Beneath the feet of Abraham Lincoln and the bent knees of the formerly enslaved man depicted in the statue at the center of Lincoln Park, handwritten notes and protest signs have been pinned to the black fence that has for weeks encircled the figures — protecting it against any efforts to tear down the monument.
On Tuesday, as Prince songs filled the open air and a small crowd donning “Make America Great Again” apparel gathered around the statue, William B. Allen affixed two more pieces of paper to the fence: On one was a photograph of an African sculpture depicting a crouching lion. On the other, a real lion reared back on its hind legs, ready to pounce.
These photographs, Allen told the crowd, show the same motion in which the enslaved man of the controversial Emancipation Memorial was frozen.
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“African art contains the symbol of the crouching lion in order to convey the prospect of the pouncing king. See how strongly Archer Alexander’s figure resembles the crouching lion, whether in photograph or in stone,” said Allen, a professor of political philosophy at Michigan State University. “So let those who think this is a degrading figure, rethink.”
That is not how everyone sees it.
Critics say the District’s Emancipation Memorial — which shows Lincoln holding a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation as an African American man in a loincloth kneels at his feet — is demeaning and suggests African Americans were not active contributors to the cause of their own freedom, remaining subservient even after they were released from their bonds.
“I have lived in D.C. my entire life, and never have I looked at this statue and felt uplifted by its intended positive message,” a sign written in red, black and green marker said.
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But supporters of the monument, including Allen and dozens of conservative black thought leaders, pastors and politicians who came to the nation’s capital to defend the embattled statue, say its critics are misreading the statue and ignoring its history.
Echoing the tone President Trump has taken in recent tweets about nationwide protests, they called Black Lives Matter protesters anarchists, communists and traitors. They held signs declaring that “not all black Americans agree with BLM.”
The statue, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, was commissioned and paid for by African Americans, including Union soldiers and many who had themselves been enslaved. The model for the kneeling man was Archer Alexander, a formerly enslaved man who helped pass information to Union troops during the Civil War and escaped on his own.
Around the park Tuesday, demonstrators held signs proclaiming, “Save Archer Alexander. He’s not kneeling. He’s standing up!”
As the speeches ended, Washingtonians who grew up in the neighborhood wandered by, curious to see what the commotion was about. Neighbors said they have grown used to seeing crowds at the statue’s base. Protests have wound through residential streets, and police cars have become an increasingly common sight.
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Frazer Walton Jr. and Veronica Raglin grew up in Southeast Washington a few streets away from where the statue has sat for more than 144 years.
They recalled playing in the park as children, gazing up at the bronze figures. Back then, the sculpture faced the opposite direction — toward the Statue of Freedom that sits atop the Capitol dome.
They said they struggle to see what critics have called a patronizing symbol. Instead, they said it inspires feelings of pride.
“All my life, I knew what it meant for this to be here,” Walton said. “This was paid for by former slaves. It honors a man who had his flaws but was a godsend. Lincoln was a godsend.”
The Emancipation Memorial was thrust into the national consciousness in recent weeks as protesters and several prominent D.C. officials have urged its removal amid a wave of calls nationwide to take down monuments to figures ranging from Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to President Theodore Roosevelt.
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D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) has advocated placing the monument in a museum. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has encouraged debate on the issue and “not have a mob decide they want to pull it down.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tweeted late last month that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said Trump would “not allow the Emancipation Memorial of President Lincoln to be destroyed by the left-wing mob.” The president has echoed that sentiment in his own tweets, though he has not addressed the Emancipation Memorial directly.
Just talked to @SecBernhardt. President @realDonaldTrump will not allow the Emancipation Memorial of President Lincoln to be destroyed by the left-wing mob.
Thank you to our law enforcement for protecting our national treasures.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) June 24, 2020Alice Butler-Short, founder and president of Virginia Women for Trump, compared the calls to remove the statue to communist crackdowns such as the Chinese government’s censorship of discussion related to the Tiananmen Square massacre.
“They want all history destroyed,” she said. “It’s not just about statues. It’s about protecting our history, our way of life, our heritage, our country.”
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The event was convened by the conservative Center for Urban Renewal and Education, led by politician and author Star Parker. The group has circulated a petition calling for the statue to remain.
More than 25,000 people attended the statue’s dedication on April 14, 1876, the day before the 11th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination, including President Ulysses S. Grant. Abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered the keynote address to the crowd, which included many black Washingtonians. In that famous speech, Douglass captured the contradictions that defined Lincoln’s work on behalf of black Americans.
“He was preeminently the white man’s president, entirely devoted to the welfare of white men,” Douglass said, while adding that for African Americans, “the hour and the man of our redemption had somehow met in the person of Abraham Lincoln,” and that “under his wise and beneficent rule we saw ourselves gradually lifted from the depths of slavery to the heights of liberty and manhood.”
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Don Folden, owner and operator of tour group Capital Buddy Tours, said he believes a compromise can be found. He said he has advocated adding greater context to statues with complex histories instead of tearing them down or moving them out of the public eye.
“Instead of tearing these statues down, why don’t we add the truth of what they represent? Put the Trail of Tears around Andrew Jackson — how proud is he going to look then?” Folden said. Instead of tearing down sculptures of Confederate generals, Folden said, “we should have been telling everybody how them boys got their butts kicked.”
To start, he said, the Emancipation Memorial should be turned around again, to face the Statue of Freedom, as it was intended.
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