Abraham Lincoln Statue In Boston 'Has To Go,' Petition Demands

BOSTON — Statues across the nation are being toppled amid an uprising against racism following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis — and one local activist has his sights set on getting rid of an Abraham Lincoln monument in downtown Boston.

Boston resident Tory Bullock started a petition this week to remove the Lincoln statute, located just south of the Boston Common. The statue depicts a shackled slave kneeling in front of Lincoln.

"It's supposed to represent freedom but instead represents us still beneath someone else," Bullock wrote in his petition. "I would always ask myself, 'If he's free why is he still on his knees?'"

Almost 5,000 people signed the petition by Saturday morning, agreeing with Bullock's interpretation of the statue.

"This outdated, never should have been created statue is a stark image of African pain, hurt and oppression," wrote Ukumbwa Sauti. "We must not allow it to stand and retrench racist, oppressive ideas. It is not a modern narrative and must come down."

"I like the idea of re-commissioning the statue to commemorate Emancipation differently," wrote Seth Kosto.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh's office has said the city may consider removing the statue, or repurposing it, according to CBS Boston.

Just this week, a statue of Christopher Columbus in Boston’s North End was beheaded and eventually removed. Columbus is an important figure for Italian Americans, although many say he should not be memorialized because the explorer committed genocide when he arrived in the Bahamas in 1492, among other transgressions.

Across the country, statues of Confederate leaders like Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee have either been removed or taken over by protesters in recent weeks. On Monday, a statute of slave trader Edward Colston was torn down in thrown into a waterway in Bristol, England.