De Blasio Names Commission To Study City's 'Oppressive' Monuments

NEW YORK CITY, NY — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday who will serve on a city commission to study monuments, statues and symbols across the city seen as "oppressive and inconsistent with the values of New York City."

The mayor first proposed creating the commission — which will decide the fate of monuments to figures such as Christopher Columbus and antebellum doctor J. Marion Sims — following a deadly white supremacist rally against the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“There’s an important conversation taking place right now about history and representation in public art, monuments and markers. This diverse group of experts will be creating a thoughtful set of guidelines that acknowledge the complexities of history and the values that matter to us as New Yorkers," de Blasio said Friday. "The commission will also make specific recommendations for a select few monuments and markers that have prompted understandably passionate public discourse."

The commission will be co-chaired by Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, and Tom Finkelpearl , commissioner of the city's Department of Cultural Affairs, according to a City Hall press release. Other notable members include legendary entertainer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, Pulitzer prize-winning biographer Jon Meacham and designer of the World Trade Center Memorial Michael Arad.

Over the next 90 days, the commission will develop a set of guidelines on how the city should treat monuments considered "oppressive and inconsistent with the values of New York City," and will recommendation action on a few specific monuments that are subject to "significant public discussion," according to a City Hall press release.

Here's a full list of members on the commission:

• Darren Walker (Co-chair): President of the Ford Foundation and longtime leader in nonprofit and philanthropic sectors;
• Tom Finkelpearl (Co-chair): Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs
• Richard Alba: Distinguished Professor at CUNY Graduate Center and former vice president of the American Sociological Association;
• Michael Arad: Architect, designer of the World Trade Center Memorial;
• Harry Belafonte: Singer, songwriter, actor and civil rights activist;
• John Calvelli: Executive Vice president for Public Affairs of the Wildlife Conservation Society and vice chair of international affairs at the National Italian American Foundation;
• Mary Schmidt Campbell: President of Spelman College and former vice-chair of President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities;
• Gonzalo Casals: Director of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art and adjunct faculty at CUNY Hunter College in arts administration;
• Teresita Fernandez: Visual artist with experience in public art and MacArthur Fellow;
• Amy Freitag: Executive Director of the JM Kaplan Fund and former Executive Director at New York Restoration Project;
• Catie Marron: Editor of books on urban parks and public spaces, chair of the board of Friends of the High Line and trustee of the New York Public Library;
• Jon Meacham: Vanderbilt professor and Pulitzer prize-winning biographer of Jefferson and Jackson;
• Pepón Osorio: Visual artist with experience in public art and MacArthur Fellow;
• Harriet Senie: Public art scholar, author and professor of art history and director of the art history program and Art Museum Studies at City College of New York:
• Shahzia Sikander: Visual artist with experience in public art and MacArthur Fellow;
• Audra Simpson: Mohawk anthropologist and professor of anthropology at Columbia University;
• John Kuo Wei Tchen: Historian of Chinese Americans in New York City and associate professor at New York University;
• Mabel Wilson: Architect, scholar of race, memory, and urbanism and associate professor at Columbia University.

"I am thrilled and honored to be co-chairing this commission with someone of Darren Walker’s intelligence and stature" Finkelpearl said Friday. "The members of the commission bring an incredible range and depth of knowledge to this important task, and I am sincerely grateful for their service."

Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images News/Getty Images