Statue of George Washington torn down by protesters in Portland
ABC-affiliate KATU reported that there were between "30 and 40 people" gathered on the German American Society lawn "at the time," where the statue stood the night before.
By ZACHARY KEYSER, REUTERSA statue of George Washington is seen outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)(photo credit: REUTERS)
A statue of the first president of the United States George Washington was torn down by a group of people in Portland, Oregon early Friday morning, according to local media reports.ABC-affiliate KATU reported that there were between "30 and 40 people" gathered on the German American Society lawn "at the time," where the statue stood the night before.Anti-racism protesters across the United States and around the world following the death last month of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, have demanded that authorities take down monuments honoring pro-slavery Confederate figures and the architects of Europe's colonies.Protesters, however, have taken it within their own right to take down these statues, as with the case of the George Washington statue on Friday.Protesters toppled a statue of the president of the Confederacy in the Virginia state capital of Richmond last week.Footage posted on social media showed the statue of Jefferson Davis, president of the pro-slavery Confederate states during the 1861-65 US Civil War, being pulled into a tow truck and hauled away as people cheered. The base of the statue was covered with graffiti.Kentucky as well agreed to remove a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis from its State Capitol building.Also in Richmond, a monument to Columbus was vandalized and thrown into a lake.In Boston, the head of a statue of the explorer was removed and broken.Earlier this month, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, responding to the widespread protests decrying racism, ordered the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Richmond.
In addition to the one in Richmond and Boston, several statues of Columbus have also been removed across the United States in recent weeks, along with monuments honoring those who fought for the South in the US Civil War.A statue of Christopher Columbus was removed from a St. Louis park, officials said on Tuesday, the latest monument taken down in response to nationwide protests over racial inequality.Detroit on Monday took down a Columbus statue at the entrance of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and placed it in storage, officials said. Officials in West Orange, New Jersey, said this week they will remove a Columbus monument.And the movement has even stretched to the United Kingdom. A statue to a 17th century British slave trader was torn down two weekends ago, during an anti-racism protest in Bristol in southwest England amid calls for other historic reminders of the slave trade to be removed.The move sparked debate among Britons, as it has among Americans, on whether the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston was vandalism or an historic moment drawing attention to Britain's role in the slave trade.US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Congress last Wednesday to immediately take steps to remove from the US Capitol 11 statues representing Confederate leaders and soldiers from the Civil War."Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage. They must be removed," she said.
