Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Plans to Remove George Washington Statue from City Hall
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has plans to remove the statue of former President George Washington from its prominent position in City Hall, located right outside the mayor’s office.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, this decision was announced by Ronnie Reese, the mayor’s communications director, who indicated that the statue’s removal is part of broader updates being made to certain areas around City Hall. Reese said the statue “is being removed from the hallway outside the mayor’s office as we make updates to some areas around City Hall.”
Reese emphasized that there is no set timetable for the statue’s removal and did not clarify whether it would be relocated or placed in storage. He also addressed speculation that the removal is connected to growing concerns over historical figures who owned slaves, a reason cited for the removal of many statues of founding fathers from public spaces in recent years.
“If people want to think that, I can’t stop them. But that’s not our intent,” he claimed. “We’re just freshening up the space. Making it a bit more current. There’s a lot of Chicago icons who would be deserving of statues as well. We should be considering that also — Ida B. Wells, DuSable, Harold Washington.”
The decision has sparked outrage among some members of the community and even members of the Chicago City Council. Council member Nicholas Sposato, who chairs the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Special Events, compared this move to the controversial removal of Christopher Columbus statues from two parks in the city.
“When does this stop — the redoing everything and eliminating everything? I just don’t get it,” Sposato said.
“He’s George Washington. He risked everything. We are who we are because of this man. He could have just stood down and not get involved with the [Revolutionary] war and came here and lived a good life. But he fought for who we are. He should be honored all over the place. Next, are we going to change the name of the streets” Sposato continued, mentioning that there are streets named Washington, Jefferson and Monroe.
“When does it stop?”
