No Decision Made On Fate Of William Floyd Portrait At Library

GREENPORT, NY — No decision has been made about whether or not to remove a portrait of William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a slave owner, from a library in Greenport.

According to Lisa Richland, director of the Floyd Memorial Library, the library board held a long discussion about the portrait at Monday night's regular meeting, which was held in the garden.

There has been a suggestion that the portrait be removed, as well as a suggestion that it be left where it is currently placed, Richland said.

"It was a very interesting discussion," Richland said, adding that there were different opinions voiced on both sides of the issue.

Richland pointed out that the library itself was not named after William Floyd but instead, David Gelston Floyd. William Floyd, she said, was the grandfather of David Floyd, whose daughter Grace Floyd named the library in honor of her father and gave the library the portrait of her great-grandfather.

After the discussion Monday night, Richland said the board is thinking about how to proceed. "It's not a decision you make in a hurry," she said. "We have to consider the community we're in, and the feelings of the community we're in. Greenport is such a diverse community. It's not an easy decision. The concern is that the decision be one everyone can accept."

One possibility discussed included moving the portrait, which hangs above the door to the circulation office, to a less visible location in the library, Richland said.

The matter will be discussed at a future library board meeting, Richland said.

"It thought it was a good discussion," Richland said. "It's given us all a lot to think about."

In recent weeks, a statue of William Floyd in Shirley has remained a source of heated contention, with a community sharply divided about whether to allow it to remain or to have it removed, some creating petitions for and against the idea, and others, organizing protests.

The first petition, "Removal of The William Floyd Statue on the corner of William Floyd Parkway and Montauk Highway" was created by Desiree Magee, who sent it to the Town of Brookhaven.asking for the removal of the statue dedicated to William Floyd, stating that it stands for "subliminal racism," as Floyd was a slave owner.

Floyd, who lived in Mastic Beach, was also one of four from New York State who signed the Declaration of Independence and the only signer from Long Island.

The first petition, asking for the statue to be moved, came after days of protest in Mastic and Shirley after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis; Floyd died after a police officer pressed a knee to his neck for almost nine minutes.

Floyd was also a member of the Suffolk County Militia during the Revolutionary War, a delegate to the First Continental Congress, and a member of the New York State Senate.

The debate has sparked arguments on both sides on social media.

"We the people of the Mastic, Shirley, Moriches community, hereby petition to 'remove, relocate, contextualize, or cover the monument of William Floyd,'" the petition reads. "William Floyd is a constant reminder to the oppression of the minorities in this community. The statue is a symbol of rebellion and subliminal racism."

Another petition, "Do Not Remove The William Floyd Statue On The Corner of William Floyd Parkway and Montauk Highway," was created by Vincent Viola. "William Floyd is not a symbol of racism and no one person should say an entire community believes it," the petition says. "He is the opposite. He represented the people of Long Island and New York at a time when the people had to step up and change the systematic way they we're governed. "

Beth Wahl, president of the William Floyd Community Summit, said the group is a grassroots organization formed in 1998 that became incorporated in 2002. The group's beautification committee was, at the time, chaired by Pat Matthews, who "had this dream to have a statue of William Floyd," she said.

Wahl said Matthews had an article written in a local paper about her vision to honor Floyd, whose estate is in Mastic Beach. About two years after the article, Wahl said, she got a call from artist Santo Matarazzo, who donated the statue.

At the time, Wahl said, the group didn't know where to site the statue, which had to be placed on municipal property. The statue stayed at the library for a few years until Suffolk County and Matthews worked out a plan to put the statue at its current location, at the intersection of William Floyd Parkway and Montauk Highway.

Of the first petition and Floyd's ownership of slaves, she said: "The fact is, slavery was horrible. But it was 200 years ago that this occurred. We can't go back and change what happened 200 years ago. What you can do is move forward and try to fix what's going on now."

Wahl said she does not believe moving a statue or changing the name of the William Floyd estate, the William Floyd Parkway or the William Floyd school district, as some have suggested, will change anything. "They are fixated on the wrong things," she said.

Wahl said she is happy to speak with those who want the statue moved. "But as far as I am concerned, that statue is never moving."