Trump slams Museum of Natural History for removal of Teddy Roosevelt statue


President Trump is speaking out against the removal of a statue of former President Theodore Roosevelt from outside the American Museum of Natural History.

“Ridiculous, don’t do it!” the commander-in-chief tweeted in response to the news early Monday morning, citing a Washington Times article on the subject.

On Sunday, the museum and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio jointly announced that the bronze statue would be coming down, citing the statue’s composition itself over the legacy of the former US president.

The statue which depicts the former president on horseback while flanked by a Native American man and a black man, has lived in front the museum’s entrance since 1940.

It was produced by artist James Earle Fraser.

Speaking to the New York Times, museum president Ellen Futter said Sunday that the decision was made based on the statue itself, specifically its “hierarchical composition,” and emphasized that the museum continues to honor Roosevelt as “a pioneering conservationist.”

“Over the last few weeks, our museum community has been profoundly moved by the ever-widening movement for racial justice that has emerged after the killing of George Floyd,” Futter told the paper, “We have watched as the attention of the world and the country has increasingly turned to statues as powerful and hurtful symbols of systemic racism.”

The paper reports that the museum — which is privately run but sits on public land — requested the statue be moved and the city agreed.

In a statement, de Blasio cheered the museum’s request, saying “The American Museum of Natural History has asked to remove the Theodore Roosevelt statue because it explicitly depicts Black and Indigenous people as subjugated and racially inferior.

A police car stands by guarded barricades near the Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt at American Museum of Natural History
A police car stands by guarded barricades near the Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt at American Museum of Natural History.Getty Images

“The City supports the Museum’s request. It is the right decision and the right time to remove this problematic statue,” he said.

Roosevelt and his family have a significant legacy with the museum, where his father, Theodore Roosevelt Sr., was a founding member.

The problem, however, relates to his stances on racial issues, as well as his support of eugenics and the sterilization of the poor and intellectually disabled in the later years of his life.

Roosevelt’s family seems to approve of the decision, with Theodore Roosevelt IV, his 77-year-old great-grandson and a museum trustee.

“The world does not need statues, relics of another age, that reflect neither the values of the person they intend to honor nor the values of equality and justice,” Roosevelt said, “The composition of the Equestrian Statue does not reflect Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy. It is time to move the statue and move forward.”

In a conciliatory move, the museum will name its Hall of Biodiversity for Roosevelt “in recognition of his conservation legacy.”

As for when and where to the statue in question will be moved, that was not immediately clear.

The statue has been criticized — and defaced — in the past for glorifying colonialism and racism.

In October 2017, amid a national spate of statue vandalizations following the violence sparked by white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, Va., somebody splashed the bronze statue with red paint.

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