 7’ Exhibit. The statue was spray-painted with the words "genocidal colonist.". Two Confederate monuments were also dismantled Friday in downtown Raleigh in North Carolina, including one which was dragged through the street before being abandoned on the courthouse steps. A statue of Mahatma Gandhi, the famed Indian independence leader, has been removed from a university campus in Ghana's capital, Accra. Grant led Union armies to … In a statement hours later, Lightfoot said the statues have been “temporarily removed … until further notice” due to safety concerns. The groups clashed, leaving protesters and police officers injured. Earlier this week, Chicago Park District board members unanimously voted to start the process to change the name of Douglas Park on the West Side to Douglass Park, honoring Frederick Douglass, a Black abolitionist and formerly enslaved person. Protesters in San Francisco, California, toppled a statue of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the U.S. who led the Union Army during the Civil War, among other monuments at Golden Gate Park on Friday. A flatbed truck drives on Roosevelt Rd away from Grant Park with the Christopher Columbus statue loaded onto it after crews removed it from its original location, Friday, July 24, 2020. 99. Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park removed. The crowd cheered and passing cars honked as the statue came down about 3 a.m. Friday. — … Washington (CNN) Virginia's statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed from the US Capitol overnight Sunday, Gov. Plastic structures like the one shared by the union online are a "last resort" if schools become "overwhelmed," district officials said Friday. The demand to remove the statues hit a climax last week when a protest in solidarity of Black and Indigenous people brought demonstrators to the southern end of Grant Park. https://t.co/gPWHCMVKPq, The Chi-Nations Youth Council, which includes young Native American organizers who were among those who led the Grant Park protest last week, praised the decision but said it came at the cost of “our blood and beaten bodies, at the hands of Chicago Police under the demands of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.”, “The people got this statue removed, the solidarity between Black and Indigenous peoples got this removed,” the group wrote in its statement. July 24: Confederate monuments, Virginia. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the statue has been "temporarily removed ... until further notice" due to safety concerns after police and protesters clashed over the piece. But toppling the statue of President Ulysses S. Grant, who fought AGAINST the Confederates. Though many have pushed for years to remove such statutes and symbolism throughout the U.S., that activism gained renewed momentum during national demonstrations against police violence and systemic racism after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. pic.twitter.com/KyaCZGX3C5. You have 4 free articles remaining this month, Sign-up to our daily newsletter for more articles like this + access to 5 extra articles. The statue, as well as one in Arrigo Park, has long been the subject of protests and has been defaced numerous times over the years. On Friday night, saboteurs ripped down monuments that were dedicated to Ulysses S. Grant, Francis Scott Key, and an 18th-century Spanish priest who was canonized as a saint.Rioters leveled a statue dedicated to Ulysses S. A small crowd cheered and passing cars honked as the statue came down about 3 a.m. Video of the statue being removed: About 1:30 a.m. at Grant Park, trucks arrived in the southern edge of the park and crews began cutting down the fencing and bringing in heavy equipment. A group within the rally swarmed the statue and pelted bicycle cops guarding it with bottles, fireworks and other projectiles. "Grant may have been initially ambivalent to the institution of slavery," Kane wrote on the civil war museum's website, "but his wartime experiences showed him that it was morally and practically indefensible and that African Americans would not only make strong allies in defeating the Confederates, but respected citizens in the reunited nation to follow.