Chicago Pastor Calls on Rahm Emanuel to Remove George Washington Monument

A monument to General George Washington, the nation’s most prominent founding father, in Washington Park in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo: AP)

Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump was ridiculed for suggesting it would happen, calls to remove monuments to George Washington have begun.

Bishop James Dukes, pastor of the Liberation Christian Center, has asked Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to remove the names of presidents who owned slaves and the bronze statue of George Washington on horseback. The Washington monument stands at the corner of 51st and King Drive, located at the northwest entrance to Washington Park.

Mr. Dukes told CBS Chicago Gen. Washington might be the nation’s first president and the leader of the Revolutionary Army, but “he’s no hero to the black community.”

“There’s no way plausible that we would even think that they would erect a Malcolm X statue in Mount Greenwood, Lincoln Park, or any of that. Not that say Malcolm X was a bad guy; they just would not go for it,” he said. “Native Americans would not even think about putting up a Custer statue, because of the atrocities that he plagued upon Native Americans. And for them to say to us ‘just accept it’ is actually insulting.”

On his Facebook page, he pitches names that are far more controversial, which CBS Chicago failed to mention.

“Do you really believe they would let me go into Lincoln Park and have a statue of Louis Farrakhan,Jesse Jackson [sic] or Huey P Newton,” he wrote on Facebook. “The answer is a resounding NO!!!”

Mr. Farrakhan is a bigoted, anti-semitic racist. His black supremacist remarks have been well-document by hate-watch group such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). During Part 2 of his 2015 Saviours’ Day keynote address at the Mosque Maryam in Chicago, Mr. Farrakhan said Israel and Jews orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, claiming “Israelis had foreknowledge of the attacks.”

He also said Jews were warned ahead of time not to come to work that day.

While Mayor Emanuel did not immediately respond to requests for comment, a Chicago Park District spokeswoman did note that the city has a formal process for renaming parks. It permits anyone to submit a request to the superintendent and the Park District board may vote on any such request after a 45-day public comment period.

On Monday, Reverend Al Sharpton suggested and supported the removal of the monument to Thomas Jefferson in Washington D.C. Rev. Sharpton has also made numerous racist and anti-gay remarks, including during a speech at Kean College in New Jersey.

“Well off [kill] them,” he urged the crowd. “Plenty of crackers running around here. Ain’t nobody gonna come at you and knock the gun out your hand.”