New York City Hall removes statue of Thomas Jefferson for his slavery past

Since the death of George Floyd and the anti-racist demonstrations she trained, the United States is working to sort through their statues honoring men with a racist and slavery past. New step, Monday, October 18, when the municipality of New York approved the withdrawal of the statue of Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the United States, planted for more than a century in his council chamber.

A commission of the city council thus unanimously adopted the principle of the removal of the statue of Jefferson. The man who was one of the authors of the declaration of independence of the United States also held in his plantation in Virginia more than 600 slaves and had six children with one of them.

One of the “most shameful pages” in American history

The removal of the statue had been requested for several years by Latino and black city councilors, and the statue is now expected to join a New York City Historical Society hall. Third American President, “Jefferson represents some of the most shameful pages in our country’s long and nuanced history”, said African-American New York City Councilor Adrienne Adams.

The debate on the presence of this statue in the council chamber of the city hall of New York had been revived with the movement Black Lives Matter, born from the African-American George Floyd, suffocated below the knee of a white policeman in May 2020 in Minneapolis.