The city of Baltimore removed a statue dedicated to an Irish-born merchant who owned slaves.
The city removed the statue of Capt. John O’Donnell, which was located in Canton Square, on Monday night after hundreds of people signed a petition and sent it and other letters to City Hall.
THANKSGIVING PROTESTERS TOPPLE STATUES AND VANDALIZE BUILDING ACROSS US
“Tonight, the hostile vestige to the notorious enslaver Captain John O’Donnell no longer stands in Canton Square,” Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement. “This is a historical moment, however, countless publicly named monuments, statues, streets and schools across Baltimore remain that must be reassessed. I am committed to dismantling structural oppression in Baltimore by working with the city administrator to commission a team to establish procedures for reviewing the impact of these cruel monuments while continuing to promote equitable policies to right yesterday’s wrongs.”
The mayor thanked the Canton Anti-Racism Alliance for its “persistence” and “continuous work on building an inclusive Baltimore.”
The petition, which had 920 signatures as of Monday, began circulating in the fall of 2020.
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Activists across the country have sought to bring down statues that are dedicated to Confederate officials or those who supported slavery. These statues are gaining heightened scrutiny amid the Black Lives Matter movement that seeks to raise awareness around police brutality against people of color, but some groups have been calling for this long before the latest wave.
Other American icons, including former Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, have also been targeted.
