DC Mayor’s Working Group Calls On Federal Government To ‘Remove, Relocate, Or Contextualize’ The Washington Monument

A working group commissioned by Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser recommended Monday that the Washington Monument and other famous statues be removed, relocated or contextualized because of their “disqualifying histories.”

The District of Columbia Facilities and Commemorative Expressions (DCFACES) said in a report Monday that it was tasked with evaluating whether statues and memorials in the city should be removed or contextualized if the historical figures they represent participated in “slavery, systemic racism, mistreatment of, or actions that suppressed equality for, persons of color, women and LGBTQ communities and violation of the DC Human Right Act.”

The working group recommended that Bowser, a Democrat, use her position on the National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission to support the removal or contextualization of the Christopher Columbus Fountain, the Benjamin Franklin Statue, the Andrew Jackson Statue and the Jefferson Memorial.

DCFACES also urged the city to identify a diverse cast of candidates to honor in the city with statues, noting that 70% of the statues and memorials in the nation’s capital are named after white men.

“Priority should be placed on ensuring future assets, especially and including those recommended for renaming by this Working Group, include more women, people of color and LGBTQ Washingtonians,” the report read.

The working group also recommended that at least 21 public schools named after figures such as James Monroe, Thomas Jefferson, Francis Scott Key and Woodrow Wilson be renamed.

DCFACES identified a total of 153 assets, ranging from public schools, recreation centers, bridges, neighborhoods and monuments, named after “persons of concern.”

Bowser said the DCFACES working group’s recommendations “will guide us as we move forward in advancing these shared DC values” in a statement Tuesday.

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“Across the country, communities are reflecting upon the systemic racism which has been engrained in our culture through policies and expressions impacting African Americans and other groups subject to discrimination,” DCFACES Co-Chair and Senior Advisor Beverly Perry said. “This week we delivered recommendations to assure our assets in contemporary DC reflect concurrent DC values.”

DCFACES Co-Chair and DC Public Library Executive Director Richard Reyes-Gavilan said that the “vast majority of the people we heard from agreed that the District should take action on public namesakes that are inconsistent with our DC Values.”

“And one thing was clear: DC residents consider being the namesake of a public asset a high honor that should be reserved for esteemed persons with legacies that make DC proud,” Reyes-Gavilan added.