Remove The Emancipation Memorial/Freedman Statue

This is an embarrassment! You can’t take it down far enough. What does this say about the city?

It doesn’t really represent freedom. His wrists are shackled & he is under Lincoln. Not equal

The statue is demeaning, outdated, a false representation of reality, and tasteless!

This needs to go now!

I was appalled when I saw this statue, and saw that it is in Boston. I had no idea this public monument to white supremacy was sitting right in downtown. It’s a horror that it was ever made and if our governance has even a shred of self-awareness this statue will be torn down. If you do not do it, we will.

Take the damn thing down.

Shouldn’t even need a petition to remove this disgraceful statue!!

This has to go.

This statue is disgusting, dehumanizing and incredibly inappropriate. Not even to mention a twisted depiction of history, Lincoln didn’t care for Black people (look it up honey, listen to 1619).

I too agree that this image is insulting, disrespectful and disgraceful. It is a psychological attack on 'black' people and hinders mutual respect across racial lines. It creates a climate of unfairness, regardless of the historic meaning. The overall message is more negative than positive.

I knew this statue was absurd in Jr High in the 80s. Stop with the magical white savior stuff. White people need to stop erecting and maintaining monuments to just basically not being horrible people. That is just the baseline. If everyone who had upheld slavery had been jailed for life or otherwise punished and every former slave and every family member of a slave been given reparations, then there might be a place for a statue of a white legislator and a freedman standing at the same height shaking hands. That did not happen. Take this embarrassment down.

This statue needs to go. While Lincoln was a respectable president, the images of this piece is demeaning depicting the black man in all fours being patted on the head like a dog. Please remove and/or replace this piece with something more appropriate.

It has to go. Not the right message-

Take it down!!!!!

I do preservation and history work in Boston and still think this should come down. He’s right, this does not represent freedom or equality but subjugation. Is that the message we want shared??

It's time. The statue should be replaced with something that is truly evocative of the equality it naively (at best) attempted to portray.

This statue is a painful reminder that when we white people make attempts at racial justice, we are too often so blinded by our own privilege that we do so carelessly and ineffectively. So important to remove this AND listen to black voices, all the time, but especially regarding issues of racial justice.

Oppression

I didn't know this statue was here in Boston. Be gone statue, be gone.

This statue is disgusting and not representative of our much more open minded stance now. It’s time for change